Rocking the Rockmount were, drummer, Darran James, Mark Helyar, Dave Kershaw and Grant Mellor in the public bar. (Picture by Mark Windsor, 0642278)

I arrived with friends midway through the Johndoes’ thumping first set at the Rockmount’s public bar the Saturday before last in a squarish, rectangular room packed with people.

It was an interesting choice of venue for the band and highly successful on the occasion. The crowd were lining the sides, standing on the seats and thronging the dancefloor and because the band were positioned inside the door as you went in – opposite the bar area – you got an immediate feel for the vibe in the place, pretty much as the band would have experienced it.

This, despite repeated power cuts, was excellent – heaving, electric, sweaty. It is possible The Johndoes’ sound and lighting system were overloading the establishment electrics or maybe gremlins had arrived, simply to test their professional mettle. The band went down a storm.

If anything, the power cuts added to the ambience on the night. As the lights went out on the occasions the power switch tripped, drummer Darran James ploughed ahead as sole provider of the beat, allowing the vocalists to lead the audience through verses and choruses of up to five different songs, testing its memory for lyrics in an impromptu version of rock community singing. It was enjoyably intense in a friendly sort of way and were it not for fire regulations, the room would probably have been lit up by a sea of lighters held up by punters indulging in reverie.

As seems usual on such occasions, women outnumbered men on the dance-floor when it came to strutting their stuff and gettin’ on down. Looking around the room, the higher ratio of girls continued, probably attesting to a loyal following carried over from the band’s halcyon years.

The band broke up in the mid-1990s and reformed at Christmas with a view to playing live gigs roughly once every two months. The innovation as far as their live performances are concerned is picking out the smaller or less regular venues to play in. Previous gigs saw them at the Venture Inn and Pieces Bar.

The Johndoes feature Mark Helyar and Grant Mellor, both on guitar and vocals, Darran James on drums, Matt Keyho on bass and backing vocals and Dave Kershaw on keyboards. To name but a few, they played a mix of classic covers from the late 70s through the 80s and 90s and up to the noughties. From the Police’s Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Down Under by Men at Work, Jammin’ by Bob Marley to more recent covers including numbers by the likes of James, 500 miles by the Proclaimers, Yellow by Coldplay and more recent songs such as Somewhere Only We Know, by Keane,  the band tapped into the pleasure banks of the crowd’s musical memories.

With no single instrumentalist standing out from the others, so far as I could see or hear, the band was tight and played as an ensemble, which was all to the good, given its selection of music. More important is the fact that across the board the band is strong vocally, adding extra power to covers of The Police, U2 etc.

Weather With You by Crowded House provided the official end to the second set, which was apt – the audience responded exactly as the song said, following the band on their latest musical outing – whatever the power was doing.

It’s good to see The Johndoes back on the scene. It’ll be interesting to see where their next gig will be.