Shaft of Steel + Absent Heart + Making Plans for Nigel + Carina Stainforth

Mid- week Smasher!! 4 x great live bands to liven up your evening

Shaft of Steel + Absent Heart +Making Plans for Nigel + Carina Stainforth

Shaft of Steel 

is a 1980s-influenced UK heavy rock band that blends melodic metal and synth wave to create a new genre, "Metalwave".
Our debut EP was independently released in 2014, which led to a string of festivals and support slots with major artists in the AOR genre. Our first full-length album was released by German label "AOR Heaven" in 2020 to wide acclaim in heavy rock magazines worldwide.

Absent Heart

Absent Heart are three hims and a her, forged in the sonic shadows of North London’s rock’n’roll underbelly. Raised on feedback, late nights in dive bars, and all bound by a shared hunger for the raw and the real — this is a band that bleeds heart, howl, and honesty.

At the helm is Kat — lead vocals and lyrical firebrand, bringing both bite and beauty. On guitar and backing vocals, Trystan stirs melody with menace and grace, while Stephen anchors the storm on bass, weaving in harmonies that haunt. Completing the circle is Mica, wielding percussive frenetic drums, percussion, BVs and — when the spirit moves — the occasional cowbell!

Musically, Absent Heart wears no single badge. Their influences sprawl across decades and genres — the dark romance of post-punk, the defiance of alt-rock, the sweat and spit of garage. Their original songs dive deep into love, rage, and the strange space in-between — tackling themes from anti-capitalism to zombies, with a detour into waterboarding. If you think you’ve heard it all, think again.

There’s no autopilot here. Every show is a surge — visceral, unpredictable, alive. Catch Absent Heart live at The Fiddler’s Elbow (May 13) a date you’ll regret missing.

With full access to their own recording studio, Absent Heart are currently crafting their debut album: a 9-track journey featuring the foot-stomping "Midnight" and the cinematic, slow-burn Bond style "Silence" Tell Me Your Name just dropped as their demo single with eight other tracks to drop in 2026, so in the meantime expect to see, feel and hear something special soon.