Kids Unique/Theatre Royal @ Royal Function Rooms, Rochester

Friday 29th April 2011: a historic day for our little Island. Millions of people are crowding the streets of Westminster waving flags. Others are having street parties (assuming they have permits to eat sausage rolls outdoors) and all across the land, people who would normally be kicking each others heads in are laughing and drinking together as if they were lifelong buddies.

So what's the glorious occasion that has brought us together? Yep, it's the joint single launch by two of Medway's finest, Theatre Royal and Kids Unique!

All the acts reside on Medway-based label The Preservation Society, and with four of them to get through, it's an early start at 8.15. Dead Lovers kick things off - a trio who initially resemble the Arctic Monkeys, but thanks to a fantastic folksy vocal from the bassist, shoot off in far more original directions. The only shame is that the mix is all wrong (you can't hear what the duel singers are ranting about) but nonetheless all three of them are extremely tight, and I'd like to hear more.

One of the more aggressive bands to come out of Medway, Needs Must boast a born entertainer in singer Patrick Minhard. As they take the stage, he screams at the slightly reluctant audience to move towards the front- in a manner threatening enough to convince the audience to do as he says.

The band play it fast and furious, while Patrick's cigarette filtered vocals shout and spit lyrics. At one point the singer jumps off the stage to create a one-man moshpit - it's exhilarating. But also disappointing: the word is this is to be their last ever show.

Theatre Royal are here to release their new single 'If You Could Stand Up (You'd Walk Away)' - and it proves to be one of many highlights from the excellent From Rubble Rises album. It's also nice to hear a couple of new tunes earmarked for the next LP. Special mention goes to Brendan who's only just got off stage from playing with Needs Must, and Robbie who has just hotfooted it over from playing at the Man of Kent with Stuart Turner. That's dedicaton!

Rounding off the night are Kids Unique, here to launch their debut single 'Seymour Evil'. I'd heard these folks sounded like The Streets, and the prospect of a Medway-based hip hop group was quite a tasty one.

To the intro theme of Star Wars' 'Imperial March', the curtains slowly open and smoke billows out, with the movie soundtrack gradually replaced by a repetitive dark, foreboding synth beat - and the band take to the stage.

This all suddenly makes sense as the frontman bursts onto the stage rapping an excellent song about bad dreams. Combining hip hop with the (usual weapon of choice for dance acts) MacBook, Kids Unique skilfully manage to fuse traditional rock instruments, guitars, drums and synths. They may not be quite as unique as their name would suggest, but comparisons to The Streets are fairly accurate, and Adam is a skilled rapper.