Royal TruxTJ's, Newport

The path chosen by Royal Trux has been a hard one. Following his self-proclaimed national service with Pussy Galore, Neil Hagerty teamed up with girlfriend Jennifer Herrema to realise their dream of reclaiming rock'n'roll excess as an expressive artform. After a history in which hits have more often referred to coke than record sales, the Trux have returned to Domino Records after pulling off the biggest record label scam since the Sex Pistols, and despite acting like they've been through rehab at least once to often, the Trux are a revelation when they slouch onto the stage.

Sounding like the bastard offspring of the Stooges and the Rolling Stones, with Neil's slacker chic acting as the perfect foil to Jennifer as she prowls the stage, looking like Nico pulling Joey Ramone poses, Royal Trux impose a mighty P-Funk backing onto the rampant psychedelia screaming from the guitar amps, while remaining more fucked up than funked up. 'Morphine Resident' and other past glories are ram-raided from the back catalogue and thrust among more recent material like 'Liar' and 'I'm Ready', showing that it's possible to pillage the past and not sound like Ocean Colour Scene. If this is what living like hermits half way up a mountain does for your music, then I'll be off up Snowdon.