DEAD POSEY + THE CRUEL KNIVES + HELL HOTEL @ CAMDEN UNDERWORLD 16th OCTOBER 2025
Dead Posey rock up at Camden Underworld on their The Damned and the Dead tour. Support comes from Hell Hotel and The Cruel Knives. All three bands are preceded by their reputations, so it should be a good night.
The first thing I notice about Hell Hotel is that I’ve seen the guitarist Tom with another band: Crashface, who I saw supporting The Haunt at Brighton’s Green Door Store back in June. Vocalist Demi tells me that he does this on a semi-regular basis. Hell Hotel are Brighton-based and technically a duo comprising Demi and Tom, but they’re joined by a drummer and bassist when they play live.
They have a metallic feel combined with a keen sense of melody. At the beginning of Mirrors Demi tells us to bang our “fuckin’ heads”. Okay, if you insist — but don’t blame me if I have an aching neck in the morning (which I do, funnily enough). All That Remains has more of an alt-rock feel and shines with its simple but effective guitar solo. Tom is in the crowd for the last song, banging his head as Demi requested. Hell Hotel have really kicked things off with a bang, which bodes well for the rest of the evening.
After some quite ominous-sounding intro music, The Cruel Knives take the stage. They tend more towards classic rock than metal and kick things off with This Ain’t No Game. Unfortunately, Tom Harris’s vocals are far too low in the mix, but that’s soon rectified. Guitarist Sid Glover uses the time-honoured combination of a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall stack, and turns in solos that Paul Kossoff would have been proud of. Indeed, he takes the band’s performance to a whole different level.
Tom Harris contributes occasional rhythm guitar, playing a left-handed Gibson SG and providing a bit of extra Gibson crunch, with both guitarists at times doubling down on the riffs. Bassist Rob Ellershaw helps to keep said riffs punchy with his Rickenbacker 4000-series bass. Tom’s vocals have a very impressive range — it’s impossible not to be impressed.
Shotgun to the Head is pleasingly chunky, with changes in pace, whilst the final song, Crawl, has a delicately picked guitar intro before becoming somewhat more propulsive. The coda has a very Zeppelin-esque riff, followed by another cracking guitar solo. This is the first time I’ve seen The Cruel Knives, but it certainly won’t be the last.
When Dead Posey take the stage, I note that apart from vocalist Danyell Souza and guitarist Tony Fagenson, there’s only one additional musician: a drummer. This surprises me somewhat, but hey — a lot of bands don’t have a full complement of musicians onstage. Even when they do, what you hear coming out of the speakers isn’t necessarily all being created live. For example, it transpires that on the last Kiss tour, Paul Stanley’s vocals were “sonically enhanced”. However, that’s not the case here. Danyell Souza’s vocals are loud, clear, and pretty damn good. What’s on the backing track are the bass parts (synthesised), backing vocals, and synth washes — so far, so not unusual.
Tony Fagenson plays mostly rhythm guitar with the occasional lead lick. The big problem is that the sound of the instruments has been significantly reduced compared to The Cruel Knives, whilst the vocals are louder than everything else. I don’t know what the reason for this is — perhaps they could only get so much volume out of the backing track, so had to reduce the volume of the guitar and drums to get a decent mix. The bottom line is that in terms of sound, the band lacked power.
That, however, doesn’t reflect their performance. Although the venue is only half full, they play like it’s a sell-out. Danyell puts 150% into her performance, and the drummer is excellent — he’s just not loud enough. The bulk of tonight’s material comes from last year’s excellent Are You in a Cult? album, with a couple of songs from the Malfunction EP. They also turn in a rocking cover of New Order’s Blue Monday. Some people choose this moment to go to the bar or the toilet, which is a shame as it’s a really good cover. It doesn’t ape the original — the band make it their own.
Danyell’s performance throughout is quite theatrical, which suits the material. For Darkside, Danyell says she wants a séance. Not sure about that — even in a half-full Underworld, there are too many people to make a circle while holding hands. There’s some awesome motorik drumming for this song, and Tony plays his first proper guitar solo of the night. Russian Roulette has a punky feel and a nice groove, whilst Holy Roller is vaguely funky.
For Can’t Take Me Down, Danyell calls three girls up from the audience who stage-dive and then crowd-surf. They reach the back of the crowd and are never seen again. Probably. Welcome to the Nightmare is about the current state of the USA. I’m not surprised that Dead Posey are concerned — the US seems to be entering a phase where anyone who looks different in any way is likely to be discriminated against.
Tonight’s Dead Posey set was by no means bad, but it was a little underwhelming because of the sound. Also, choosing a band as stormingly brilliant as The Cruel Knives to precede them probably wasn’t the brightest move. Dead Posey might want to reconsider the way they present themselves live — they could really do with another guitarist, a bassist, and a keyboard player. They certainly need to rely less on a backing track. The only problem with having more musicians is, of course, that it significantly increases the cost of touring. Very few bands can cope with that in the current economic climate — unless you’re The Rolling Stones or The Who, of course. Dead Posey have produced a great debut album; they just need to be able to thoroughly do it justice live.
Dead Posey have the songs and the stage presence, but they need more muscle in their live mix to match the punch of their studio work—still, a captivating and heartfelt performance from one of rock’s most intriguing rising acts.
WORDS: MARK KELLY PHOTOS: CRIS WATKINS
