07/04/00 NME online news

ANIMALHOUSE FULL HOUSE!

More than 100 ticketless people were turned away from the sold-out first London gig proper of THE ANIMALHOUSE, featuring ex-RIDE members MARK GARDENER and LOZ COLBERT last night (April 6).

The gig, at the Camden Monarch, was part of an NME 'On' night.

When The Animalhouse appeared on stage, a smiling Gardener was barely recognisable from his Ride days, sporting a fully shaven head and sunglasses.

This show was the highest profile performance yet for the band who are on their first UK tour.

Gardener took on most of the main vocal duties for the hour long set, which included tracks from their new single, 'Small', as well as a host of new and as yet unreleased material.

One fan, who has also been a Ride fan for a number of years told nme.com: "I didn't expect them to sound quite as much like Ride as they do live. Some of the stuff played tonight sounds like 'Carnival Of Light'-era Ride, just with much harder percussion."

The band ended with a chaotic version of their debut single 'Animal', with Gardener raising his white Gibson guitar high over his head in recognition of the crowd.

The band continue their UK tour on Monday (April 10) at Stoke Sugarmill and then go on to play Cambridge Boat Race (11), Northampton Roadmenders (12), Middlesborough Dickens Inn (14) and Leicester Princess Charlotte (15).

nme.com can exclusively reveal that the band have also lined up another UK tour for May, which calls at Peterborough (venue tbc) (May 3), Liverpool Lomax (4), Edinburgh Venue (6), Glasgow King Tuts (7), Newcastle Art Centre (8), Birmingham Frapper & Firkin (9), Bristol Fleece and Firkin (11), Southampton Joiners (12), Harlow Square (13), Cardiff Club Ifar bach (15), Manchester Music Box (16), Leeds Rocket (17) and Sheffield University (18).

Their new single, 'Small' is released on April 17 through Boilerhouse/Arista, and their debut album is scheduled for a summer release.

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