Hazzard County–Fulford Arms, 01/12/12

The problem with the Fulford Arms is that it’s the wrong side of town for me to get to. I don’t mind cycling in Summer but the five mile ride home doesn’t appeal to me in Winter. There’s no direct bus route so, if I want to see a gig there, it’s not as easy as heading into the city centre, especially if I want to sample some of the fine real ales. I guess that shows the pull of Hazzard County as I bought a ticket for tonight’s gig before thinking about how I was going to get there. Or, more accurately, how I was going to get home. Eventually, my plan was to get a lift to the pub, then leave just before 11PM, giving me enough time to walk back into town and get the last bus home.

The Hazzards used to perform pretty much every Friday night (for something like fourteen years – that’s some residency) at The White Swan and we often headed off their after other gigs to see them play. When the individual members started to get too busy, the band ceased to be a regular live act and now get together occasionally, usually for charity. Tonight it was to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

When we arrived there was a brief moment of panic as the landlady (I think) went inside to check that our tickets – in fact a hand-written receipt saying we had paid because, when Andy went to buy them, the girl behind the bar didn’t know where the actual tickets were being kept – were valid. Eventually we were allowed in and found the place packed and a familiar-looking support band already playing.

Stout Boots are a new band comprising of ex-Hazzards Chris Johnson (guitar and vocals), “country” Jon Benton (guitar and vocals) and Paddy Berry (double bass) along with ex-Mostly Autumn Angela Gordon (various wind instruments, accordion and vocals). There was an Irish feel to much of their set of covers, with Whisky In The Jar, The Belle Of Belfast City, Sally MacLennane, Irish Rover and a few jigs thrown in for good measure. In fact, from memory the only track without an Irish connection was the American Civil War song Johnny Comes Marching Home, for which they were joined on stage by Chris Farrell (The Yards) who played a tiny mandolin. As you can probably guess from the set-list, this was an energetic performance and it featured some very nice vocal harmonies. A nice warm-up for the main event.

As Hazzard County took to the stage, we found ourselves much closer to the front of the audience, where it was a little easier to breathe (and a little harder to get to the bar). There were a few familiar faces from the White Swan days dotted around the crowd and ticket money alone, without the various other money-raising ideas – pay for a song dedication, buy a drink for somebody not here, band-baked cakes, collection buckets, band-made chilli – must have made a good amount for the charity.

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Tonight was billed as the first time that all the various members of Hazzard County had been in the same room together. Unfortunately, Dave Keegan had come down with ‘flu, so was represented on stage by a balloon (which got popped at sometime during the evening, something I don’t remember ever happening to Dave). Nevertheless, being a relative newcomer to the band, there was a couple of members I didn’t recognise and one that even Andy didn’t know. (Andy tracked him down later to find that he was the original bass-player.)  Even Simon Snaize confused me for a while as he seems to have lost a bit of weight and, dare I say it, smartened up a bit tonight. Even with the larger-than-normal number of members (although not everybody played or was on stage at the same time until the last couple of songs) there was still room for a couple of guest spots from Chris Farrell as the evening went on. There was much instrument-swapping throughout the set as the band played a foot-tapping, sing-along bunch of old favourites – Cocaine, Crickle Creek, Rock Me Mama, Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness (the first song ever played by the band), Passionate Kisses, California Stars, Folsom Prison Blues, Rhinestone Cowboy and a whole host more (nearly thirty in total), including some that I didn’t recognise.

The Band has always been an influence on this band and Levon Helm’s death from cancer earlier this year gave added resonance to tonight’s event, as did the passing of one band member’s mother from the same cause. That’s not to say that this was a sombre affair, though. Far from it, I don’t think the Hazzards could do sombre if they tried. There always seem to be covers just out of the left field as well, whether it’s a countrified Sweet Child Of Mine without the iconic opening, a nifty segue into Just My Imagination or a Black Sabbath riff accompanying Take A Load Off Annie, you never quite know what’s going to happen. Sadly, there was no sign of the superb version of Dear Prudence that I have still only heard the once. You are pretty much guaranteed a fun evening, though. And dancing, there’s usually dancing of some sort. Hazzard County are three years off their twentieth anniversary and I hope that their plan of getting together like this on a yearly basis comes to fruition.

And my plan for getting home? Well, who was I kidding? It was well after midnight when the gig ended and I finally left the pub, having paid a near year-old debt to Simon. I did walk back into town, but it was a taxi that took me home, not a bus. 

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Karnataka–Fibbers, 29/11/12

Photos included in this posting were taken by Marc McGarraghy, who is on a year long project to generate donations for MacMillan Cancer Support from his live music photography. More details can be found on his fundraising community Facebook Page.

A couple of years ago, I bought Karnataka’s then new album - The Gathering Light – pretty much on spec. It impressed me so much that I placed it second in my top five albums of 2010. Shortly after buying it, still relatively new to the idea that fans could actually interact with bands (look, I grew up with the likes of Queen, Genesis, Dire Straits and, more importantly, no internet…) I emailed them to ask if they had ever considered playing in York. A brief email exchange followed, in which I gave founder member and bass player Ian Jones details of some of York’s venues and he said he would look into it. Then, to all intents and purposes, it seemed that the band imploded when, despite critical acclaim for The Gathering Light, three members announced that they were leaving.

However, Ian refused to let the band die and, along with guitarist Enrico Pinna, soon started to announce new members until, eventually, a new line-up was complete and, in early 2012, they started a fifteen date tour. Later in 2012, an even longer tour was gradually revealed and, slightly tongue-in-cheek, I commented on Facebook that there was still no York date (it wouldn’t surprise me to find that York isn’t exactly high on any band’s list of potential venues, especially those that are based in the South) only to get a message back from Ian telling me that they were still trying to work out a suitable date and that I should “watch this space”. A few days later tonight’s date was added to the tour schedule. I couldn’t have been happier. Or more worried… What if nobody else turned up?

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Ian Jones (bassist and founder member)

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I should have known. While Fibbers wasn’t full, there were a number of faces that I recognised from other Prog gigs dotted around the audience, as well as Marc McGarraghy (another York music fan who had been at a few of the same gigs as me but who I hadn’t actually met until tonight) and, I found out later, at least one couple who had brought forward their trip to York in order to see Karnataka on this tour again.

The current trend of there being no support act continued, with Karnataka taking to the stage at around eight-thirty. New vocalist Hayley Griffiths (much prettier in the flesh than in some of the publicity photos) has a classical background and has toured the world as lead singer in both Riverdance and Lord Of The Dance, as well as releasing two solo albums. Her vocals have a slight theatrical quality to them and, when she sings, she can often be seen either staring wistfully into space or with a particularly expressive face, as though she is performing in a stage musical, rather than a rock band. That’s not to take anything from her performance, though. The more the set went on, the more vocal range we got to hear and, if anything, she gives the impression that she is singing directly at you. The set was a mixture of tracks from band’s back catalogue, with specific emphasis on The Gathering Light, as well as new songs that have been written for a new album, which is due to be released in 2013.

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Hayley Griffiths (vocalist)

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Musically, the live performance varied from a traditional “light” prog sound to something quite a bit heavier and rockier, especially during the new songs. Even The Gathering Light, which ended the first half of the gig seemed to be have a heavier opening than the album version. The stand-out track of the first half was The Storm, title track of the band’s 2000 album, which with its opening salvo of Pinna’s guitar over Cagri Tozluoglu’s keyboards was incredibly atmospheric. Throughout the whole evening, Tozluoglu seemed to pour his heart and soul into his playing, often appearing to be lost in the music, especially during The Journey (another stand-out track, which also came from The Storm – which I wasn’t surprised to later find out was the all-time favourite album of one person I was chatting to) which was also featured some great drumming from touring member Matt McDonough.

Having only heard the songs from The Gathering Light prior to tonight, I was glad that the album featured so prominently, especially the stunning three-part The Forsaken, with glorious vocals from Hayley before she left the stage while the rest of the band performed a superb instrumental section which featured piano and a simple but highly effective guitar section before bursting into life. Hayley returned to the stage for the third part of The Forsaken and followed it with an even better vocal performance during new song Feels Like Home. The set ended in blockbuster style with Your World, during which the sexy dancing quotient was increased dramatically. After a brief on-stage discussion the band played Tide To Fall which ended the evening on an even better note.

After the gig had finished, all five band members came of stage to mingle and chat with the audience and sign merchandise. Karnataka may have had to survive at least two major line-up changes (four of the original members went off to form Panic Room in 2006) and multiple smaller changes during its lifetime but you have to admire both the hard-working attitude and willingness to engage personally with fans of the current line-up. Hopefully, with two tour’s under their collective belt in 2012 and the new album in 2013, this line-up will stay together for a while longer.

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Hayley Griffiths, Enrico Pinna (guitar), Ian Jones, Cagri Tozluoglu (keyboards)

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Aynsley Lister–The Duchess, 23/11/12

It was a bit of a tough choice tonight. Over at Fibbers, The (partly) new line-up of the Heather Findlay Band were playing and I had been planning in going along since the date had been announced. The rest of the gang, however, were leaning more towards seeing Aynsley Lister. It would have been at least slightly churlish to go against the flow, especially given that not only hadn’t we seen him before (and, therefore, we would be hearing some new music, as opposed to Heather’s gig which would consist totally of songs I knew * ) but it had also been quite some time since we had all been out to a gig together.

So it was that we met up, albeit briefly, at The Duchess. Let me explain – as usual, Andy and I planned to meet up before the gig to sample some proper beer at a nearby pub. I had phoned the venue earlier in the day to ask what the stage times were and had been told that the support act would be starting at eight o’clock, so that’s when we aimed to get there. As it turned out, there was no support act (this was the second time this week, that I know of that somebody had been wrongly told there was) and Lister wasn’t due to take the stage until eight thirty. Anyway, Andy and I decided to head back out for another pint, leaving Roj and Lynn to enjoy their Duchess soft drinks. So much for “haven’t seen each other for ages”… Anyway, we still managed to catch up a bit when we got back as the gig eventually started much closer to nine!

Aynsley is a Blues guitarist and while his opening number was immediately recognisable as Blues, the slower Early Morning Dew had more of a Country feel to it, showing that he incorporates other influences into his music. While he doesn’t sweat and strain over his playing like some guitarists, it couldn’t be said that he plays with the apparent ease of the likes of Chantel McGregor. His playful banter and vague likeness to Hugh Grant, however, seems to endear him to one audience demographic. As he introduced new song Inside Out there was a cry of, “I Love You” from one woman, closely followed by, “I love you more” from her husband. It turns out that they had, apparently, spent nine hours driving up from Bournemouth for tonight’s gig. A few more random shouts led me to suspect that I had arrived in York just as the pubs opened for the day – a suspicion that seemed borne out when the woman caused a slight problem for Aynlsey (not to mention those of us behind her in the queue) when he was trying to sell CDs after the gig.

Eric Clapton is one obvious influence on Aynsley’s guitar work – the piano opening  to What’s It All About soon gives way to something that instantly reminded me of Clapton’s theme to the 80’s drama Edge Of Darkness. Later in the gig, there was a similar trip down memory lane during Texture Of Your Skin. Variation came along in the shape of a re-working of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, which was interesting but, I’m afraid, did nothing for me and, as much as it pains me to say so, I actually preferred the original. A cover of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, however, bordered on sublime and featured a really nice piano solo, while a couple of originals, including Sensible Love with it’s alternating slow and fast section, showcased the music on offer.

Another influence became apparent during the set closer. Early Morning is a much more Rock and Roll track which, at least partly due to the guitar used by Aynsley, combined with the retro sound and intricate guitar work, couldn’t help but bring to mind images of Michael J. Fox playing during the Under The Sea Dance in Back To The Future.

Sadly the venue’s early curfew (see last post) meant that we only got one encore. It seems that the woman mentioned earlier had come all that way to hear Purple Rain in particular. I’m not sure whether it was planned as the encore all along but her request was granted. I’m also not sure how Aynsley feels about somebody requesting a cover, as opposed to one of his own tracks but it has to be said that it is, in fact, quite a good version.

Compared to others, this may not have been the best value local gig we have seen (£12 for about one hundred minutes of music isn’t bad, but why are support acts suddenly such a dying breed?) but it was a reasonably impressive performance that introduced me to yet another modern blues guitarist and one I wouldn’t be averse to seeing again.

* As I understand it, from reading other reviews, Heather’s band did play one new song tonight.

Martin Barre’s New Day–Duchess, 20/11/12

It might be a Tuesday night, but there’s a legend in town. Martin Barre has been the guitarist with Jethro Tull for forty-three years. Only Ian Anderson has been in the band longer and he formed it. With the band taking a break from touring for a while Barre, who won a Grammy for his playing on Crest Of A Knave, has put together a band to play classic Tull material, amongst other things. I don’t know, maybe these guitarists think their finger will seize up if they stop playing for a while… There are a few Jethro Tull albums in my collection but I’m not such a big fan that I would recognise many of their songs. Still, this was too good an opportunity to miss.

With no support, the set opened with Barre, Hilaire Rama (bass) and George Lindsay (drums) playing a bluesy instrumental, the guitar playing over a lazy rhythm section. Eventually, the rest of the band – Pat O’May (guitar), Dan Crisp (vocals and acoustic guitar) and Frank Mead (flute, sax and harmonica) – arrived on stage. Crisp’s vocals had the characteristic inflections of those of Ian Anderson, if not the familiar tones, giving the impression that this was not just the sort of tribute act who try to reproduce the sound of a band exactly. After playing To Cry You A Song, Barre introduced the band, quipping that they were going to play “the Tull songs that I like”. There was lots of banter between songs, most of which must have been in-jokes for Tull fans, of which there were many in the audience, judging by the number of band T-shirts. Much of it went over my head. It wasn’t just Tull, though. Barre also played Blues numbers, such as Watch Your Step, that influenced his career and that he played in the Birmingham clubs in the mid-sixties, as well as examples of his solo works, like After You After Me, from his 2003 instrumental album Stage Left, which showed some sumptuous twin guitar work.

White Innocence, a rare Tull track, was followed by another of Barre’s solo pieces, The Potion, with O’May taking over on vocals and featuring some impressive guitar work. Not as impressive, though, as the crazy time signatures of A Passion Play, Part II with it’s gorgeous sax opening. The Blues influence continued with Steal Your Heart Away, another song from the mid-sixties, this time played in the style of Joe Bonamassa. Barre introduced the next track as from an album that has been “quite popular this year” and even I got the reference, with 2012 being the fortieth anniversary of Thick As A Brick (and the year that Ian Anderson released its sequel). More blues followed as Mead came centre-stage to take the lead vocals and to give it his all on harmonica on Sugarbabe, originally recorded by Buster Brown in 1962.  Then it was back to Barre’s solo work with Mysere, which continued the blues feel, before he announced that the band would be taking a fifteen minute break.

It was a bit surprising, therefore, to see him and Crisp back on stage after just five minutes, performing Still Loving You Tonight (one of the tracks that I do have in my collection). Apparently Barre had only just been told about the venue’s ten-thirty curfew. It was nearly ten o’clock and the band weren’t even halfway through the set. There followed frequent annoyed (at the venue, not at the band) shouting from the audience as Barre tried to decide which songs to cut from the second part of the set, declaring the situation “a nightmare” and ten-thirty as a “ridiculous time to end a gig”. Things livened up with the playing of a jig, which eventually turned into Hymn 43 from Aqualung (another track in my collection), during which Barre and Crisp swapped guitars for mandolins (or the like). The tracks in this section were coming fast and furious, as Barre attempted to make up time, his dislike of the curfew becoming more and more evident (as was that of the crowd). Eventually, after Mead had once again taken the lead for Song For Geoffrey and O’May had performed another stunning, slightly heavier instrumental, which included a wild sax section, and with the clock moving inexorably towards ten-thirty, the band played Living In The Past, one of Tull’s best known songs. Amid shouts of “carry on!” Barre asked if anybody from the venue was around. Nobody came forward, so he decided to just carry on. and played another instrumental before finishing the set (at around ten to eleven, yay!) with A New Day Yesterday.

The calibre of musicians on stage meant that this was a high-standard show, even taking into account the rushed feeling of the second half. As a whole, it was a lot more blues-orientated than I expected. Having said that, Jethro Tull started out as a blues band and have reportedly denied the “prog” label that is often used for them. I can’t help feeling, though, that the Duchess isn’t doing itself any favours as a live venue by having such an early curfew, especially as they don’t seem to tell the artists in advance (at least in this case). I know that the nightclub which invariably follows a live gig brings in a lot of money and almost certainly helps keep the live music side of the business going, but does it really take that long to get ready for it? I also wonder whether Barre will want to return to the venue, given some of his comments from the stage.