BottleNeck - The John Doe Experiment & Spitfire Bullets | The Borough | March 18, 2016 | REVIEW

BottleNeck did a review of our recent gig at the borough you can see the original article here >>BottleNeck

Nestled upstairs in The Borough on a chilly Friday night, two local bands scurried around trying to get the “stage” set up, stage is said loosely, as it was just a corner of the pub next to the bar. The backdrop of the “stage” being a large black flag sporting the words “The John Doe Experiment” in big red letters. The venue is very small, sort of ‘U’ shaped, with limited seating, meaning most punters had to stand, not that it was a problem. The music was worth it.

Photo credit to Chris Baker.

As more and more folk congregated in the tiny upstairs area, it was almost time for the first band to take to the floor – Spitfire Bullets. The embodiment of punk, Spitfire Bullets formed in Sunderland in early 2010, and consists of Rob with vocals and lead guitar, Gilley on bass, and John on drums. The trio are clearly influenced by The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and The Clash, among others. Playing a handful of songs, from covers to originals, Spitfire Bullets well and truly ripped apart The Borough, Rob’s downpicking was so ridiculously fast that it was impossible to see his hand without it being blurred. Starting every song with a “1,2,3,4” chant like any good punk band would, Spitfire Bullets ended their set with a Ramones cover. But that wasn’t enough, the audience wanted more. The guys made the snap decision to play an intense punk cover of House Of The Rising Sun, which was absolutely mind-blowing. It was clear to see that Spitfire Bullets had a great time playing their set, and it was a shame for it to end!

But next up was the headlining act – The John Doe Experiment. Bottleneck interviewed them beforehand, and they are a bunch of the most down to earth guys (and gal), that you could wish to speak to, they all lead very different lives, but one thing they have in common is their love for music. Coming from all over Tyne and Wear, The John Doe Experiment consist of Louise Snowdon as the lead vocalist, Tom Holmes playing the lead guitar, John Hughes on rhythm guitar, Mark Young on drums, and Mike Todd on bass. Together they create something pretty special which is much to be admired.

Starting their set with a very catchy intro singing “we are The John Doe Experiment and we play rock ‘n’ roll”, the band were absolute crowd pleasers playing covers such as Blitzkrieg Bop and many of their originals such as Psycho Killer and Roxy. The different band members complement each other perfectly, and their banter between songs is great too. Getting heckled from the audience doesn’t seem to phase them either, often having long conversations between songs with various different people in the audience.

The band played one of their original songs, Kryptonite, which is a “standard superhero song”, which starts a conversation between the band and the crowd about who Louise’s favourite superhero is. Kryptonite is just an all round feel-good, fun song, which had everyone bopping around and having a good time.

Sadly though, all good things have to come to an end, and this was so for The John Doe Experiment’s set. The whole night was a success, the pub was packed full of like-minded music lovers, and both bands put on an absolute stellar performance.

Listen to The John Doe Experiment performing Kryptonite below:

Check out Spitfire Bullets and The John Doe Experiment on their Facebook pages.

The Borough 18-03-2016 Supporting the John Doe Experiment

So before i set off talking about how great it was playing in The Borough a some 100 year old pub in the centre of Sunderland with lots of history and stories, lets go back 5 and a half years ago to the 17th of September 2010 where a younger me in a rock band was in the same spot with the same cherry red SG and old Marshall amp while getting very nervous for playing his very first gig. did i mention the founding memeber of spitfire bullets *Gilley* was in this band too?? well he was and here is a photo of us together messing about

But you can see this very first show here on YouTube >>> CLICK HERE! as you probably saw it was the worst show i played and if you were there you would know what it was like. so after that very first show i promised myself i won't step foot on the stage in this bar until i had a great rocking outrageous band to play with.

so eventually after 5 years with a new band we took to the stage playing one hell of an outrageous show!

For the night it seemed it was going to be a packed bar, with plenty of people coming in and taking seats and drinks, this was something we were not used to. A crowd?? for Spitfire Bullets this was very odd, we got that used to playing in front of 5 people we forgot what a crowd looked like!

it rolled on to 9pm we sound checked and fired up the Marshalls and kicked off with our loud and favourite cover UK Subs C.I.D, going through a set of covers and originals, ending one song and screaming 1234!! to jump into the next one like a proper punk band should! we blasted out our two new tracks "i don't remember" and "Flying fortress" then ending our set on R-A-M-O-N-E-S. But it wasn't over yet!
the crowd asked for more! so with a panic on what to play craggsy our drummer said lets do house of the rising sun and God save the Queen since we cut them two songs out of our set.

At the end of such an exciting and very exhausting intense set, the John Doe Experiment took to the stage blasting out their own set list of covers and originals, the one song that stood out for me was kryptonite, with a batman style na na na na na on the guitar, this was a catchy tune!

lets hope we don't have to wait another 5 and a half years to play the Borough again!!