The Launch Pad Tour 2004 is the latest tour put together by the Moon Ska Europe label and this time it saw Graveltrap, Zen Baseballbat, Sonic Boom Six, Dumpster Pop and former King Prawn bassist Babar Luck playing gigs all over the UK. Suzi and I (along with our cameraman, Adam) went along to the show at The Rugeley Rose to film the footage for our first Rock Pulse documentary. So you can wait for that to find out all the backstage antics, but for now, here's my review of the gig.

First up were Stoke Ferry's 'Dumpster Pop', who are apparently the pioneers of 'pussy punk'! Unfortunately not many people had actually made it into the room by then (the venue also contains a bar and DJ room) but those who had, gave the band a good, if a little reserved, response. Next up were 'Manchester Wild Style' band Sonic Boom Six. With their unique blend of punk rock and female MCing, they soon got the crowd going. This is the kind of band that you might see for the first time and not really get what's going on, but when you go and see them a second time, you appreciate just how original and different Sonic Boom Six are.

Former King Prawn bassist ('and madman' reads the Moon Ska tour posters) Babar Luck is next to take to the stage, to much applause from the crowd. He is joined by partner (if I got that wrong, don't sue me!) Sandra, and the crowd settles down for their set. The Moon Ska posters also read: Babar Luck 'will be reinventing himself with an acoustic guitar and words of wisdom'. I'm not sure this 'reinvention' went well with the rest of the bill, but I think Babar could probably have come out on stage with nothing but a broken banjo and would still have received lots of applause from the King Prawn fans.

Then it was time for Milton Keynes' finest, 'Graveltrap'. This band have been described as 'watered down Green Day' and 'Blink 182 rip-offs,' but their live set strove to disprove those portrayals. They played many of the catchy, pop-punk tracks off their debut album, 'Concrete & Udder Chaos,' including 'Primal Fear' and 'Don't Take It All Away'. The band played well and kept the crowd entertained between songs with their comic banter, before finishing the set with the energetic 'S.R.J', made popular by it's appearance on such music channels as Scuzz and the late, great P-Rock. This track went down a storm with the audience and made Graveltrap one of the best received bands that night.

Last up were super ska band Zen Baseballbat. Graveltrap and Zen Baseballbat have been headlining on alternate dates of this tour, and I would have preferred Graveltrap to play last simply because they're more my kind of band, and I think their lively set would have been a great end to the show. However, Zen Baseballbat aren't without energy, at all. They delivered an animated set broken up with a more dry sense of humour, generating much cheering when the lead singer expressed his feelings about Busted (which seemed to be a bit of a theme throughout the night). Overall, it was a good gig, only made slightly less enjoyable by the bands' obvious annoyance at the people who had stayed in the bar all night. So next time, if you go to see a Moon Ska tour, make sure you actually stick around and watch the bands; you never know, you might hear something you like!

You can find out more about all the bands on the Moon Ska Europe site, www.moonskaeurope.com.

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