New year's eve has always been a time of year with which I've had mixed experiences. In fact, scrap that - bad experiences. Hazy memories of awful clubs, overpriced beer, drunken mistakes, and disastrous fancy dress parties flit through my mind, making me think that perhaps a night in front of the telly with Jools Holland wouldn't be so bad after all.

This year though will be different, or so I've managed to convince myself. No clubs, no fancy dress, just two of my favourite new bands and a dictaphone. Despite my initial nervousness, the interviews pass off pleasantly enough. The Indelicates chat about Mozart, Smoosh and cabaret (read the whole interview here), while 586 regale me with tales of glitter bombs, red wine and inserting bananas into bodily orifices (which you can read about here). It's all going rather swimmingly so far.

Of course, they're not the only bands playing tonight. Seven Embers are on first, with their straight take on American post-grunge, and later Remodel's wiry indie punk-funk will be sandwiched between my hosts for the night.

But, it's The Indelicates who first catch the eye and ear tonight, launching straight into the marvellous 'New Art for the People' - Julia's beautiful, delicate vocals contrasting wonderfully with Simon's earthier tone, with just a hint of a punkish sneer at the corner of his lips. The song follows the well worn quiet-loud formula, but breathes new life into the tired template, fragile and desolate at first, before injecting a dramatic urgency as they approach a surging climax.

There just isn't another band like The Indelicates around at the moment, a fact that we should both mourn and celebrate. There is a wonderful narrative element to these songs, like being tucked up in bed and having a story read to you. They play 'Vladimir', with it's military stomp, the ever well received 'Waiting for Pete Doherty to Die', before which they explain "It's not that we want him to die. We're making an intelligent point about... stuff." And they end with the vitriolic flourish of 'We Hate the Kids', a wake up call for those who accept what they're given unquestioningly, then depart to the line "no more music, thankyou and goodnight."

Fortunately for us, that's not quite true of tonight, for me still have 586 to entertain us with their glam splattered electro cabaret. Opening with the two minute adrenaline rush of 'We Got Bored', they go on to play a varied set of songs, all of whom have one thing in common - a tremendous sense of fun.

Inbetween being showered with glitter bombs, we get twee indie pop, driving splurges of electro, tooth rottening power pop and even a couple of tracks that wouldn't sound out of place on the stage of a musical.

The minutes tick down until midnight, and 586 end their set to be replaced by the sound of Clor's 'Love & Pain', one of my favourite tracks of the year. As it slowly fades, the midnight chimes ring though - maybe New Year's isn't so bad after all.

Review & Photography by Paul Madden