Nicky & the Dots, a totally unflamboyant but vital, hard-working band enthused their audience, and justifiably so. A lively and effective pop combo the Dots were formed in November ‘77 by Nick Dwyer and Chris D’Ouseley who met at Art College. The band revealed a committed loyalty to their fawning fans and Nicky, never leaving the footlights, jerked and jived at them until beads of sweat glistened on his brow. The Dots’ style is energetic but detailed and the songs amusing if you can hear the words. Nick up front was gangly and wiry, jiggling and crouching and doing little dances and he had a certain charisma, while Chris on guitar was a bit of a rocker with heavy staccato treble on the quiet. Ken Hogg is an alert and plucky drummer, solid accompaniment to Dave Blotto Williams thrusting in where he could with his rubbery and funky basslines. Topped off with Paul Clark who’s a rather flashy keyboard player on his old Vox organ, it’s a treat for sore ears. It has been said that if Talking Heads (the Dots did a kicking version of Psychokiller in their set) are XTC’s foster parents, then the Dots are XTC’s second cousins and are apparently really great at turning a happy little ditty into something permanent and not-so-dumb. When asked to describe their song ‘Girl Gets Nervous’ Nick said: “It’s a lot of images thrown together like clips from films that don’t add up to anything.” The Dots could quite easily have gone far. Not many bands can pull off overstatement and repetition as well as they could.