Gun and We Heart Katamari at Vivaz. Review by Ian Duncan

Today I was reminded by a friend of this gig from my time in Scarborough. One band which started off in the town was Little Angels.

Years later band members were still connected to Scarborough and I interviewed quite a few of them on a number of occasions – let’s just say some of the rock n roll anecdotes did not make it into print because I did not relish a letter from the lawyers of bigger rock bands.

Singer Toby Jepson was pursuing a solo career but he kept popping up as the vocalist of various bands including Fastway and Gun. Here is the review of Gun’s gig in Scarborough.

SCARBOROUGH band We Heart Katamari must have thought all their Christmases had come early when they landed the support slot for one of Gun’s two warm-up gigs ahead of their bigger shows.

They won the opportunity as runners-up in the recent Battle of the Sands competition and judging by tonight’s performance the winners must have been outstanding.

With their own brand of stop-start songs these skate-punks played their hearts out with youthful enthusiasm – and the comment which really hit home, “who in here is old enough to be our parents?”, had most of the audience answering “yes”.

Toby Jepson was the surprise addition to Gun’s line-up; the last I heard he was touring with veteran rockers Fastway, and his home town was the obvious choice for this additional date.

He appears to have fitted into the regenerated band quite nicely and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves during the performance.

It was good to hear the older tracks from the band’s debut album, Taking on the World, and the new line-up seemed to breathe new life into the songs.

Initially Toby had to coax a hesitant audience to the front but he soon had a sympathetic home crowd in the palm of his hand.

Hats off – or should that be hoods off – to guitarist Joolz Gizzi who played in the face of adversity after suffering a serious bout of “man flu” which did not appear to seriously affect his playing.

The set featured Girls in Love, which the band had never played live before, as well as crowd-pleasers Taking on the World, Steal Your Fire, Word Up and Shame on You.

Proceedings were rounded off with the band’s top-40 hit Better Days and there is a line in the chorus which reads: “So hold your head high” and judging by tonight’s stonking performance the band can do exactly that.

From the Scarborough Evening News on Wednesday, December 17, 2008.