Neil Duncan manages to report on the live music in Sanctuary on November 8, despite the interference of a "drunken idiot"

Amethyst Kyss are a female fronted pop-punk/pop-rock trio and on this night they were playing their fourth show.

The crowd was a little sparse at the beginning, but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in response. The band played well and are really starting to get into their stride now. Of course there are still some nerves, but they only serve to hone the skills. Well on the way to becoming a great local band.

Next up another newish Basingstoke band, called L.U.X who I have not seen before. They are described as indie/punk, but I am not sure that is a thing, and performance-wise they are definitely an indie band, or maybe a pop band.

They were very tight, but a little on the light and bouncy side with not much to get your teeth into, although, to be fair, excessive smoke drove me from the venue so I did not see the whole set. I will endeavour to check them out again as soon as possible.

I am sure I have seen the next band Champion Jack before as they are fairly local. They are a good solid alternative rock band, with a super tight delivery and catchy songs.

The crowd had grown a bit by now and a great atmosphere was building. I guess it might have been some fans of these guys and more happy faces definitely inspire a band to play better.

Then it was time for some Basingstoke ex-pats to return home with their brand-new London-based punk band. Strange Planes they are called and from the opening riffs they demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Really chunky and satisfyingly heavy - this is the best thing they have done since The Misnomer (a million years ago). Now if they could just crank up the main vocals to match the bite of the music, then they would be perfect.

It was really getting rammed now as the main support band, Swim Good, from Guildford took to the stage. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but on a sort of mixed genre-night anything is possible.

Maybe it was just the contrast between their light-fluffiness and the previous bands’ meatiness that had left me ill-prepared to savour their good points, of which they had many.

Technically they were very good, had a good tempo to the songs, the delivery was dynamic and energetic, and they had a lot of fans really enjoying them. Maybe they will grow on me?

Without doubt, the headline band were the ones to watch - Hearts Under Fire are an all-girl Surrey melodic punk band who are quite simply one of my favourite bands in the whole DIY music-scene.

I make no apologies for worshipping the ground they walk on because they are such a good band. They have clever songs, thought-provoking lyrics, fantastic musicians and lovely people.

I was delighted to see that pretty much everyone around me felt the same way and thoroughly enjoyed the mix of old songs and new material of their recently released debut album. They have never let me down yet and that record still stands.

A big thanks to all the bands for playing, to the Rockbitch team for promoting the event and to the manager and staff of Sanctuary for a brilliant night.

A raspberry however goes to the drunken idiot harassing me whilst I was trying to take pictures etc - there's always one isn't there!

Neil Duncan ISSUEPUNKZINE