The first local bands showcase at The Bird in Hand took place on Saturday (11th) called 'Local Heroes' and featured, Audiocrime from Stafford and two bands from Stoke, Amateur Assassins and Herzoga. Rachel the lead singer of Audiocrime had been suffering from a bad cold and bless her cotton socks still did her best and croaked her way through Audiocrime's set. Audiocrime play a fairly formulaic style of music, but it was well honed and when Rachel's voice broke through you wished that her larynx and not been so lacerated by the ravishes of illness, c'est la vie. As Audiocrime performed, the Amateur Assassins to one side of the stage, fired off darts of alcholol fuelled poison arrows, in an attempt to linguistically assassinate the Audiocrime, but thankfully, their anti-rock star rock star antics failed to destroy their targets. Next up indeed were the Assassins themselves, with the vocalist swigging from his 23rd bottle of lager and swaying and stumbling, spitting and screaming over the top of a very tight and noisy band, the Amateur Assassins sought to divide, conquer, then divide again. If you like it you like it, if you don't you won't. So fuck you. Finally, Herzoga took to the stage with a palpable increase in professionalism and stage presence. This was the writer of this reviews first time seeing Herzoga perform and it was impressive. Stylistically, there was a sense of the geek chic, and the music mixed up post-punk choppiness with something that emerged as a groove and back again. The bassist entered the crowd at every opportunity, climbing on the furniture that resides in the back room of the venue and played his own personal gig to the wall for minute or two, was great to watch adding to the energy of the music. A good finish to what was a quiet night crowd wise, but to what indicates that £2 to be entertained for the evening is like finding a steak going cheap in the bargain section of the supermarket. Too good to miss. The next night at The Bird in Hand from the 'ford squad falls on the 25th September and features Mancunian legends Gideon Conn, The WhiskyCats & Butler-Williams, plus acoustic support from Birmingham's Lizzie Piffany and Dj Rich Upsetter spinning funk to soul, disco to house...£4 / 2.50 NUS.