Tuesday 16th November: A bit of a strange posting this one. I haven't been to a gig recently and haven't had the time to listen to any recent CD purchases properly enough to make notes for a full review. (Bang goes the plan to review all of my 2010-released purchases.)
I am, however, currently listening to a CD that arrived in the post on Saturday and there's a bit of a story behind my purchasing it (which is probably of absolutely no interest to anybody, but when has that ever stopped me putting fingers to keyboard...?
Recently, I was skimming an issue of Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine and came across a gig review for a band called Haze, who had played the Peel in Kingston. The review caught my eye as I remembered seeing a band of the same name in York some time ago, while I was still in school. The review ended with:
"It beggars belief why they never quite got the breaks earlier on in their career, and it's a real shame because Haze should have been as popular if not more so than their counterparts during the early 80s: their neo-prog influence should have enjoyed far more success. Yet to see this band still tread the boards after over 30 years - albeit as sporadically as they do nowadays - should make anyone's musical journey that little bit more complete."
It couldn't be the same band, could it? My memories of the gig in question really boiled down to the facts that I went with a group of friends, we were at the front of a backroom of a pub, the crowd showed their appreciation by "whooping" rather than (or perhaps as well as) applauding and the band themselves reminded me a bit of Rush, in looks if not in music. I also remembered that I bought a cassette on the night. Yes, even as a near virgin gig-goer, I still couldn't resist spending money on the musical media of the time...
A quick search of the internet and I found the Wikipedia entry for Haze (band) but nothing really jumped out at me as conclusively linking the review with the band I remembered. In fact I was beginning to doubt it, as I had it in my head that the band I saw came from Bradford, while the Wikipedia entry was for a Sheffield band. I'm not one to give up easily, though and so clicked on the "official site" external link, where I couldn't help but notice that the band's logo looked very familiar. And there were gnomes on the site. Hang on, didn't the cover of the cassette have a gnome on it???
To cut a long story short, the two bands were in fact one and the same and Haze had experienced a degree of success back in the 80s, self-releasing two albums and touring extensively in an old ambulance. Unfortunately, lack of genuine success (and the writing off of the ambulance) eventually led to Haze splitting up after ten years, although they do, obviously, reform now and again for anniversary gigs and the like.
Even before I had confirmed that it was the same band (final confirmation coming during an email conversation between myself and bassist/keyboard player Chris McMahon, who not only remembered which pub it was, but the name of the cassette - The Cellar Tapes, which puts the date that I saw them play somewhere in 1983 and, therefore, one of my first gigs - and the fact that the "whooping" originated in either York or Nottingham) I had decided to order a copy of the double CD recording of the 30th anniversary shows, recorded back in 2008, mostly at Sheffield's Boardwalk. And it's that CD that I'm currently listening to and thoroughly enjoying.
Strangely, although I can't have heard The Cellar Tapes for something like twenty years, I recognised the second track of the CD - Turn Around - as being one of the tracks from it almost immediately.
The CD itself is an excellent live recording, one of the type that leaves everything in, including the banter, and is therefore, an full and accurate account of the gig rather than a watered down, edited version. The music is superb, maybe not quite as prog as the other bands around in the 80s (those that I know, anyway). There are some vague hints of Rush, especially around some of the keyboards sections, but there is also a more folky element supplied by the flute of Ceri Ashton, which also, somewhat inevitably, reminds me of Jethro Tull, especially during Train. There's an energy and confidence to the performance that belies the fact that the band rarely now performs (as Haze, anyway - the members do perform as Treebeard, an acoustic, more folk flavoured band). There is also a relaxed feel to the whole thing, evident in the slower numbers and between songs camaraderie. The audience doesn't sound huge but is definitely appreciative even if there doesn't seem to be any evidence of "whooping". Apart from Turn Around, nothing is immediately recognisable to me but, overall, it's definitely my kind of music. According to the liner notes, the song selection spans the whole thirty years, not just the Haze era. Hearing it, I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic for that 80s gig and would echo the sentiments expressed in the magazine review. Haze definitely deserved more success than they got.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Stringing Us Along
Wednesday 27th October: An unexpected email from Andy leads to an unplanned night out at Stereo.
Andy himself had yet to arrive when the first band, Patchwork Grace, took to the stage. It must be something about bands from Nottingham as, like Baby Godzilla a few weeks back, they did nothing for me on the basis of this performance. The MySpace page linked above states their genre as "rock" and there are citations from Kerrang, but tonight's set was acoustic and comprised of vocalist Tori Tea dressed like a gangster's moll and sitting between guitarist Christoph Marrizon and bassist Scott O'Conner (drummer Dan Rolfe was absent from the full line-up). The seated performance and simple guitar work provided for a less than dynamic set and, while Tea's voice sounded as though it could have been strong, on this occasion it came across as just a little monotonous. None of their own songs stuck out for me and the best part of their set was a cover of Love Cats (The Cure). It's perhaps unfair to judge them on an acoustic performance (the only one on their list of upcoming gigs) and maybe we'll see them back in York as a full band sometime.
Andy Finally arrived as the second band were starting their set. I got the impression that Boys Off The Bench were a relatively new band and nothing in my research for this post suggests otherwise. Their MySpace profile has only existed since July this year and only lists brothers Luke and Adam Henderson (vocals and drums respectively) as members, although there is mention of them being joined by bassist/guitarist Kenny. Tonight, however, there were five members on stage - Kenny, not being able to play both guitar and bass at the same time had been joined by a second string-man and there was also an electric piano, which proved to be the lead instrument in most of the songs while the guy tinkling its ivories also provided backing vocals, leading to some nice harmonies particularly during Bugle Boy. Overall, Luke's vocals seemed a little tentative and hesitant and it didn't help that the drums were mixed too high during You Make Me Smile which made the lyrics difficult to hear. Ravens, however, was a fantastic song - lyrically almost post-modern folk and ending with some incredibly dark drumming which superbly complemented the imagery of the song. Following this with a bright and breezy pop song and a vocals-and-keyboards-only number meant a varied and interesting set, while the final song, When Nothing Else Matters, was a thoughtful, intelligently written number and the best song of a very good set.
Leeds based Eureka Machines are another band with differences between tonight's line-up and full membership. Tonight we just had Chris and Dave, both doing vocals and guitar (one might have been a bass, I wasn't watching closely enough...) Apparently, they wish they had proper "rock-star" names. Well, Chris, without too much effort you could change yours to Chas... Anyway, billed as Rock/Punk/Pop with more citations from Kerrang and a track on a past Classic Rock cover CD, tonight was another acoustic set with a nice line in banter and songs which, perhaps unintentionally, managed to raise a smile. As did Dave's somewhat unnerving doorman stance, including piercing stare, when he had little to do and his dragging a chair on stage and sitting looking bored when Chris decided to do a song on his own. Despite some degree of audience apathy, the boys played a mixture of their own songs, including the excellent Story Of My Life (which was the Classic Rock CD track) and covers. "Who wants to hear the best song ever written?" asked Chris to no reply. "Nobody," he sighed before asking again and getting one "Yeah" from a woman in the audience. So, the duo left the stage to sit on the woman's table and serenade her with Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell). Apparently, the second best song ever written is A-ha's Take On Me, which was also played tonight. Overall, a very enjoyable set which, in this format, would be highly recommended to fans of Hope & Social, of which there was more than a resonance of in the performance.
StringerBessant is comprised of Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant, both formerly of nineties Brit-rock band Reef. I don't remember the band and so went to tonight's gig with no preconceptions. However, it's hard to imagine two people less likely to have been in a successful British band of the nineties, with Gary looking like a surfer dude and Jack perhaps having wandered in from a remake of Grizzly Adams, in which he was playing the lead. Nor would the music have given you any clues. Jack played acoustic guitar and harmonica and occasionally sang while Gary sang, occasionally played guitar and provided a rhythm section by playing tambourine (or his knees). As with The Union, a few gigs back, I got the feeling that I had crashed a private party. Most of the audience seemed to know the songs, which were from the recently released album The Yard, with Wild Day and Give Me The Keys - two completely different songs, the former slow, the latter bouncy - getting particularly good reactions. A lot of the songs were quietly introspective and almost brought a lump to the throat, particularly in the vocals. Both guys have strong voices, just different from each other to be complementary and they gave us an incredibly involving set which was topped off by the vibrant encore Cross The Valley. It's safe to say that I'll be ordering a copy of the album soon.
Andy himself had yet to arrive when the first band, Patchwork Grace, took to the stage. It must be something about bands from Nottingham as, like Baby Godzilla a few weeks back, they did nothing for me on the basis of this performance. The MySpace page linked above states their genre as "rock" and there are citations from Kerrang, but tonight's set was acoustic and comprised of vocalist Tori Tea dressed like a gangster's moll and sitting between guitarist Christoph Marrizon and bassist Scott O'Conner (drummer Dan Rolfe was absent from the full line-up). The seated performance and simple guitar work provided for a less than dynamic set and, while Tea's voice sounded as though it could have been strong, on this occasion it came across as just a little monotonous. None of their own songs stuck out for me and the best part of their set was a cover of Love Cats (The Cure). It's perhaps unfair to judge them on an acoustic performance (the only one on their list of upcoming gigs) and maybe we'll see them back in York as a full band sometime.
Andy Finally arrived as the second band were starting their set. I got the impression that Boys Off The Bench were a relatively new band and nothing in my research for this post suggests otherwise. Their MySpace profile has only existed since July this year and only lists brothers Luke and Adam Henderson (vocals and drums respectively) as members, although there is mention of them being joined by bassist/guitarist Kenny. Tonight, however, there were five members on stage - Kenny, not being able to play both guitar and bass at the same time had been joined by a second string-man and there was also an electric piano, which proved to be the lead instrument in most of the songs while the guy tinkling its ivories also provided backing vocals, leading to some nice harmonies particularly during Bugle Boy. Overall, Luke's vocals seemed a little tentative and hesitant and it didn't help that the drums were mixed too high during You Make Me Smile which made the lyrics difficult to hear. Ravens, however, was a fantastic song - lyrically almost post-modern folk and ending with some incredibly dark drumming which superbly complemented the imagery of the song. Following this with a bright and breezy pop song and a vocals-and-keyboards-only number meant a varied and interesting set, while the final song, When Nothing Else Matters, was a thoughtful, intelligently written number and the best song of a very good set.
Leeds based Eureka Machines are another band with differences between tonight's line-up and full membership. Tonight we just had Chris and Dave, both doing vocals and guitar (one might have been a bass, I wasn't watching closely enough...) Apparently, they wish they had proper "rock-star" names. Well, Chris, without too much effort you could change yours to Chas... Anyway, billed as Rock/Punk/Pop with more citations from Kerrang and a track on a past Classic Rock cover CD, tonight was another acoustic set with a nice line in banter and songs which, perhaps unintentionally, managed to raise a smile. As did Dave's somewhat unnerving doorman stance, including piercing stare, when he had little to do and his dragging a chair on stage and sitting looking bored when Chris decided to do a song on his own. Despite some degree of audience apathy, the boys played a mixture of their own songs, including the excellent Story Of My Life (which was the Classic Rock CD track) and covers. "Who wants to hear the best song ever written?" asked Chris to no reply. "Nobody," he sighed before asking again and getting one "Yeah" from a woman in the audience. So, the duo left the stage to sit on the woman's table and serenade her with Wichita Lineman (Glen Campbell). Apparently, the second best song ever written is A-ha's Take On Me, which was also played tonight. Overall, a very enjoyable set which, in this format, would be highly recommended to fans of Hope & Social, of which there was more than a resonance of in the performance.
StringerBessant is comprised of Gary Stringer and Jack Bessant, both formerly of nineties Brit-rock band Reef. I don't remember the band and so went to tonight's gig with no preconceptions. However, it's hard to imagine two people less likely to have been in a successful British band of the nineties, with Gary looking like a surfer dude and Jack perhaps having wandered in from a remake of Grizzly Adams, in which he was playing the lead. Nor would the music have given you any clues. Jack played acoustic guitar and harmonica and occasionally sang while Gary sang, occasionally played guitar and provided a rhythm section by playing tambourine (or his knees). As with The Union, a few gigs back, I got the feeling that I had crashed a private party. Most of the audience seemed to know the songs, which were from the recently released album The Yard, with Wild Day and Give Me The Keys - two completely different songs, the former slow, the latter bouncy - getting particularly good reactions. A lot of the songs were quietly introspective and almost brought a lump to the throat, particularly in the vocals. Both guys have strong voices, just different from each other to be complementary and they gave us an incredibly involving set which was topped off by the vibrant encore Cross The Valley. It's safe to say that I'll be ordering a copy of the album soon.
Friday, 22 October 2010
Adam Again
Friday 15th October: Weekends in York are still providing sparse fare in respect of new music to tempt us to the city's bigger venues. Thankfully, while the "clubs" are failing to entice, those pubs which try to drag the punters in by providing musical entertainment (albeit generally in the form of covers bands) are still providing ample opportunities to see some good acts. Tonight it's a rare full complement, including one new-comer, on an even rarer visit to the Punchbowl (Stonegate version) to see someone who is rapidly becoming a favourite.
I suppose, if we were to be totally honest, none of us would have known about Adam Dawson if he hadn't been chosen as Breathing Space's new guitarist. Although he plays regularly in York, it's generally not in a combination of venues we frequent and the nights we frequent them. Tonight, though, is the third time I've seen him, in a third different venue. It's not just the music, either - Adam seems happy enough to take time to speak with the punters and comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
The Punchbowl is a bit of a strange venue for music. The acts perform in one of its three rooms. In fact the room that doubles as a dining area and that people have to walk though to get to the back bar and the, errm, conveniences. The former means that the music doesn't start until food has stopped being server and eaten and the latter means that it can be quite a busy thoroughfare. Tonight, as Adam started his set, all the tables were taken and my usual standing spot was occupied. In fact, by the time we had all turned up I found myself standing through the doorway of the back bar, listening to the music rather than watching the performance and directly in line with the Table.
Why the capitalisation? Well, for me at least the Table has taken on a degree of notoriety. The smaller of two tables directly in front of the stage area it seems that every time I've seen an act at the Punchbowl it has been occupied by people who are determined to shout at each other over the music. Tonight was no exception but it was slightly embarrassing when I pointed out the Table to Adam while chatting to him during his break only to have him tell me that the occupants were friends of his. You know those times when you wish that the ground would open up underneath you...?
Anyway, as the second half of the set started, the occupants of both of the tables in front of the stage had moved, meaning that we got a chance to sit down, a much better view and less shouting. For all its faults, the Punchbowl does serve a very good selection of real ale and is a pretty good venue for music.
I realise that I've yet to mention Adam's performance. The set comprised mostly of songs we've heard him perform before and which are becoming familiar, even if I can't remember what some of them are called or who sang them without resorting to noting down lyrics, hoping I can read my won writing when I got home and Googling. Tonight a mixture of technical difficulties and a voice suffering from a week of teaching meant that Adam felt the need to apologise for a below par sound and to choose carefully which songs to perform. Not that it was too noticeable and it was still a thoroughly entertaining evening.
We were even treated to three of Adam's own songs - two more than last time. Along with the ubiquitous Lazy Susan, his latest single, we got I'm Coming Home and the beautiful and emotional Silver Skies, another track from the single, as the encore. I'd like to think that it was my request that got the latter played but it could just be that he was planning it anyway.
A more or less complete set list for tonight is:
Forever Lost (The Magic Numbers), unknown, Cannonball (Damien Rice), Dream Catch Me (Newton Faulkner), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's), Sewn (Feeling - not sure about this one), Rule The World (Coldplay), Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), Lazy Susan (Adam Dawson), Streets of London (Ralph McTell), Shine (Take That), I'm Coming Home (Adam Dawson), Little Lion Man (Munford & Sons), Sloop John B (The Beach Boys), Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen), Silver Skies (Adam Dawson)
I suppose, if we were to be totally honest, none of us would have known about Adam Dawson if he hadn't been chosen as Breathing Space's new guitarist. Although he plays regularly in York, it's generally not in a combination of venues we frequent and the nights we frequent them. Tonight, though, is the third time I've seen him, in a third different venue. It's not just the music, either - Adam seems happy enough to take time to speak with the punters and comes across as a genuinely nice guy.
The Punchbowl is a bit of a strange venue for music. The acts perform in one of its three rooms. In fact the room that doubles as a dining area and that people have to walk though to get to the back bar and the, errm, conveniences. The former means that the music doesn't start until food has stopped being server and eaten and the latter means that it can be quite a busy thoroughfare. Tonight, as Adam started his set, all the tables were taken and my usual standing spot was occupied. In fact, by the time we had all turned up I found myself standing through the doorway of the back bar, listening to the music rather than watching the performance and directly in line with the Table.
Why the capitalisation? Well, for me at least the Table has taken on a degree of notoriety. The smaller of two tables directly in front of the stage area it seems that every time I've seen an act at the Punchbowl it has been occupied by people who are determined to shout at each other over the music. Tonight was no exception but it was slightly embarrassing when I pointed out the Table to Adam while chatting to him during his break only to have him tell me that the occupants were friends of his. You know those times when you wish that the ground would open up underneath you...?
Anyway, as the second half of the set started, the occupants of both of the tables in front of the stage had moved, meaning that we got a chance to sit down, a much better view and less shouting. For all its faults, the Punchbowl does serve a very good selection of real ale and is a pretty good venue for music.
I realise that I've yet to mention Adam's performance. The set comprised mostly of songs we've heard him perform before and which are becoming familiar, even if I can't remember what some of them are called or who sang them without resorting to noting down lyrics, hoping I can read my won writing when I got home and Googling. Tonight a mixture of technical difficulties and a voice suffering from a week of teaching meant that Adam felt the need to apologise for a below par sound and to choose carefully which songs to perform. Not that it was too noticeable and it was still a thoroughly entertaining evening.
We were even treated to three of Adam's own songs - two more than last time. Along with the ubiquitous Lazy Susan, his latest single, we got I'm Coming Home and the beautiful and emotional Silver Skies, another track from the single, as the encore. I'd like to think that it was my request that got the latter played but it could just be that he was planning it anyway.
A more or less complete set list for tonight is:
Forever Lost (The Magic Numbers), unknown, Cannonball (Damien Rice), Dream Catch Me (Newton Faulkner), Chasing Cars (Snow Patrol), Hey There Delilah (Plain White T's), Sewn (Feeling - not sure about this one), Rule The World (Coldplay), Poker Face (Lady Gaga), Use Somebody (Kings of Leon), Lazy Susan (Adam Dawson), Streets of London (Ralph McTell), Shine (Take That), I'm Coming Home (Adam Dawson), Little Lion Man (Munford & Sons), Sloop John B (The Beach Boys), Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen), Silver Skies (Adam Dawson)
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