We decided to base the night around the recently released book about the Medway Garage Rock scene, “The Kids Are All Square” by Ian Snowball and Bob Collins, and invited along our pals The Len Price 3 and then persuaded Allan to do a double-shift with his own band The Galileo 7, as it tied in perfectly with the release of their excellent brand new album “False Memory Lane”. There was a real buzz about the gig in the days building up to June 06th, and although it sold out weeks in advance, we weren’t able to relax as the pleading for spare tickets reached fever pitch right up to doors opening. And when those doors opened it was encouraging to see a healthy number of people getting into the venue early to see The Galileo 7. It’s always a slight worry when putting on three bands as the opening act has to start probably a bit earlier then they would like, a time when most people are still getting the beers in, but there was no need to worry tonight. With “False Memory Lane” building on the previous two albums impressive body of well crafted Psychedelic Pop songs and picking up some excellent reviews and feedback along the way, it wasn’t surprising that people wanted to catch the band. We were treated to a perfectly plotted set-list where the new numbers fitted in seamlessly amongst those more familiar songs. The opening track of the night “Not Gonna Miss You” takes R.E.M.’s “Pop Song” riff and twists it through the blender and then we get a track from the new album “My Cover Is Blown Now” which starts off slowly with a great keyboard riff from Viv Bonsels and suddenly takes off with a powerful and catchy chorus.

One of my favourite tracks “Orangery Lane” has a great Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd chorus and bass player Mole (ex-Mystreated and State Records boss) also chips in with some nice vocal harmonies. The excellent guitar riff intro to “Anne Hedonia” heralds the opening track from the “Staring at the Sound” album, and there’s a touch of Blur’s “Modern Life Is Rubbish” album in there somewhere. Next track “Nobody Told You” from “False Memory Lane” has a whimsical harpsichord sounding intro and features some great drumming from Russ Baxter. One of the highlights of the set is the tuneful “Don’t Know What I’m Waiting For” with Viv on lead vocals which reminds me of The Primitives. For me, the new album’s centre-piece is “I’m Still Here” and tonight it’s really great, proving that Allan is much more than that trusty side-kick and can compose some excellent songs under his own name. “The Only One You’re Hurting (Is You)” is next and then it’s “Don’t Follow Me”, the excellent opener to the new album which you can hear in Retrosonic Podcast Episode 13. The band end a well received show with “Are We Having Fun Yet?” Yes, we most certainly are!

Steve Worrall