Everybody's Gone To The Duchess

Sunday 11th October: I know what you're thinking - Sunday is a family day, right? I agree and, being honest, there aren't too many acts that I've been tempted to break that unofficial rule for. Good job I've got an understanding family as tonight I'm on a solo outing to the Duchess.

Support tonight was from Jonathan Jeremiah (and MySpace), man and guitar from London. Rakishly good-looking, he reminded me a little of Russell Brand, but with talent. Unlike the similar mid-week act, Mr Jeremiah had an incredibly strong voice and knew how to work both the microphone and audience for maximum effect. His set consisted of two songs that he announced were covers - one that only one one audience member recognised, the other James Taylor's Machine Gun Kelly. The rest were, I believe, his own material with titles such as Happiness and Sweet Sunshine (according to his "music lawyer" you need a weather song). The guitar-playing was good and the songs livened up the crowd well, as any good support act should do.

But, I'm guessing, most of us were there for the headline act - Nerina Pallot (and, again, on MySpace). Nerina's 2006 album, Fires, is one of those that sits in my collection, gathering dust until such time as I remember it's there, play it and fall in love with it all over again. Currently touring to promote her recently released third album, The Graduate, she's listed as Rock/Pop/Alternative on MySpace. I would add a touch of folk-pop to that list.

Unfortunately, I didn't see too much of her during the gig. After being alerted that she was coming on stage by applause from the front (it was a reasonably big crowd for the Duchess and certainly bigger than the seven people who saw her when she last played York, eight years ago), I caught a brief glimpse before she failed to appear in front of the microphone I had set my sights on. Had she fallen? Was she, in fact, a midget? No, it turns out that Nerina was playing keyboards of to the side of the stage for most of the set, rising to play guitar for just a couple of songs - the wonderful Everything's Illuminated and Everybody's Gone To War. The latter was brilliantly rocked-up for the live performance.

In between songs from both The Graduate and Fires, Nerina proved to have a great rapport with the audience and a very dry wit. Her speaking voice comes across as a bit dreamy, a bit dippy, a little spaced-out, totally different to her fantastic singing voice. "I seem to have lost a shoe," she announces the first time she stands up. Then, "I've found it now." On another occasion, "You're all very quiet. I hope I haven't brought the mood down by singing about a disastrous love affair." (sic). She also kept her band members (bass and drums) on their toes by changing the set list around at whim.

After over an hour, Nerina announced that it was time to end and that she would be finishing with a medley of songs from her favourite singer-songwriter, before launching into a story about editing her own Wikipedia entry to spice it up a bit. She seemed a little upset by the fact that some killjoy removed the "fact" that she was the love-child of Elton John and Kiki Dee after just twenty-four hours. There followed the medley consisting of Your Song, Benny and the Jets and Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting - strange, really, as I had been mentally comparing Nerina to Elton John during the set.

After a short, obligatory time off-stage, Nerina returned to play a two-song encore, accompanying herself on the keyboard. I didn't recognise the first song but the finale was the Ivor Novello nominated Sophia, beautifully sung and a great end to a fantastic gig. Definitely worth a Sunday evening out.

Mid-Week Technical Drawing

Tuesday 6th October: It's not often we venture out during the week but Roj had been sent a recommendation for tonight's headline act at Fibbers. They are Engineers and are about to support Porcupine Tree. That was enough information for me to decide to go along. Well, that and the fact that they had album of the week in the Sunday Times a short while back. (It's worth pointing out that I don't read the Sunday Times and had picked that little fact up from a magazine advert for the album...) More on them later.

When we arrived the first act was already on stage (and seemed to have more than a few friends in the audience). I'm afraid I wasn't concentrating too much and didn't catch his name but it was another man-and-guitar act. He played a couple of covers that I recognised - Talking Heads' Psycho Killer and (I think) Queen's Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon (although we both thought it was The Kinks at the time). Other than those, there wasn't a great deal to hold my interest. I've said it before and, no doubt, I'll say it again, but it takes a lot of courage to perform on stage in front of any sort of audience. So I take my hat off to the guy and, if by some slim chance he reads this, I apologise for not being able to at least name him.

Leeds four-piece Sketches took to the stage next and upped the noise level a tad. Three guitarists with a drummer hidden somewhere in the dark at the back of the stage, with two of the guys sharing vocal duties. The guitar playing was, at times, incredibly atmospheric and reminded us a little of Coldplay, although I thought they were brasher and louder. Whatever their influences are, they sounded pretty good (and it helps that the Fibbers sound guy seems to mix the instruments a lot better than you used to get in the venue). The lyrics were a little indistinct but the overall effect was something that I could get used to.

And so to the band we were waiting for. The Engineers have been around for years but, due to a restructuring of their original record company, only released their second album Three Fact Fader this year, four years after their full debut release Engineers. As I said above, they are about to support the excellent Porcupine Tree and it was on the basis that they would probably sound a little similar to them that I decided to see them. Billed as a five piece (vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards and drums) they were joined on stage by a second, female, vocalist. I'm sorry to say that I haven't been able to find any reference to her on any of the band's various web-sites but, to make amends, here's a

(fairly poor) photo...

Given my comments above about the sound mixing at Fibbers, it's a little hard to understand why this band's keyboards were mixed so loud that you could barely hear the guitars behind them (literally - both guitar and bass were, unusually, placed at the back of the stage). However, I'm assuming it was right otherwise what would be the point of a sound-check?

It may just be that the Engineers' sound was just too big for a venue the size of Fibbers. The music hung heavy in the air, keyboards as thick as fog and drums pounding at the audience. The guitars were there, it just took an effort to pick them out. The vocals, it has to be said, were muddy for the most part and indistinct at best but that didn't seem to matter. Space Rock? Psychedelia? Shoe-gazing? Atmospheric Rock? Industrial Rock? Who cares?? Bloody good would just about cover it. "We're going to calm it down a bit," said lead singer Simon Phipps about halfway through the all too short set, before trying to project his vocals through a song that ended with a blistering instrumental. Calm indeed...

I don't think I've heard anything like the Engineers' sound before but I certainly hope I get a chance to hear them again. Superb.

Progessively Different

Saturday 3rd October: It's the start of a busy week gig-wise, as I'll be attending three in just eight days.

Tonight it's a rare trip (these days) to Fibbers to see Idle Jack And The Big Sleep, who I've never heard of but Roj has heard good recommendations for.

Taking to the stage first, with very little fanfare, were Lost From Atlas, a three-piece originally from York but now based in Leeds. We started their set sitting off to one side, with a restricted view but were soon drawn to the main floor area by the stunning sounds coming from the stage. Intricate guitar playing alternated with finger-smashing chords. A small drum-kit provided some of the most interesting and inventive drumming I have ever seen - how many other drummers play cymbals which are resting on the drums? Or play the drums with cymbals?? And, it was all held together by some subtle but effective bass.

There was very little audience interaction. The band briefly introduced themselves about halfway through their set. That could have been after one track or four such was the change in styles during each track ("tracks" rather than "songs" - there were no vocals). Both Roj and I were reminded of Ishtar, but Lost From Atlas are more structured than them.

A few days ago, in a discussion at work, I put forward the argument that true progressive rock should always include a keyboard. After seeing this band, I retract that argument. Their performance tonight provided a soundscape which would fit any prog fan's dreams. An album is due in November, with the launch at Fibbers on the 14th. I suspect we'll be there. Very highly recommended.

Imagine, if you will, what you would get if you crossed two fine head-banging guitarists, one sullen bassist (who you might vaguely remember seeing before but can't think where), one drummer who pounds the skins so hard that he is in constant danger of losing his glasses, a flamboyant showman (who himself looks like a cross between Mark Bolan and Slash). Got that? Right, add in a small brass section (two trumpets and two trombones, I think) and then a smidgeon each of theremin (link added for those, like me, who have no idea what one is...), banjo, stylophone and megaphone. Can you imagine what you have ended up with?

Well, the answer is Idle Jack And the Big Sleep and you can probably see my problem in describing their style. From the items above you might think "Chaos" and, in a way, you could be correct. Certainly some of the songs performed tonight were a little on the unstructured side, but that's not to say they weren't good. In fact, after a start which left me wondering what the hell was happening on stage, I found myself liking Idle Jack a lot more than I expected to. The performance veered towards the weird side of prog rock but, undoubtedly, it was progressive.

It wasn't perfect - most of the time the brass section worked but just occasionally it seemed to be intruding a little into the music and vocalist Robert Loxley Hughes sounded a little flat and shouty in a couple of places - but it was incredibly good overall. The band was formed in 2005 and their relative longevity shone through in an assured performance. Yet another band to add to the watchlist.

Tonight cost just £5, a price I would happily have paid to see either of the bands individually.