Uh-oh. The Croft has a megadrive with Street Fighter II Turbo on the big screen. Fortunately the proximity of other gamers and my inability to actually play the game means I don't end up missing all the bands in the back room. Of course between bands is another story...

Mea Culpa play to an empty room. Well it seems empty, because as usual everyone has glued themselves to the walls. We're about two (maybe three at times) layers deep and there is a big semicircle of floor space that the singer utilises to great effect. Seemingly unabashed by the fact that hardly anybody is here - it's just going to be one of those nights - he tears around the room, molesting boys and girls alike, hunched into contortions of apparent agony as he screams his lungs out into the microphone. Then he grins and climbs all over the speakers. The music is ebow-heavy metal, little symphonies of anguished melodies interspersed with fearsome chugging metal stroke feedback thrashing.

Stranger Son of WB aren't big on the heavy distortion and also elect to stay on the stage despite the empty floor. Their songs are chaotic but very rhythmical and almost funky at times with some nice shouting and growling thrown in for good measure.

Arabrot are none of these things. After the tight fury of SSoWB they give the impression of being a newly formed school metal band. They've found a good drummer and the practices consist of the other two playing random notes/noise/rhythms over the top, but because there is a solid beat behind it they think it sounds great (with added screaming). It doesn't.

Back by the big screen our SF II places have been taken over by a couple of guys who like playing Blanka . They invite us to participate in friendly competition leading to a final battle for beer. 'No special moves, no special moves' the more annoying one whines as my friend humiliates the repetitive electrocution junkie and they leave in shame. No drinks are bought.

So Geisha have lost their drummer it seems. Does this deter them from making a fantastic hard, driving noise and taking us through ever-escalating levels of noisesome electro? No it does not. Indeed they are reborn, rather than diminished and present us with a whole new take on their sound, which shouldn't strictly be possible without real crash cymbals. The drum tracks have been lovingly reproduced on the laptop using one of the more irritating 'acid house' snare sounds from the eighties.

The real miracle is that they manage to keep the complicated time changes together and the fury of the music still rages even though the snare is pretty much all we can hear of the drums. There are a few new songs in the mix and once again Geisha deliver a great show to a somewhat diminished audience. At least people move to the front this time (namely me, and a few others).

The Street Fighter punks aren't out there as we leave the place, but Geisha have beaten all the fighting spirit out of us anyway with their lovely noise. I don't care that I don't know all the special moves, or that it is 2am before I get to bed and it's a school night (insert 'Geisha have all the moves for me' cheeseline here).