BUNNY and I decided we'd look in at the Thursday show at the Bully.

It's been a while since either of has been to a show there (apart from the occasional Tuesday jazz night), and Osprey is both impresario and sound engineer that night.

So what went on?

Half Naked

The first band was Half Naked (I apologise, Bunny thought this would be hilarious!).

They are young, and fairly new on the scene, but have recently released their first EP 'Falcon Punch'.

It's the first we've heard them, and we're impressed.

The songs have an angry, driving punk rock rhythm and songs punctuated by clever breaks and tempo shifts.

Green Day and The Vandals come to mind.

The set list is well chosen and the band builds from song to song.

There is very tight musicianship, some good solo work from the lead guitarist and a thrashing performance from the drummer.

Chatting to the (small, but enthusiastic) crowd, the general impression is very favourable.

Cocaine Cowboys

Next up are the Cocaine Cowboys.

It's a bit 'paint by numbers' punk, right down to the stage craft (which we both admit, they do very well - if there is any guitar trick from the punk years they hadn't thought of, from kicking it across the stage to scraping it across the mic stand, I'd have been surprised.

They play competently and with great energy, but even the crowd described them simply as 'loud'. This they are indeed.

Sadly, the vocals, and, by implication the lyrics, don't come through the heavy noise and distortion; we therefore presume that their song 'Lindsay Lohan' was about the troubled actor, and hope the lyrics say something ironic or profound - but as Bunny said, 'I'll wait for the movie to come out.'

Poor Bunny, though. He has 1930s ears and you can see he's thinking about going home and putting his favourite 78 on the gramophone.

Half Decent

We had expected three acts, but in these recessionary times we all like a bit of a BOGOF deal and are surprised to find that Half Decent, a hip hop and rap duo, occupies the third of four spots that night.

As an act, they live up to their name. But there is definitely ability and talent in our young wordsmith's performance.

Bunny mutters something about Hamlet - 'speak trippingly on the tongue' - and this makes sense after another drink.

The girl singer has a pleasant voice and serves as welcome and effective counterpoint.

Neither Bunny nor I can claim to be fans of hip hop and rap, and equally won't claim to be authorities on it, but for those who are, we’d argue they are worth a listen.

Daisy E & the Unsteadies

The headline act is Daisy E and the Unsteadies, a six-piece act new to the scene who had their first Cellar debut a couple of months ago.

This is their first time headlining.

The band's sound is pleasingly poppy, a mix of rockabilly and ska with faint inflections of psychobilly and skank.

It picks up the crowd after what's been a pretty heavy bill. Visually, the band looks impressive - like a rumble between the mods and the rockers with Marilyn Monroe and Jackie Kennedy looking on - and comprises two guitars, semi-acoustic bass (which has a clear open sound throughout the performance), drums, vocals by Daisy E and a trumpet player whom Bunny feels could be more prominent - but of course Bunny would say that, he's a trumpet player.

Bunny notes that Daisy E sings within the natural range of her voice, eschewing the tendency of many women singers (especially those of the X Factor variety) to imitate Mariah Carey when they'd be better advised to imitate Amy Winehouse.

Bunny went on a rant about 'rampant Mariah Carey-ism'. I suggested he keep this for a separate monograph.

On the whole, they perform well and generate a good sense of fun, but musically they are still coming together as a band.

If they keep working at it, we wouldn't be surprised to be seeing much more of them in the future.

...the aftermath...

The evening descends into the usual post-gig madness.

Bunny and I have another drink, carefully negotiating the logical progression from Half Naked to Half Decent to 'Half Cut'.

Suddenly Bunny can't resist trying out the trumpet player's trumpet in the bar.

This goes down surprisingly well - or at least not as badly as I'd reckoned.

As it's getting on for midnight, we take it as our cue to have one more for the road and disappear before Bunny gets an ASBO.