Saturday night saw rockers descend on Ryde Theatre for the Bikers Ball. Headlining the night was London based Imperial Vipers with support supplied by Island groups Dirty Habit and X-Directory.
I managed to have a chat with Nigel Smith, organiser of the event (a name Ryde Theatre regulars may remember for his involvement with the venue not so long ago!)
“There has been a lot of Hipshaker type 70s/80s nights and tribute acts at the venue recently so we wanted to put on something a bit rockier.
“X-Directory are a relatively new band on the scene but are already well established so we wanted to give them a shot on the night, as well as inviting back long-standing rockers Dirty Habit.
“Imperial Vipers are a band verging on the edge of going professional and their standard of music certainly shows that so we were very excited to book them for the evening!”
The ball began with X-Directory which unfortunately I managed to miss (!) but I am told performed an excellent set to their usual high standard.
I ambled in when Dirty Habit were in full swing and although it was the first time I had caught the band their reputation preceded them and they defiantly lived up to it.
Dirty Habit’s lead singer recently left the group, so the band had a temporary replacement for the night that did an excellent job being thrown in at the deep end!
To finish the evening the Imperial Vipers took to the stage in a blaze of their self described street-rock.
“We were sick of all these public school pr*cks making what they claimed to be rock’n’roll music so we just had to show ’em how it’s done” says lead guitarist and main songwriter Wevs, and this attitude showed throughout their mesmerizingly hard performance.
I’m told by Nigel that he will be organising more events over the summer including an (adults) School Disco, Jimmi Hendrix tribute and Abba tribute band so keep your eyes peeled.
Images: Chris Cowley, Contrast TV
