Camel Club, Amber Rooms, Queen’s Road ...with the Fullertons and Langley Road. Monday, July 21

As far as ideas go this is a pretty good one: take a cracking good, criminally underrated venue, squeeze in two top-quality local acts and cram it to the rafters with 50 or so eager music fans.

I am, of course, referring to the Amber Rooms in Queen’s Road and its latest live music night, the Camel Club.

First trialed a year of two back by the lads from Camel One (aka the Fullertons) in Walkabout and Barakka respectively, it’s a perfect mix of live music and DJ sets in a pretty spot-on venue, with live acts taking its strangely captivating beer cellar (I mean basement stage) and said DJ set left upstairs.

“We knew the night had a lot of potential but never quite found the right venue for it,” said the Fullertons’ Dave Chanell, sounding rightly proud of decent first-night turn-out. “Obviously we can’t do Taylors anymore; Walkabout was too bureaucratic and Barakka was never quite right for us.

“But we reckon the Amber Rooms is just about perfect. It’s pretty intimate in the cellar so we’re looking to get in a lot of acoustic acts – some local and some from further away.

On the evidence of Monday night it’s tough to disagree; two cracking local acts destined for much better things, a couple of pints, and an evening in the company of three dozen or so like minded guys and girls. Beats an evening in front of the telly any day.

More now on said cracking local acts…..

Fresh from a weekend gig in Moscow (yes, I said Moscow – check this week’s news feature online if you don’t believe me) organisers the Fullerton’s offered up exactly what we’ve come to expect from them: a tight, predictably enjoyable set from a bunch of mates who, by their own admission, should be seeking out bigger and better things. (More news on that front can also be found in said news piece.) What I really want to talk about, however, is not the Fullertons at all, rather about Langley Road.

These lads are good. Very good. So good, in fact, that I’m giving a not-so-subtle poke in the eye to my standard review format to tell you right away.

Squeezed into said, dank stale beer cellar the Watford-based four-piece (two sets of brothers, believe it or not) served up a rarified treat; with the half dozen or so irresistibly catchy, guitar led tunes on offer more than soothing my back-to-work-blues.

So too they brought more than a cheer to the thirty odd other punters lucky enough to be watching, what, in my humble opinion, could well be the best unsigned act in town.

These guys could bring a smile to the chops of just about anyone – despite the fact that at least three quarters of them would have struggled to get served in the upstairs bar.

Indeed, watching from the back of said venue I had to consult my glasses at least twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things; with hardly a tuft of facial hair between them the guys were little short of fantastic.

If you’ve got a spare five minutes, jump on the net and check out their track Paddy Mayne – a track so good that you’ll be singing it for days after just one listen.

The Camel Club returns to the Amber Rooms on Monday night with sets from Young Husband (aka Euan Hinshelwood) and London-based Thomas J Speight.

Both are well worth a listen – I’ll see you there.