I'd say the opposite. I could probably name 30 or more great local acts who'll never get any further than playing to no-one on a wet Wednesday night in Bath. There's no money in it is my take on things, but that's a different matter.

Gas Cunt

Back in the day J. Geils used to be the Friday nite house band at Leicester Airport a local nite club. We used to see Aerosmith all the time all over the area. In fact the first time I saw them they were a backup band for my friend's band. First songs I remember were Dream On, Mama Kim and Walking the Dog. For J. Geils First I look at the Purse, Whammer Jammer
and Serves you Right to Suffer.

Oh, did I mention that I played with Fuck Buttons in front of about 20 people once? That's an alright claim to fame.

There are lots of great bands in Lille.

DAT Politics is one of the few that get some recognition worldwide (they've even been reviewed on Pitchfork...). Actually I'm not sure whether they're still local... They've toured the whole world. But they play Lille really often so I guess I'll mention them... Their records kind of suck, but live they totally rock. Stupid electronic music but in a good way: simple beats (kick clap kick clap), simple melodies, chiptune / acid sounds, stupid lyrics repeated by a girl, it may sound atrocious but it's actually great live. Loads of energy:
Motorway (live)
This Way <- this song and video are super funny and catchy. WTF is that crocodile doing I have no idea.

(that'll be the only electronic band Rob ahahah)

Shiko Shiko is one band that might really become famous. I've seen them twice last year in 50/100 people venues and they rocked the place both times. This year they've played on a 2000-person venue opening for Vampire Weekend and then in a big stage at a festival... They're like noise-rock with a dance touch, lots of percussions, tribal drums, epileptic guitar / synth riffs. Good band, super fun. I can't find any video that really does them justice... I guess this one might do: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xdl...ko-shiko_music but there's much much more energy in their live shows.

There are great noise / noise rock bands too...
There's the Et Pourtant Ca Avait Bien Commencé label, which I've already talked about on here... Lots of good bands releasing CD-Rs / LPs limited to 50/100 copies... I own a lot of them, and I know some of the guys from the label. Some bands:
When Day Chokes The Night, amazing ambient project... Saw him playing last year in front of 20 people, was excellent.
Death By Horsecock, just like their name suggest, they're super loud noise, but they're fun before and after their shows (and sometimes in the middle of it). Loud as fuck. The line-up changes and goes up to 6 members... I spoke to the dude on the right at a lot of shows we both attended and we're friends now.
Drive With A Dead Girl sound a lot like Sonic Youth no wave era, but they're great. Especially live, they killed it both times I've seen them. One of the guys is a teacher at the school I used to go to!
I don't think Berline 0.33 has released anything on Et Pourtant..., but they're friends with those guys so I'll name them here. Another good noise-rock band... I was at that gig! This venue is awesome... Free shows every Thursday from the local scene. Great!
Tardigrades is also excellent, but I can't find any vids of him online...

Brouillard Minute opened for Foot Village when I saw them and he killed it. Nobody knew what to expect and he really delivered. He plays drums like a madman while launching samples and melodies and stuff. Mad show. I wish I could see him again. Not sure if he's from Lille but he's from the area... This video is from the show I was at.

I really enjoyed the show from Le Principe D'Inconstance I saw this year, ambient / noise with spoken word vocals, but it seems like the only video from the show has been deleted since... Too bad. There was a power cut during his show.

Hmm actually I lied when I said DAT Politics were the only electronic band, Lepolair also plays IDM music ala Boards Of Canada. Great music... He was nice when I saw him, and funny - didn't seem convinced by what he was doing, always nodding negatively ahah.

There's another pure noise project called Toys'R'Noise but I can't find any video of them. They write all their music using circuit-bent toys and items, which gives a funnier, but also insane aspect to their music - hearing vocals from a Winnie The Pooh kid computer in the middle of intense low frequency drones is quite weird. Saw them twice, they're good...

GOMM is a band I really enjoy. They've already released 2 albums, drawing influences from krautrock, Sonic Youth, etc etc etc... Both of their albums are good.

Cercueil is another good band, though the singer's english accent is really terrible... Dark electronic pop with great vocals (except for the accent). Saw them twice and they blew me away... I was at the gig on the video. GOMM's drummer plays with them live... They also have a more experimental side project called Puce Moment, saw them opening for The Present and it was really awesome! The guitarist and the
singer attend a lot of gigs I go to...

Sexual Earthquake In Kobe is one of the most well-known band in the Lille scene... Groovy punk/funk with a crazy singer. Haven't seen them yet unfortunately, but the singer attends a lot of gigs I'm at too.

Sim #6 plays melancholic electronic pop. Saw him last year and it was a cool show. He has a project with Sexual Earthquake In Kobe's singer but I haven't seen them nor heard anything from them. Can't find a video that does him justice...

There are many, many other bands but you've got the best ones I guess. I love Lille's local scene... Such an amazing city!

I haven't seen a local band in London that really blew me away live in forever. From elsewhere in the UK I was really taken with Charles Hayward and Ashtray Navigations recently, but they are not satisfyingly young. I like Hype Williams, who if I'm not mistaken are from East London or live there, or whatever. I was going to see them play and I didn't because of other commitments, so I've checked out some live videos and they range from mediocre to good. I still wanna see them, though, because I mostly like their recorded output. I saw Gum Takes Tooth recently, who were good but not mindblowing. There's a group of Japanese residents called Bo Ningen who are wild. Again, not mindblowing, even though I saw their drummer playing in a duo with some other guy and they were THE SHIT.

the thread is more about older bands no longer around that never made it huge but gigged local and were good.

you must have seen a ton man, come on!

Sorry I only read the last few posts and went from there. :)
Why just the older that didn't make it?

there's good music from london in terms of grime, dubstep & improv, but i'm having a hard time thinking of any decent actual bands from london. the only thing that springs to mind is this band i saw once that was the new band from one of the former members of add n to x, who played one gig i went to and then i never heard of them again. who can you think of?

i saw them live about 10 years ago and they were very good, especially for a laptop group.

i've not seen bo ningen yet, even though they seem to play every bloody gig at the moment.
my friend saw hype williams the other day and said they were great.

I can't think of anyone off the top of my head, but part of the thing with local scenes is that they tend to stay local. London might be an exception to that though. I've seen a few alright warehouse hardcore shows before... essentially, I'm grabbing at straws though, because I don't really like guitar-y music except when I'm watching it, so I tend not to pick up on it on t'interbox.

Edit: I sound about a million years old now, right?

Oh, and +1 on DAT Politics. I think they might have been the band that changed my mind about whether a laptop is a bad idea in a band.

When I saw Bo Ningen they played a set that reminded of a way more competent and much less sloppy version of Les Rallizes Denudes. It was good but a little too stylized for me. With Hype Williams I feel like they have an air of mischievousness to them which I find attractive, plus I like the fact that they seem to be having fun and don't stick to the rules, so I look forward to seeing them live soon at some point.

I'd imagine there has to be tons of good shit in a city as big as london, but what do I know about that, eh...
Comanechi are good in their simple way and Todd are one of the best things I've heard in long time. Both from london I believe (though not entirely)
not that I really pay attention to the location of the band.

As for my town...
These are good stuff, at least live:
http://www.myspace.com/cosmojonesbeatmachine
http://www.myspace.com/astrocancaravan

I don't really know much about the music scene in my former town (which is still my proper hometown), but my friends over there have a band, who have their good moments:
http://www.myspace.com/laivue

I've lived only in small places and most of the stuff I've witnessed is either total suck or rather generic indie rubbish.

There's another band that I saw a couple of times and turned out to be good. I think their name is The Racists. The second time I saw them were much, much better than the first. They play super fast hardcore punk with mathwhatever breaks. I'm assuming they're a London band. Not sure though.

this band. fotosputnik

http://www.myspace.com/fotosputnik


these guys are awesome. I missed a show on Saturday thanks to work. I'm actually quite mad. I've been waiting a while to see these doods.

i've seen a number of fairly decent don cab/fugazi type bands but i never know who they are or where they're from (generally i assume they're not from london as the music they're playing is too unfashionable and bands from london tend to be trend following/gimmick type bands) and even though they're often decent they're all pretty interchangeable

I think you're probably right, but it wouldn't surprise me if there weren't little pockets of genuine Londoners making deeply unfashionable music. I could imagine if you lived in, say, Plaistow you might just as well be in Yeovil for all the relationship it has with Hoxton.

Voyager, the young progressive outfit.
Some of them went on to be in Moonstone Continuum (who are also excellent), but I am glad to see Voyager back again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNkYjB4x9-Y