The Strange Boys @ Original Penguin 55th Birthday, The Bathhouse

Artrocker.TV's communal iPhone is lying to us. According to the damn machine we are standing exactly where the venue is. We're right on the green blob, I tell you, right on it!
"Excuse me, are you looking for the Original Penguin birthday party?" asks a random man in a beard. We eyeball him suspiciously. "Well, er... yes. Why?"
He points to a small church-like thing. "It's there."
This small church like thing is only the size of a shed, but once inside it creeps down into a dark dungeon full of hot women, random rock stars, grinning fashionista and free booze. Hmm. Seems like we've found home for the evening.
Fresh from their Glastonbury performance, The Strange Boys are looking somewhat frazzled and nervous. And yet they make the sound of Dylan after seven or eight glasses of rum: it's the sound of band on the railway tracks, a hootin' tootin' traveling band. And sweet Carolina, I like them too.
They're not all strange boys either: there's one girl who's playing the saxaphone and has a hairdo strangely similar to the red-headed girl character in Fraggle Rock. I digress.
The way the band all play together makes this feel more like a late night flat jam in some New York attic, rather than a gig in the middle of the City. The backup musicians all lean into the microphone to provide the backing vocals on 'Be Brave', while the singer stays spookily in the shadows.
"How very curious," I nod to my associate. "It would appear he's shunning fame." My associate strokes his beard in agreement.
After the band finish it's back to the bar and a random conversation with some of the Kaiser Chiefs (who transpire to be ego-less, charming and friendly people), while hot women swoop past for the cameramen. It's as if the Moulin Rouge has come to the city - but there's something strangely right about tonight's flaming antics.

Get more info on Original Peguin at www.originalpenguin.eu