Socialising With Dead Comedians

Saturday 24th April: It's an old venue under a new name tonight. I'm fairly sure that the last time I saw a band in this room, the building was called The Bay Horse. I was still at school and was watching a band from Bradford called Haze. That was twenty-plus years ago. Now it's Stereo and we're here for a very similar line-up to that of a gig Roj and I attended last year.

The only difference is tonight's opener. Robert Loxley Hughes was the flamboyant frontman of Idle Jack And The Big Sleep who have, we found out tonight, split up. Tonight it was just him and his (well, somebody else's) guitar, some bad experiences and the resulting songs. Hughes seems to be a bit of a tortured soul who takes his experiences, chews them up and spits them out as lyrics. One song, very emotionally performed, was about an absent friend. Another was introduced as having its roots in a long story which boiled down to "very nasty lady" (tidied up for a family audience). The guitar playing varied from minimal to as close to thrash as you can probably get with an acoustic. The lyrics were mostly clear, except for a couple of times when the emotions got the better of Hughes, who has a strong voice. This was a very good performance bit it veered just too much towards angry for my liking. However, how many times are you going to go to a gig and hear a song with the word "hypothalamus" in the lyrics? The set was worth watching just for that - although, it has to be said that this was a David Ward Maclean song.

The last time we saw Dave Woodcock And The Dead Comedians, there was just the two of them performing (Dave himself and Chris Saunders on guitar) and both Roj and I commented that we would like to hear what the full band sounded like. Tonight we got that pleasure, as Chris Murphy (piano), Andrew Wood (drums) and Lee Bradley (bass) were all on stage. We were treated to songs from last year's album release, Omaha High Low, as well as new ones from a forthcoming album. Songs about gambling and love, drenched in alcohol and wreathed in cigarette smoke (metaphorically, obviously, this was in indoor gig...) The music is a sort of mix of rock and roll and country, with a lovely steel guitar sound and the couple of songs that I remembered from the last gig had, quite obviously, a fuller sound. It was an energetic performance, with Dave gesticulating and dancing round the limited stage area. Indeed, at one point, he actually took the microphone into the audience and ended up singing while on his back. In another "rare song" event, the band played one song about Dave's hometown - my guess is that there can't be many more songs about Rotherham than there are about the hypothalamus... Anyway, I'm happy to report that the full band is a whole lot more enjoyable than the cut down version we saw previously. So much so that I bought myself a copy of Omaha High Low.

Regular readers will know that I'm a big fan of GT Turbo (a.k.a Boss Caine) and tonight saw another solo performance of songs from the album The Ship That Sailed. GT wore his annoyance on his chest (and back), with a T-shirt proclaiming "Shut the f*ck up, the band are playing". Sadly the message didn't get across to all members of the audience and, even after moving away from the group doing their best to define themselves as "loud and annoying", we could still hear them over parts of the performance. GT's set was comprised of what I assume to be his current standards, including my favourite Leaving Victoria and close second (though not on the album), Smoking In My Back Yard. Like Hughes, GT's songs are based on his experiences, not all of which are good. Unlike Hughes, there is a lot less anger on show. I've mentioned before that his songs have an immediate effect on me and I was able to sing along (silently, for the most part) to most of them. There's not too much more I can add, except to say that, somehow, GT's voice, which is usually superb, seemed a lot stronger tonight. I'm assuming that was something to do with the acoustics or the mixing.

As good as the previous acts were, we were mainly here for one reason - Hope & Social's return to York. They are one of our favourite bands and are currently promoting their second album, April, which is available from the above link, using their usual "pay what you want/can afford" method. Honestly, try it - you can download it for free (if you really can't afford to pay anything), they are a totally inoffensive, very talented band and I can't think of any reason not to like them. What's the worst that can happen? Right, plug over.

Tonight, the band, with very new drummer "he doesn't know half the songs" Ian, and new bassist James Hamilton and a three piece brass section, all of them resplendent in the now obligatory blue blazers. The stage looked very crowded and I was beginning to fear for the safety of both the audience and band members given how little space there was for both the trombone and Simon's guitar-playing. Thankfully, by the end of the night, there were no injuries and the brass section quickly mastered getting off and on stage quickly.

You don't see Hope & Social perform, you immerse yourselves in the performance. Whether it's singing the chorus to Red Red Rose, laughing at Rich and Simon's jokes and antics, performing the backing to Looking For Answers, engaging in banter or (and this is a new one to me) being part of the kazoo orchestra, you are a part of the gig. Tonight was no exception. As well as songs from the new album, we heard some from Architects Of This Church, including a proper acoustic version of Looking For Answers which seemed to be brought forward in the set to give Rich some time to sort out his pedal problems. As usual, some of the songs as performed live are quite a bit different than as recorded, with some very heavy extended musical sections, but they work just as well in both versions. The added brass also provided a new dimension to some of the songs, especially when they remembered to play... I don't think it's possible to see a bad gig from Hope & Social, but I do know that tonight's was the best I've seen so far.

Reasoning With The Dream-weaver

Thursday 22nd April: I sometimes feel that I'm running out of things to say about the bands I see. Especially bands that I see (or have seen) reasonably regularly. If I like them, I'm unlikely to change my opinion. (And, let's face it, if I don't like them, I'm unlikely to see them regularly.) Also, regular acts aren't going to change their line-ups, or even their set lists too dramatically, so there isn't really going to be that much new that I can say. The likes of, "xxx were superb" or "another cracking performance" will begin to sound repetitive and, perhaps, gushy and aren't going to win me any awards for creative writing. There are times, however, when I don't care.

Tonight, I thought that I'd struggle to come up with anything new to say about Morpheus Rising. They are certainly one of my favourite local bands (I think I've said that before) and that would be the fourth time I've seen them perform in just over a year. The relatively short sets (on all but one occasion, I have seen them as support acts) mean that they have managed to stay reasonably fresh by mixing the sets up slightly. While I was expecting to enjoy the performance tonight, I didn't realise by how much.

I don't know what it was - maybe I found a rare sweet spot for sound in Fibbers, maybe it was my proximity to the stage which gave me a clearer view of the ease and sheer enjoyment with which the band play. It might even have been a growing familiarity with the songs, which meant I could relax a bit more while listening. Whatever it was, tonight was easily the best performance I have seen from them. Graeme's vocals were as clear as I've ever heard them, Pete and Daymo's guitar-playing was simply fantastic with some previously (to me, anyway) hidden harmonies becoming apparent, and Andy and Gibbo's rhythms pounded me across the chest.

Even better was the fact that the much-anticipated new material finally put in an appearance. Just two songs, In The End and set-ender Hold On (possibly a brave move ending on a new song, but it worked) but they were very welcome and just as good as the more familiar material. The new songs and the fact that my personal favourite, Those Who Watch, made it back into the set after being missing last time around, gave tonight's performance an added "Wow!" factor. Given that most of the audience would have been here for the headline act, I suspect Morpheus Rising picked up some new fans tonight, and deservedly so. Sadly, I think this will be the last time I see the band this year and there is, that I know of, no word on the proposed album. Still, it gives me something to look forward to...

At the back end of last year, when I first heard that Morpheus Rising were to be supporting The Reasoning tonight, I had heard of the headliners, but that was about it. I knew that they were part of the loose "family" of bands surrounding Mostly Autumn and that they had supported Fish in York in 2008 but that was it. I hadn't heard any of their output but I knew that there was a good chance that I'd like it and definitely wanted to take the opportunity to see them live. Then they had a website sale and I managed to pick up both their albums very cheaply. Once they hand arrived and I'd had a chance to listen to them, there was no doubt that I would be attending tonight's gig.

There have been line-up changes since the second album, Dark Angel, was released and the latest, Adverse Camber (which they are currently touring) was recorded and the latter is as different from the former as that one was from the debut, Awakening. Not radically different, but enough to show a progression. The Reasoning have a darker edge than some of the "related" bands and can be a little heavier musically, which is counterpointed nicely by Rachel Cohen's lovely voice.

Tonight's set was made up of songs from all three albums. Indeed, it opened with Awakening - first track from the first album - a track which shows the difference between Rachel's almost delicate vocals and Dylan's incredibly powerful voice. There was a couple of times when the sound wavered slightly but, for the most part, this was another incredible performance. Very tight playing which produced an almost solid wall of music. Unfortunately, Fibbers' smallish stage looked a little crowded and new keyboard player Tony Turrell was relegated to a satanic brooding presence at the back, while I could barely see Jake on the drums at all (although you could certainly hear him and what a star he was!) The other new member, the red-haired firecracker Maria Owen, seemed to own the stage from the middle, dancing as though her life depended on it, playing acoustic guitar (which, being honest, I could barely make out) and producing some incredibly powerful and clear backing vocals.

The set wasn't all dark and heavy. Two acoustic songs - (from memory, but I might be wrong) Chasing Rainbows and Dark Angel - showed a nice variety and provided a welcome lull from the more energetic numbers. Rachel is a near-perfect front-woman, engaging well with the audience (a lot of whom seemed to be regulars) and the whole band seemed to enjoy performing (which, I assume is half the battle...)

With a set weighing in at around an hour and a half, and an encore which started with Owain Roberts playing Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here before morphing into another track from Adverse Camber, this was as good a performance as I expected it to be, if not better.

Tonight's two acts bands might, on paper, not immediately fit together - one heavy metal, one prog rock. Indeed with many of the other current crop of prog bands it might not have worked as well as it did, but with The Reasoning's darker side, it was a better fit than you might have expected. The combination and the performances meant that this is easily my favourite gig of the year so far and it's going to take something very special to beat it.

CD Review: Boss Caine - The Ship That Sailed

Tuesday 20th April: There are few guitar-playing singer-songwriters that I feel the need to see perform live again after seeing them for the first time. Nor are there many whose songs instantly burrow into my subconscious after hearing them just once. Daniel Lucas/GT Turbo is one of the few, certainly in recent times, and I can't help but wish that his gigs and my free time lined up a bit better. On that basis, I didn't hesitate to pre-order The Ship That Sailed, debut album from Boss Caine, the York-based music collective formed around Daniel's songs.

Apparently, the songs on the album were all written over the last few years - this is no "let's write an album" endeavour - during which both the bright lights of London tempted him down South and the lure of his hometown saw him return. And, it seems, those bright lights may have led to more dark times than was to be expected. Indeed, the jauntiness of opener Keep The Homefires Burning belies the sombre mood of the rest of the album which is filled with sad and touching lyrics.

It's not all darkness and depression. The lightness returns, albeit less evidently during Sha La La and there is a degree of hope that love can endure in Santiago. But Daniel draws on lost loves and painful times to produce some memorable and, while sad, never depressing songs. The highs and lows of of his times in London are evident in my personal favourite, Leaving Victoria (which has nothing to do with a woman) and the city also provides backdrops for Cambden Town (a song which goes to a truly dark place when referencing vodka and sleeping pills) and, briefly, Small World. The pain of a relationship that never seems to end is evident in Never Really Gone, while a similar sentiment comes immediately after in Man Overboard.

Sing For Your Sins, the longest song on the album at over seven minutes, also has the fullest sound, with the most obvious percussion and electric guitars. The lyrics for this one paint a picture of a relationship gone sour but not yet ended, while the music builds to a stunning crescendo before falling away to a beautiful ending. One of my few criticisms of the album is that, perhaps, this song outstays its welcome a little lyrically, with the chorus repeated too many times towards the end for my liking. Having said that, it's another of my favourites.

For such an outwardly simple album, it turns out to be incredibly multi-layered, in more ways than one. While I have focused on Daniel's writing talents (and have yet to mention his rich, deep singing voice) the album wouldn't be the same without Boss Caine core members (and producers) Andy Gaines and Sam Forrest and the many guests, all of whom have played in the "band" at some time. I would particularly like to draw attention to Hayley Hutchinson's ethereal backing vocals during This Is Your Life and Rebecca Lowman's cello, which adds a great deal of depth to the sound of Bring Back My Baby.

More evidence of multi-layering (although, I admit, this may only be in my own interpretation) comes with the title track - obstensibly about Daniel's desire but inability to visit Nashville, and how he builds a boat with sails made from "all the letters you sent me". The more I hear it, the more I think the boat is a metaphor for something and the rain which blurs the letters are actually the tears cried while reading them. Maybe it's me reading too much into it.

Fourteen songs, the first of a projected three albums and, while not the style I would normally buy, an beautifully crafted album that keeps finding its way back into my CD player. Powerful, raw, emotional, simple (and, paradoxically, complex), superb and highly recommended.

Track Listing:

1: Keep The Homefires Burning

2: Bring Back My Baby

3: Dreamer

4: Never Really Gone

5: Mon Overboard

6: Cambden Town

7: Sing For Your Sins

8: Sweet Sorrow Surrender

9: Santiago

10: This Is Your Life

11: Sha La La

12: The Ship That Sailed

13: Leaving Victoria

14: Small World

Musicians:

Daniel Lucas - Vocals, guitars

Sam Forrest - Bass, percussion, harmonica, piano, vocals

Andy Gaines - Guitar, banjo, piano, mandolin, accordion, percussion, vocals

Guests:

Mike Newsham - Mandolin, guitar

Adam Rogowski - Guitars

Rebecca Lowman - Cello

Hayley Hutchinson - Vocals

Vinny North - Harmonica

Jack Holdstock - Drums

CD Review: Kaipa - In The Wake Of Evolution

Monday 19th April: It doesn't take much to get me to try out new music and, in the case of In The Wake Of Evolution - the tenth studio album by Swedish band Kaipa - it was nothing more than an advert on the back of Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine. Kaipa have a long history, having been around since the mid 70's but they are currently in their second incarnation - they originally split in the 80's but were reformed by keyboard player Hans Lundin in the early 2000s. Lundin, the only original member, has put together a band featuring some of Sweden's best prog musicians, including members of The Flower Kings, Ritual, Karmakanic (great name) and an ex-Zappa drummer. (Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings and Transatlantic has been a past member of both incarantions.)

Weighing in at over 70 minutes of music in just 8 tracks, In The Wake Of Evolution is a CD of mixed styles, fusing folk and prog rock with some heavy guitar and drum work to produce an exciting, engrossing and, it has to be said, at times meandering album of superb music.

At times, the vocals, both from Patrik Lundstrom and Aleena Gibson, across as a bit theatrical. Lundstrom often sounds a bit like a snarly villainous figure, especially during the opening title track and Gibson comes across as a Swedish Bonnie Tyler during The Words Are Like Leaves, a track where her vocals are almost drowned by the music anyway. But that can be forgiven and, I suspect is at least partly due to them singing in what I assume is their second language.

There is, however, nothing to forgive in the music which is at times whimsical in its use of keyboards and recorder, at others orchestral and at others a lot heavier than most of the prog in my collection. In true prog style, however, there are some incredible variations, not just between individual tracks but within them. Tracks such as In The Heart Of Her Own Magical Field and Folkia's First Decision (the shortest track and only instrumental on the album) start of lightly before bursting into energetic life. There's some unusual drumming two thirds of the way through the epic (obligatory, it is prog) eighteen minute Electric Power Water Notes, when it sounds as though the drums have been stuffed with pillows to deaden the sound. This track also stand out for some wonderful surrealism towards the end.

The addition of Fredrik Lindquist on recorder and Elin Rubinsztein on violin through the album only adds to the pleasant folky feel of some of the tracks. It is, however, Lundin's keyboards and Per Nilsson's guitars which stand out throughout the album. Both have some incredible solo's and work together to produce some very complex tracks. It is Nilsson's work, especially, that adds to the heaviness of the music to be found here.

Strangely, despite opening in a very similar way to the title track, Arcs Of Sound features for most of its length vocals over drums and some very strange whistle sounds that bear little resemblance to a tune but somehow manage to work very well. Smoke From A Secret Source, on the other hand, manages to be interesting for the way that different instruments are used to produce the same (or very similar) passages of music in a very lively introduction which mixes keyboard, violin, guitar and rums to spectacular effect. Album closer The Seven Oceans Of Our Mind, at times almost operatic in its delivery, is also the album's weirdest track in terms of lyrics (not that many of the lyrics made sense to me at all). "Why do rocks always survive, on their journey through the motions? Why do they not grow old, in the mystery of time?" Brilliant stuff!

Throughout the album, there are hints of Yes (particularly in some very Anderson-like vocals during the title track) and even a little bit of Queen in some of the guitar playing. However, while a sticker on the case proudly proclaims, "For fans of Yes, Transatlantic, The Flower Kings" this album is pretty unique in my collection. It may not end up in my top five for this year, but I'm guessing it will be fairly close.

Track Listing:

1: In The Wake Of Evolution

2: In The Heart Of Her Own Magic Field

3: Electric Power Water Notes

4: Folkia's First Decision

5: The Word's Are Like Leaves

6: Arcs Of Sound

7: Smoke From A Secret Source

8: The Seven Oceans Of Our Mind

Musicians:

Hans Lundin - Electric & acoustic keyboards, vocals

Per Nilsson - Electric & acoustic guitars

Morgan Agren - Drums

Jonas Reingold - Electric basses

Patrik Lundstrom - Vocals

Aleena Gibson - Vocals

Guests:

Fredrik Lindqvist - Recorder (tracks, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8)

Elin Rubinsztein - Violin (tracks 1, 4, 5 and 7)

A Minor Embarrassment

Monday 12th April: I learned long ago not to be embarrassed by my musical tastes. Very few people ever see my CD collection (and there are some very dodgy CDs in there...) and on the fair few occasions that I go to a gig on my own, it's easy to hide away next to a pillar, partially pretending that the rest of my attending group are at the bar, buying me a drink. Anyway, it's generally dark and nobody would recognise me.

It was slightly different tonight. When I arrived at Fibbers (a lot earlier than I usually would and still in full daylight), the queue stretched right along the street. And it was mainly made up of approximately sixth form aged girls. Most of them wondering why some old f*rt had joined the queue. I may not have been the eldest there but I was almost certainly the eldest who wasn't accompanying his or her children. I did my best to look nonchalant and spent quite a long time wondering why it was taking about an hour to get the sell-our crowd of 280 into the venue. I guess having to check the majority of the attendees' IDs adds quite a bit of time. (Sadly, nobody on the door asked me for my ID. They must have recognised me from my frequent visits...)

Anyway, I eventually got in and found a position at the bar (just behind a woman and her daughter - it's possible we inadvertently looked like a family group) just before The Shower Scene took to the stage amid much enthusiastic screaming. This four-piece from Dublin, performing for the first time in the UK, started out as a solo acoustic act but are now listed as "pop punk". I bet that's not a metamorphosis many bands go through. There was some nice guitar work and some very powerful drumming but I thought the vocals were lacking something during the louder songs (which, being part punk, most of them were). Strangely the one quieter song, which might have been called Run Away Tonight or, perhaps, Your Are Everything, was easily the best song vocally and proved a popular sing-along for the crowd. Vocalist Eoghan also seemed to be saving himself between songs as it was guitarist Goc, full of Irish charm and brogue (reminiscent of a Boyzone member with added swearing) who did all the talking, introducing the songs and providing a bit of commentary. This was a fair, if not outstanding set and provided a good opening for tonight's main act. I was impressed enough to shell out for the debut EP.

Arguably Elliot Minor are York's most successful band at the moment and, while a large part of their audience does seem to be composed of young (and, once again, screaming) females, they have produced two extremely good albums. Their live act is slightly different to the recorded output as the latter includes a large degree of string arrangements, but it can't be said that they aren't a very good live act. They certainly know how to play and how to work an audience, with Alex making good use of the stage barrier to get closer to the fans. Tonight's set comprised songs from both the debut album and last year's Solaris and, while the latter does (in my opinion) include at least one poor song, there wasn't a duff or dull part of the set, which included all my favourites - Jessica, Parallel Worlds, Running Away, Fireflies (a non-album release cover of Owl City's original) and the wonderfully riffed Electric High.

There was a lot of energy in the performance and all the band (or, at least, those that I could see) seemed to be enjoying themselves on what was the first gig of their current tour. I think it was the first time I had been to Fibbers when it was sold out and the place soon started to take on a steamy, sticky atmosphere, even for those of us not dancing or bouncing around. After about an hour, we got the usual announcement, "This is our last song." "Yeah, right," I thought, "except for the encore." The song was duly played, the band put down their instruments, took their bows and left the stage. And then nothing happened. No cries of "More!", no slow hand clap, no cheering. Nothing. In fact, people started leaving. I'm not sure whether the young audience didn't realise the rules, or whether the band didn't do encores, or even whether bands in general only do encores if people do actually shout for one but, after a few minutes, the lights started to come on and it was obvious that the last song was, in fact, just that.

It was a bizarre, surreal end to the evening and despite the quality of the performance I couldn't help but feel slightly cheated. With two albums worth of material, I would have thought the band could play for more than an hour, even if they intended to not come back on stage. Still, definitely a band worth seeing live - this was my second time and I wouldn't hesitate to see them again.

No Strings Detached

Saturday 10th April: So far in 2010 it's been unusual to see the whole gang at a gig and tonight is no different as it's just Andy and I at Fibbers to see Nick Harper, just over a year after the first time I saw him at what turned out to be one of my highlight gigs from 2009.

First support tonight was Martin Hughes, another in the seemingly endless line of men with guitars who show no fear of performing their own material in front of other people. This was acoustic, folky (not the "hey nonny nonny" type) and Martin was a pleasant enough start to the evening. To be honest, though, none of the half dozen or so songs that he performed had anything in them that reached out and grabbed me and there was nothing to really catch my attention. As a counter to that, it's always strikes me that opening at Fibbers is a difficult job - there was barely anybody in yet, so the place sounded hollow. I suspect Martin might be better hear in a smaller, more intimate venue.

By the time local boy Jonny Dobbs took to the stage, more people had turned up and Andy and I had moved forward to get a better view. This may partly explain why I enjoyed Jonny's set more than Martin's. Or it may have been that the songs were catchier, the playing more complex and the voice more to my tastes. The voice was lighter than Martin's, the songs were lighter and more varied and Jonny used a variety of guitar techniques. In a near-perfect piece of symmetry, Jonny finished his last song while beating time on his guitar's soundbox - the same way that Anne-Marie Helder (Nick's 2009 support) opened her set. Looking back, this is the second time I've seen Mr Dobbs perform - the first time I suggested his performance was a bit plain. It was anything but this time around.

As an aside here, on another night, I may well have been tempted to purchase one of Jonny's EPs. He told us that he had some with him but I didn't really take the time to track him down, being a bit short of funds. As with Jessica Gardham a few weeks back, it seems that the only place to buy his output is at his gigs. I really wish there was somewhere (or some website) where unsigned or smaller label local artists could sell their output. Maybe when I get my lottery win...

Anyway, back on track... Nick Harper finally appeared and treated us to one song before wandering off to the side of the stage to retrieve a bottle of wine (and a glass). "C'mon, we've only got two hours!" came a shout from the crowd and the tone was set for the evening. Last year, there were witty asides and bitingly satirical comments. This year, they were mixed with good-natured banter, verging on verbal sparring, between Nick and a handful of the audience who had obviously been to more than a few of his gigs and who were familiar to him. For me, this year's gig lost something compared to last years - having seen him once, the originality had obviously disappeared - but the music was still worth listening to and the humour still made me laugh. Sadly, last year's incredible encore song, "Love Is Music" wasn't part of tonight's set and, unlike at The Duchess, there was no wandering around the audience. Even more sadly, nick managed to play the entire two-hour set without breaking a string (and replacing it mid song), despite some very hard playing. I was looking forward to seeing that again. I doubt this will end up being one of the highlights of this year, but I will definitely be looking out for Nick playing York again.