Dawn Of The Replicants, at Liverpool Lomax

THROUGH a haze of cigarette smoke, singer Paul Vickers revealed how he had prepared for the show - drinking six pints of lager, eating a sackful of burgers and watching Only Fools And Horses.

An incongruous mixture if ever there was, it sums up Dawn Of The Replicants perfectly.

Out on the road, taking their second album Wrong Town Wrong Planet Three Hours Late to the people, they're a band who thrive on their own ambiguity. The Pixies, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, Captain Beefheart - they've all been named as major reference points, but it is impossible to pin a label on this famous five.

Songs like the chanting Rule The Roost and the stomping Big Hefty Hounds touch on chaos, but true to form, the Reps as they are affectionately known manage to hold on to their strong pop sensibility.

Despite the poor turnout, no one left the house disappointed.

JAMES SCANLON

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.