Andy Doonan–The Basement, 10/05/13

Tonight sees me on a rare trip to one of York’s smallest ticketed venues to see a headline act that grabbed my attention a few weeks back when he supported Blackbeard’s Tea Party. The Basement, situated under the City Screen cinema, was reduced to standing room only as a reasonably impressive (and, as was mentioned a couple of times during the evening, very polite) crowd were treated to four acts for the measly entry price of a fiver.

First up was Antonio Panzera a young man with a guitar whose playing style and vocals somehow evoked a nostalgic image of an old wireless. Their was a sort of old-fashioned quality to his performance that I could quite put my finger on. The songs themselves were, in general, short and sweet and, to me, not really classifiable – a hint of country on a couple, perhaps, the rest slightly quirky in a nice way. His vocals were clear, with slight changes of tone throughout the set and, while all the songs were definitely “his” there was enough variation to keep the set from sounding samey. Antonio is a man of few words, rarely introducing his songs but thanking the audience between them and it was only with the final, eleventh, song of his short (in terms of time) set that he became more loquacious, explaining that his capo normally falls off during this song. Initially, given what had come before, it was hard to imagine why that would happen but, given the frantic strumming and fingers flying across the frets right next to the capo, it soon became apparent and it would perhaps have been more accurate to say that it often got knocked off. Luckily, this time, the capo survived.

Antonio had provided a nice start to the evening, but Zac Pajak really made me take notice. He started his set, appropriately enough, with one of the first songs he wrote, referred to simply as “the harmonica one” and there was an Americana feel to it. The harmonica was ditched for I’m With You, a song which Zac looked too young (he’s a stone’s throw off twenty but you wouldn’t know it to look at him) to be singing, with its references to being drunk and having his clothes removed by a woman. Strangely, the song’s abrupt ending almost seemed to take him by surprise as much as it did the audience. A cover of Wonderwall (Oasis) was, quite simply, brilliant – stripped back to just vocals and acoustic guitar and somehow sounding slower than the original it was no less effective and, if anything, vocally more emotional. Another cover followed, this time The Stereophonics’ Dakota, before he returned to his own songs. Rest Assured was, in style, more chart botherer than Americana but no less listenable for it. I’m fairly sure he introduced the next song as a cover, one he had only been learning in the preceding week, but I didn’t hear what it was. The snatches of lyrics I noted are leading me towards Ben Howard’s Keep Your Head Up, but I’m not as certain of that as I am that, whatever it was, it was sung beautifully. This set finished with Zac’s newest song – Sunshine – which was both simple and ambitious at the same time, lovely overall and almost haunting in places.

Next up were Busk ‘til Dawn who, as their name suggests, are a busking band comprising of (according to their Facebook page, which was created on the same ay as this gig…) Toby Burras, Toby Domoney and Beth McCarthy. Their set was made up completely of covers, starting with Chaka Kahn’s Ain’t Nobody which immediately showcased their great vocal harmonies and tight guitar playing and gave a nice interpretation of the song. OutKast’s Hey Ya followed and there was a lot of personality in the performance, with the stage area being brightened by Beth’s huge bright smiles. I knew You Were Trouble (Taylor Swift?) wasn’t helped by a misbehaving microphone stand which mean that one of the Tobys was constantly having to adjust his position to sing into it, while Teenage Dirtbag, introduced as one of those songs you can’t help admitting to liking, was punctuated with humorous sound effects. I doubt that The Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Californication and I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts are often played back to back, but they were tonight. Before their final song, Biffy Clyro’s Justboy – the only “serious”song the band play – one of the Tobys ended up begging for somebody to take the mic off him, after advertising that the band were available for birthdays, weddings and, bizarrely, funerals, much to the amusement of the audience. The overall impression that I got from this set was of a band who enjoy doing what they do, nice slightly off-the-wall interpretations of songs that I (mostly) knew and that they are a band that if you did see busking you would probably stop and take notice.

Apparently Andy Doonan turned down an invitation to take part in this year’s series of The Voice UK. As an outsider and only a peripheral viewer of the program, I’m in too minds about that – good on him for having the conviction to plough his own furrow but I suspect he would have done quite well on it. When I saw Andy performing at The Duchess a few weeks ago, my first thought was that his voice reminded me of somebody else. It still does, I still can’t place it and it’s still great, clear and full of emotion. Playing pretty much the same set as at the Duchess, just mixed up slightly, he opened with the brilliant single Here You Are (available as a free download here) and, if anything, the smaller venue made his vocals sound even better than at The Duchess. Remember The City Lights sees Sam “he plays about ten instruments” Smith move from keyboard to guitar while Andy himself provides harmonica parts for the song. Backing vocals during covers of The Killers’ Mr Brightside and Kings Of Leon’s Be Somebody are provided by Ellie Parker and Andy’s brother Joe. Ellie also provides some lovely backing vocals during Right Now, which also sees Sam playing a nice, increasingly intricate guitar line. Jenny is a really nice song, with great layered vocals from Andy, Joe and Sam eventually being joined, once again, by Ellie. It’s a shame this one was dropped due to time constraints last time out. Stumbling was once again introduced as a “happy, sad song” and again features Andy and Joe’s great vocal harmonies. The rest of the band took a breather during Bullet, a brand new song just two weeks old. While the backing vocals of the other songs add layers, this one shows that Andy can more than hold his own. The gentle guitar of the start eventually builds to something more powerful but never overpowers his vocals. Sam returned to second guitar duties for the more upbeat Hometown before Andy switched to keyboards for Sky On Fire, another of his soft-rock ballads and, arguably, the song with the fullest sound. Andy launches his new EP at The Duchess on the 10th of August – sadly a date I can’t make, otherwise I would definitely be there.

Best Of York

Wednesday 25th April: A few weeks ago I was chatting to Rhys Bevan (bass-player with Dream Of Apollo) and, without any hard evidence to back up my statement, I put forth the argument that the music scene in York wasn’t in a particularly healthy state. By that I meant that the small local bands seemed to be few and far between, certainly on evening when I was being tempted out to gigs. Not that long ago Friday nights saw three or four locals playing Fibbers for a few quid on the door. We might not have heard of most of them (or heard again of half of them) but there were many gems and few that were bad enough that we wouldn’t consider seeing them again. Recently, at the two “major” live venues at least, local bands seem to have been replaced by larger touring ones (which I’m not complaining about) and locals seem to have been relegated to occasional supports slots. Again, I stress that the above is a general feeling on my part, with no researched evidence to back it up.

Tonight, my faith in the local talent was reinforced.

Last year, Connor Devine put out a call for artists who would be interested in appearing on an album that he was putting together as part of his music production course at York St John University. Not only would the album be a showcase for local musicians but would also raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support. The album – Best Of York - was launched tonight with a gig at the Basement Bar featuring four of the bands from the album.

My regular reader will, by now, have realised that I am a big fan of Boss Caine, who opened proceedings battling against a cold and the usual problem of gig-going talkers. (As an aside, I will probably never understand why people spend money to attend a gig, then talk all the way through it. It’s annoying. To actually stand directly in front of the person playing, right in their eye-line and to talk constantly throughout their set, isn’t just annoying. It’s both rude and disrespectful. One day I’ll be brave enough to say something, for now I’ll just hope that the idiots read this and somehow realise I’m talking about them…) Ahem, anyway… tonight Dan filled his too-short set with songs from his forthcoming second album, including three that I hadn’t heard before. Opening with the jaunty Kind Of Loving before being joined on stage by Vin North for the much more sombre Ghosts and Drunks (his track on Best Of York) and then the first new one which was about his friend and fellow song-writer, Mark Wynn and, I think, was called Song For Wynn. Dan is quick to acknowledge the talents of others and this song is just another way of him doing so. The next song was also new and if it was announced by title, I missed it. This one was in the more morose style that sometimes gets Dan labelled as “miserablist”, whereas the next – Left Hand Luke And Eleanor Louise – was more upbeat and showed that Dan can find lyrical inspiration in the strangest of places, in this case somebody who dropped into the regular open-mic night he hosts at York’s Dusk bar (Eleanor Louise was the guy’s guitar). The set finished in upbeat, if slightly morbid, style with Dead Man’s Suit. As I said, I’m a big fan and Dan never fails to entertain. Tonight was hardly going to be an exception.

It’s only a few weeks ago that I saw Suzy Bradley and the Morning After for the first time. The unique blend of Suzy on vocals and acoustic guitar, David Martin on electric guitar and Lucy Blakeson on cello was a breath of fresh air then and, if anything, their set tonight was even more entertaining. Starting with Stop Bothering Me, a Suzy-solo which showed what a quintessentially English-folk voice she has the set moved on with a second song in similar style but with the cello and some very Shadows-like guitar adding extra body and giving a much fuller sound. Until The Dawn, their track from the album, was followed by the rockier I Don’t Know Why, in which a small section of cello-string plucking provided a touch of near-funk. The set was building nicely and Bare was followed by Stay With Me which is more folk-rock and, itself, builds to a superb climax. Striving For Perfection was much slower and quieter while the second Suzy-solo, Something Blue, returned the set to it’s more traditional folk style before Suzy performed the final song, It Doesn’t Matter To Me, not only solo but a cappella and in a much deeper voice than used for the rest of the set. As with the last gig, Suzy’s pleasure at performing shone through in her expressions and the songs played tonight allowed each of the trio to show their worth to the whole.

Katie And The Questions are usually Claire and Katie with a backing band. Tonight, however, there was only one female singer and I don’t know which it was (although, I’m going to assume it was Katie). Even the band makeup was, from memory, different to that listed on the Facebook page – that line-up includes one keyboard-player and a bass-player, but I’m fairly certain that there were two sets of keyboards and no bass tonight. Although they list influences from the sixties to the noughties, tonight’s performance seemed to me to be heavily influenced by the former. Everything from the retro-pop sound to Katie’s look and understated performance seemed, to me, to come from the decade of my birth and wasn’t something I thought I’d enjoy that much. I was wrong – from You’re Not Here, through the slightly rockier but still pop-edged Elizabeth Jones and Don’t Talk, with its increased use of keyboards, I found my feet tapping along to the music. The slightly darker Strangers Dub Remix (currently available as a free download from their Soundcloud site) was followed by something which I think was called The Picture Remains The Same, then Katie’s favourite track, a more disco-like track whose title wasn’t announced. The set finished with Perfect Life, the band’s song from the album, which is so new that Katie had to refer to the lyrics throughout. This was a new band to me and I enjoyed them more than I thought I would. Overall the songs were bright and catchy and even guitarist Alex’s occasional slight dalliances into something more akin to rock solos seemed to enhance the pop sound rather than detract from it.

What The Cat Dragged In are another new band to me and little did I know how impressed I was going to be by them. Few of their songs were introduced by title, even though there was no small amount of between-song talking amongst the band, the confusion of which somehow ended up being more endearing than annoying. The opener was atmospheric while Emily Lies, this band’s album song, had a quirkiness that couldn’t help but bring The Cure to mind. The third, much faster song, saw lead singer Emily and backing singer Alice (sisters. I think) almost sparring against each other in a vocal sense. By now Emily had pointed out that tonight’s drummer was a stand-in who normally played guitar (presumably not for this band) – he did a superb job, throwing rhythmic curveballs throughout the set (I’m sure they were deliberate). Next up was a new song, with much merriment before it as Alice remembered what Emily had told her it was about. Shame they didn’t share the explanation with us, apart from “it’s the most political song I’ve written”. In this case, “written” meant wrapping her own words through the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme, ending with “Here comes the candle to light you to bed; Here comes the statement, it's written in red; Here comes the taxman to collect your debt; Here comes the hangman to chop off your head”. Not only political but deliciously dark and twisted and the whole thing sung in a delightfully angry style. It was back to the quirky, clipped vocals for the next song while Emily left the stage area and weaved seductively through the audience while singing the next and then the set ended, all too soon, with one of those songs which, rather than a recognisable tune, is comprised of slightly chaotic noise (think the end of Springsteen’s Thunder Road). In my experience almost totally original, fresh, exciting and entertaining, What The Cat Dragged In impressed me in much the same way that Dream Of Apollo did a couple of years ago, with a very assured an unexpectedly good performance. I’m hoping to catch them again soon.

Overall, this was an extremely good gig and one I would have been happy to attend even if it hadn’t been the album launch, or for charity. And it certainly went a long way to proving that York still does have talented musicians. You might just have to look a little bit harder to find them. But what was it with (or without) shoes tonight? Of the four lead singers, only Dan kept his on. But Suzy and Katie performed barefoot, while Emily performed in stocking feet. Must be a girl thing…

As to the Best Of York album itself… I’m hoping to find time to review that soon.

Misty Played For Us

Monday 11th April: Given my last two start-of-the-week outings, I was a little bit apprehensive about going to another Monday night gig. One advantage of The Basement Bar is that it is a lot smaller than the other venues I frequent so, if it was a small audience, it wouldn’t look quite so empty. Conversely, a disadvantage would be that, if it was a small audience, even lingering at the back would leave you quite visible from the stage. It turns out that I needn’t have worried as a reasonably large audience made the place look quite full and I didn’t have to feel any guilt about helping to turn away the extremely drunk young man who tried to get in. (Although, if I’m honest, I doubt he even knew where he was, let alone who he might have seen if he’d been allowed in…)

Opening tonight was a young lady with the rather tongue-twisting name of Alice Ostapjuk. Self taught on the guitar and playing solo after several attempts to form a band, her quirky mannerisms and, in some ways, her voice may have given the impression that she would somehow be better as a comedy act but some of her lyrics had the ability to take your heart and wring tears out of it. Despite playing just an acoustic guitar, Alice opened with a cover of Where Did Our Love Go? (Diana Ross and the Supremes) which was instantly recognisable as one of their songs but very different to the original. From then on, it was mostly her own songs, continuing with Samuel’s Secret, the introduction for which showed her comedic overtones even if she did, in my opinion, blow the delivery by extending the story just a few words too far. Tripping, a new song, was written because a hatred of arguments and was followed by another cover, this time Fairground Attraction’s Perfect, which she had only learned recently and, despite starting off wrongly, gave a pretty good rendition. Then came the emotion. What About Us? was dedicated to her Gran, who loved to listen to her sing and, presumably, is no longer with “us” as the lyrics deal with those left behind – “The angels they took care of you, but what about the rest of us? Left bleary-eyed, we cried and cried and cried.” – and the song is delivered in such a heartfelt fashion, I suddenly found myself welling up. Thankfully, Paper Planes And Shooting Stars was much more uplifting and had the audience clapping along. Alice finished with The Chase, which was inspired by a dream and prompted another humorous story during the introduction. With a clipped but emotive delivery, simple but varied playing and, at times, some very mature writing, Alice is definitely worth checking out if you like acoustic folk/pop and most of the set can be found on Soundcloud.

Next up was David McCaffrey who, it has to be said, seemed to have managed to entice a few friends along to swell the audience. With a very mature sounding voice, which belied his youthful and slightly geeky (in the nicest way possible) appearance (David’s MySpace bio says he is still only 16, but there’s no note as to when it was last updated, so he could be as old as, gasp, 18…) and playing his guitar from the back, if you see what I mean, David started off with Sons And Daughters, a very mellow song that, even so, had some soaring vocals and was followed by Train Track North which had a nice catchy riff. Apparently, David’s favourite band is Stornaway and his only cover was a version of The End Of The Movie. Knowing neither the band or the song, I can’t comment on how good a cover it was but, again, he delivered it in style. Musically, Through The Sun was a much faster, lighter song and was followed by Mountain Tops and, finally, Stars which contained a lot of screeching of strings as fingers flew between the frets and was, in my opinion, the best song of a very good set from a promising new(ish) artist.

I couldn’t help but smile as Misty Miller prepared for her set by tuning her ukulele on what appeared to be an iPhone balanced on her knee, proving that there really is an “app” for everything. Continuing the theme of the evening, 16 year old Misty is self taught on an instrument that I always think has comedic overtones (perhaps solely due to George Formby), something which proved far from true tonight. Perhaps trying a little too hard to eschew what could have been a dainty image (young blonde girl playing a “miniature guitar”) by performing in holey t-shirt and designer shredded jeans and complete with nose ring, Misty proved to be a very confident and capable young lady. Soft spoken between songs, with a singing voice that, at times, sounded like a more refined version of Lily Allen and playing simply by brushing the strings with the fingernails, Misty started off with Evergreen Love, a lovely dreamy, wistful song before launching into Remember (the song that really made me think of Lily Allen) a much faster song with some really nice lyrics about growing up and unrequited love. Rail On Me was followed by Bones, introduced with a story about seeing her brother performing live and wanting to write a song that she could stamp her foot along to. It may have been a little stronger but I still wouldn’t have said there was much stamping going on. Wild Thing was followed by a cover of Why Try To Change Me Now? (originally by Cy Coleman and covered by Frank Sinatra) which she said she loves to sing but which, I’m afraid, did little for me. Born Bad was written while thinking about a place at college and was followed by Rabbits and the set was completed with Vampire which, being a love song to one of the undead was, perhaps, the song most expected from a girl of that age, despite containing some wonderful lyrics. It’s a very nice song but I’m willing to bet that Misty has read the Twilight series…

I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and had a thoroughly entertaining evening.

The Boss Hopes To Take A Gambell And Gaines A Superb Gig

Friday 25th March: It’s a sell-out at the Basement tonight as a favourite band (with all ages, judging by the audience) returns to York to headline what is being billed as an extravaganza. Sadly, one of the support acts, the excellent Dave Woodock and the Dead Comedians had to pull out at nearly the last minute, leading to a change in the line-up.

Standing in for the Dead Comedians, but further down the bill, is Rob Gambell, ex of Hijak Oscar and currently hailing from Canterbury. Playing acoustic guitar, Rob opened with a folky, country number which turned out to be a cover of William Elliott Whitmore’s Take It On The Chin, following that with what I think was another cover – Ben Harper’s Power Of The Gospel – and then If A Letter Makes It Better (Krissy and the Jackdaws). Switching to his own compositions, he sang Mama, I’m OK then Bucket and finished with another cover – Townes Zan Vandt’s If I Needed You. Rob used a variety of guitar styles and had a nicely clear voice along with an affable, almost nonchalant stage persona. The overall impression was of somebody singing around a campfire rather than at a gig. Personally, I found his covers to be more enjoyable than his own songs, despite the slightly humorous lyrics of Bucket, a song about loving somebody enough to look after them, which seemed to involve making sure they had something to throw up into. A pretty good start to the evening.

Rob was followed by Andy Gaines, ex of Cardboard Radio and The Runaway Sons and now a solo artist (and, I think, creative photographer and designer). No less affable, but slightly more bumbling (in the nicest possible sense of the word – “I have an EP for sale, but I have no idea where you can get it from. Just search for my name on the internet, something will come up…”) Andy seemed to be constantly trying to hide a huge grin underneath his extremely floppy fringe and was clearly having fun on stage. There was a nice mix of styles in his songs, most of which I didn’t catch the titles of. A “country-ish” number was followed by one that I can only describe as Billy Bragg sings about York. The Lights People Leave On was a jangly, catchy little number, while The Hand You Once Held was a passionate, almost angry song both musically and lyrically and was, in my opinion, the best of the set. He finished with The More Things Change, a much gentler folky song. Given Andy’s contributions to music around York, I’m surprised that this is the first time I have actually seen him perform. Hopefully, it won’t be the last. Oh, and for anybody interested, the EP is available from here.

I have waxed lyrical about Boss Caine a few times in the past but usually it’s GT Turbo/Dan Lucas performing solo under the name (presumably to avoid confusion when trying to sell CDs at gigs). Tonight, however, we were promised a few guests, making it a performance more akin to the musical collective of the name. GT started the set on his own with the song that I still don’t know the title of, but which I think is probably The Kind Of Loving (or something similar) before playing a brand new song – Ghosts And Drunks - which had been written for him by the wonderful Joe Solo and which will feature on the next album. It was a lovely yet melancholy tune which, like the best of GTs songs, both paints a picture and fits him perfectly. Another old song – Dead Man’s Suit – followed before Adam Rogowski, over from Russia, joined him on stage to provide a second guitar during Dreamer, a song which benefited from the harmonies of the two guitars by sounding more like the album version. (Roy commented that it was the best song of the evening up to that point and, as far as I know, didn’t revise his opinion.) Andy Gaines and Dom Smith then joined the pair for a welcome live debut (at least for me) of the brilliant Santiago, followed by another favourite of mine, Leaving Victoria. I have to say that I’m not sure whether the occasional sounds coming from Dom’s keyboard or Andy’s slide guitar (?) added anything to the songs, but I’m never going to complain about hearing them live. Everybody Loves You More When You’re Down On Your Knees (dedicated to “the prick currently running the country”) was another new song to me and included Vin North on harmonica, then Andy returned to the stage for the more upbeat Sha La La, a song which is at least partly about the demise of Cardboard Radio. Much was made tonight (albeit somewhat less than seriously) about the downbeat and, perhaps, depressive nature of GT’s songs. Admittedly, about half of tonight’s set was somewhat less than upbeat but, to me anyway, even the downbeat ones aren’t necessarily depressive and while some may be about the sadder parts of a life lived, they do show that it is possible to come out the other side and, maybe also show the cathartic effect of writing. Whatever, the songs remain some of my favourites of recent years and the makeup of tonight’s set, with its mix of new and old, regular and rarely heard provided a freshness to an artist that I never tire of seeing perform.

Another band that I never tire of seeing are Hope&Social who, even while recently performing more or less the same songs (new ones are just around the corner with the promise of a third album to be released in May) maintain a freshness and originality with their humour and what can only be described as on-stage antics. Opening the set with Living A Lie, with the audience joining in the frantic clapping opening, Simon seemed to forget that he, usually, performed a middle section on the keyboards, turning to stare at the brass section before exclaiming, “Do I do this bit?” Staged? Who knows. Bloody funny? Definitely! And that really set the tone for the rest of the evening. Pitching Far Too High was followed by a reminiscence of Simon hitting one audience member in a rather private area with a soup ladle (something which resonated with me given how close I was sitting to the business end of Rosie’s trombone…) A superbly extended version of Sunlight Hold Me included such delights of Rich seemingly trying to play guitar while cavorting around like somebody seen under a strobe light, Ed playing the keyboard with his palms and Simon managing to somehow prevent his microphone falling over without actually handling it. Compared to the set so far, Ripples Rock My Boat was performed uneventfully, which is not to say not brilliantly (if you see what I mean), although it might have been during it that a shout of “Zumba” (apparently “really good” in South Yorkshire) from the audience totally confused Simon. Normal service was soon resumed though when, during Red Red Rose, Simon felt the urge to get the audience involved in a Mexican wave backwards and forwards across the room, with Rich adding the suggestion that, at one end, the audience shout “Zumba, zumba” while at the other they shouted “Ooo, ooo”. Not only did we all comply but, in true pantomime fashion it developed into a competition between the two halves of the room and was soon followed by more audience participation as Simon got everybody responding to chants along the lines of, “I say Zumba, you say Ooo ooo. I say Zumba, you say Ooo, ooo, I say Zumba, you say <insert audience shouting “Ooo, ooo” here>”. Believe me, it works better when you are there. There was more to follow as the now ubiquitous acoustic version of Looking For Answers had us joining in the backing vocals for the chorus without any prompting – it has always been as much a song from the audience as it is from the band. Rich and his banjo weren’t quite ready for the beginning of A Darkness Now Is Coming which, somehow, led to Simon singing the first verse of Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer when Rich did start playing, before eventually giving up and singing the correct song. Add to that Ed playing an impromptu solo on his broken amplifier, matching hilarious facial expression to sounds something akin to dolphins singing while Simon Goff practically collapsed in hysterics, and James playing the trumpet between his legs (and seemingly to experience some dizziness afterwards) and you have yet another unique performance of a familiar song. The set ended with Marching On Through before continuing (or ending again) with an inevitable encore which was the only song of the evening that none of my group recognised. I’ve said before that you don’t see a Hope&Social gig, you experience it. They seem to get better every time I see them and, inevitably, this was the best so far. Truth be told, I doubt I’ve done it justice. If you fancy trying out their music, both albums are available on the above link on a “pay what you want” basis. Alternatively, if you read this and know me, ask and I’ll copy them for you (the band actively encourage it). Both albums are very good but, to be honest, the best way to experience Hope&Social is to see them live.

A Final Hazzard

Thursday 16th December: Given the time span between attending the gig and actually getting around to blogging about it, together with my sometimes over-reliance on memory (rather than taking notes), this will be a somewhat sparser entry than usual.

I had thought that I had seen my last gig of 2010 but then discovered that two of my favourite local acts, along with one I hadn't seen before, were performing at the Basement tonight (or, rather, a month ago) so, with the other guys unavailable, I set out for one last solo attendance before the end of the year.

Sadly, shortly before the start of the evening, GT Turbo let the other acts know that he was no longer going to make it. Shame as regular readers will know that I'm a big fan.

I had never seem Sam Forrest before tonight but I had heard good things about his work with Nine Black Alps and knew that he was producer on my favourite album of 2010 (Boss Caine's The Ship That Sailed - if you haven't bought it already, why not???) Unusually for a man and guitar act Sam plays electric guitar but there was something different about how he was playing it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. The best way I could describe it would be that he played it as if it were acoustic. It was a low-key performance with little audience interaction and if I heard any song titles, I have since forgotten them. Somehow, Sam's voice didn't quite fit his playing, which detracted a little from the performance for me. That's not to say it was a bad performance, though, just that it wasn't what I was used to. It was a short set, but it was good enough to tempt me to buy a copy of Sam's latest album, No Imagination, which I have had a chance to listen to and, as I mentioned in my CD roundup, ended up bubbling just outside my top five of the year.

Hazzard County don't get together as often as they used to (which, to be fair, was weekly for quite a long time) but are always worth watching. Tonight, Dave, Simon, Chris and the one whose name I can never remember were joined by Sam Forrest, who played bass while the rest of them rotated around the remaining instruments and vocals, playing the usual mix of country rock songs. As usual the set included a number of songs I recognised but couldn't remember who originally performed them. Occasionally, the band helped out by introducing songs by the likes of Texas Tornados, J.J. Cale and Ryan Adams. They also performed Chris's own Luckiest Man Alive and favourites of mine such as Rock Me Mama, Crickle Creek and The Weight. (The last two originally by The Band.) As usual, it was a foot-stomping, sing-along performance of great songs and excellent musicianship and another entertaining evening. Sadly, chatting with Simon after the gig, it seems that this this could be the last reunion for quite some time as all the current members are busy with other projects.

Bones, Smoking and Ashes in the Basement

Friday 30th July: Tonight it's a solo (get it? No? Bear with me, you will...) outing to the Basement to see a gig that came highly recommended by a certain D Lucas.

The evening opened with three songs from Peter Marshall & The Lomos, who were playing twenty-four gigs in twenty-four hours around York, raising money for SASH. Now, the endeavour itself is a brave enough thing to attempt but when you are basically gate-crashing a gig which is almost the complete opposite of your own style of music, it takes on a much higher degree of courage. However, the comedy stylings of this due managed to raise a few chuckles, an appreciative round of applause and, most importantly, a bit of cash. Well done, lads.

Next on stage was Joe Solo (now do you get it?), an untraditional folk singer from Scarborough (via somewhere a little further North-East, if his accent is anything to go by). An ex-punk, Joe was, according to his wife, destined to be a protest singer because he was always moaning. Strapping on or inserting (into his shoe...) various bits of percussion and adding a bit of harmonica imbues Joe with a bit of a one-man-band vibe and added a bit more interest to the man and guitar act. Coming across between songs as unassuming and slightly bewildered, Joe has a distinctive singing voice and the songs performed tonight were good enough for me to buy copies of the two CDs he had on sale. Highlight was a true modern folk song, written by Graham Moore, called Tom Paine's Bones, about this fellow.

The ever-reliable and always excellent GT Turbo was next up with a short set comprising of Leaving Victoria, Sweet Sorrow Surrender, Smoking In My Backyard, Dead Man's Suit and a new song (to me, anyway) Father Time, for which he was joined by Vin North on harmonica. I was going to say that some of my favourites were included but, being honest, I've yet to hear song from GT that I don't like. There's not too much I can add to what I've said about GT in the past - his songs show variety, are brilliantly written and instantly catchy. I urge you to at least give his album, The Ship That Sailed, a try.

Finally tonight's headline act, Otis Gibbs, took to the stage. He'd been wandering around the inevitably small crowd, shaking hands and taking requests during the evening. I can't possibly do justice to the man by trying to summarise the bio from his website so, if you are interested, click on the link above and head for the Press Pack. Looking like a cleaned up hobo (no offense, Otis) and sounding like a rougher, acoustic Springsteen, Otis treated us to a set of wonderful alternative country style songs, mixed with some comic asides about growing up in what he thought was an artist colony ("it turned out we were just hillbillies..."), playing at an anti-war rally and being born ("I came out bearded, tatooed and asking for my hat") . Songs included I Walked Out In The River, The Town That Killed Kennedy, Where Only The Grave Are Real and Kansas City, from his new album Joe Hill's Ashes (duly purchased and loving it...), as well as Small Town Saturday Night, the brilliant Caroline and One Day Our Whispers. The inevitable encore was performed unplugged and off stage, with Otis wandering around the audience while playing. Superb.

A Marathon Music Session

Friday 12th March: I was expecting very little to be original about tonight, as the four of us met up at the Basement Bar. I thought we had already seen the acts on show and one of them was solely a covers band. However, it was another charity night, a rare chance to see an old favourite and, for me at least, a fast-becoming favourite. But there was to be a couple of surprises, the first of which was the opening act, which I hadn't seen advertised anywhere let alone come across before.

Steve Kendra is another in the long line of local guys with guitars (and, in this case, a nifty hat). There was way too much talking going on as Steve took to the stage and I'm ashamed to say that some of it was from our little group, so it was a little difficult to hear his songs properly. But with songs about an older Elvis meeting a younger version of himself and about Kendra's own Dad working at Terry's chocolate factory, at least there was a touch of originality lyric-wise. the overriding impression, for some reason, was of a musical version of Ian McMillan (the Bard of Barnsley) and while, on past evidence, it may be unlikely that our paths cross again very soon, I wouldn't be averse to seeing him play again, if only to get the opportunity to listen more closely and give a more informed review.

It's only been a handful of weeks since I last saw Boss Caine, so I thought I knew what to expect, especially as an album is due imminently and songs from it had already been posted on his Facebook page. Tonight's second surprise was that Mr Lucas wasn't performing solo - not the firstime, just the first time that I had encountered it. Joined, at various times, by Andy Gaines, Paddy Berry, Dave Keegan and Chris Johnson, Boss Caine performed familiar songs in a slightly unfamiliar way. "Slightly" only because the album tracks posted to his page are the "full band" versions and so I had heard at least a version of them before, just not live.

The extra instruments give a fuller sound to the songs, without detracting from the Boss's rich, deep voice. (A voice which, in all honesty, is better at singing the songs than introducing them - we struggled to hear what he was saying between songs although, again, that could have been partly due to the ambient noise level.) I don't know whether all the songs performed were from the album, but I'm fairly sure that all of the four mentioned above were played, including Leaving Victoria, one of my favourites. My appetite for the album was whetted even more than before.

We used to see Hazzard County regularly at the White Swan. Then the landlord changed, the pub was done up and the Hazzards seemed to go their separate ways, getting together for much less infrequent gigs. Tonight was one of those events as Dave, Paddy, Simon, Chris and John headlined the gig which was set up to raise money for Shelter, the charity being supported by John's wife as she runs the London Marathon. The music on offer as well as such a worthwhile charity (and the fact that I have very little chance of ever completing a marathon) made this £5 very well spent.

The Hazzards spent the evening playing the usual mix of songs by the likes of The Band, Dylan, Johnny Cash and more, including a fair few that I didn't recognise from previous times we had seen them. Throughout the evening, every swapped and changed instruments numerous times, with four of the band changing between various guitars, drums and tambourine, while Paddy swapped between bass and double-bass and Chris sometimes adding keyboards (I don't remember ever seeing keyboards at a Hazzards gig before) and everybody except Paddy taking at turn at lead and backing vocals.

The songs were lively, as was the audience, many of whom were at least semi-regulars at the Swan (and at least two regulars failed to get in to what was a very crowded and very warm Basement). The music was up to the band's usual high standards and they all appeared to enjoy playing together again. Sadly, from one posting I have seen, this is likely to be their only gig of the year and, shortly after the house lights were flickered (presumably to indicate time to stop playing) and ignored, I had to leave. I understand that the music continued until after midnight and I would expect it finished with something special and, probably, even more lively. Part of me wishes that tonight's gig took place later in the year, when I wouldn't be relying on public transport to get me home.

I don't know whether a final total was announced but I understand that, through entry money and bucket collections, over £600 had been raised by 9pm. Well done to all and good luck to Jayne for the marathon.

Helping Haiti (again)

Wednesday 17th February: After my exertions for Haiti of a couple of weeks ago (when I joined my daughter's karate class for a sponsored fitness session to raise money for Haiti and couldn't walk without pain for four days afterwards...) tonight saw a much more civilised way of parting with a bit of cash to help the earthquake hit island, by attending a money-raising concert in the City Screen's Basement Bar. Five acts, all "single bloke with guitar", acoustic - not my usual fare, it has to be said.

First to take the stage was Andy Gaines, who I think I've previously seen with The Runaway Sons. (Although the link above states that he is now solo, which might be why we haven't seen the Sons for a while.) Andy played just four songs, mostly downbeat although the third, about a drunken fight with a girlfriend, was more upbeat and tinged with humour. The vocals were crystal-clear and the songs entertaining enough - a solid start to the evening.

Next up was Mark Wynn, another singer in the same mold as Mr Gaines. I'm afraid that his vocals were far from clear from where I was standing, although the set wasn't helped by people talking (more on that later) and one couple actually getting up to leave. Five songs this time and, if anything, the first four were even more downbeat than those of Gaines. The fifth, however, was a very much more upbeat bluesy number which, for me, included by far the most interesting guitar playing in the instrumental middle section.

James McKay (I think that link is correct - if anybody knows different, give me a shout) took to the stage next, complete with jerry-rigged guitar (the pick-ups were blu-tacked on to start with and taped on after the first song), glass of wine and burnt thumbs from a pancake day accident. The vocals were back up to scratch for this set which started slowly and built to a nice climax. His best song was, in fact, a cover which he introduced as being by Dave Dondero (again, I'm not sure of the link - partly because James said that he might be touring with Dondero later in the year, but the link is to an American West Coast singer).

I think the next act was Tom Reeve (he didn't introduce himself), who provided a change of pace with some tongue-twisting lyrics, if only in terms of the speed of his singing The Cuckold And The Whore. Tom was, for me, the best act so far - a bit more American Folk than the rest. Grave The Ballad Of John Brown's Corpse is a superb "story" song about grave-robbing and the curse that goes with it, while Jessie was a bitter-sweet song about an eighteen-year-old dog. Alongside the superb lyrics was some brilliant and mesmerising guitar playing, during which Tom's fingers seemed, at times, to fly along the frets. Recommended.

Finally and, unfortunately too late for me to be able to stay for the full set and still catch the last bus home, Boss Caine arrived on stage and, almost immediately, got annoyed with the impolite loudmouth sitting in the audience. (Rightly so, it stopped me from doing it just before I ran off to the bus stop.) I can only remember seeing Mr Lucas once before but tonight he proved that his songs are not only memorable but also as comfortable as a well-worn in pair of slippers - at least three that I heard tonight were not only instantly recognisable from the gig last year, but I found that I could pretty much remember the choruses straight off. There's an album in the offing (and already on pre-order for me) and I really hope it includes the likes of Smoking In My Back Yard, Leaving Victoria (assuming that's the title) and the one about drinking wine. Assuming it didn't go vastly downhill after I left, this was a very assured and enjoyable set.

It is, perhaps, indicative of my knowledge and experience of this type of music that the only name that sprung to mind as a comparison to any of the acts tonight was Ralph McTell. I'm not sure whether the guys would appreciate that and suspect that they (or at least some of them ) would be aiming more along the lines of Bob Dylan.

Unfortunately, tonight saw a very small crowd in which I felt a little out of place as I seemed to be the only person not related to or a friend of the performers. I doubt that the amount raised will raise any eyebrows but, on the basis that every little helps, this was well worth shelling out for and there was at least a couple of acts that I wouldn't mind seeing again.

Bands In The Basement

Tuesday 27th October: Tonight it's a first trip to the Basement Bar for me, to see my current favourite "local" live band. As it's name suggests, the bar is in the basement of York's City Screen cinema. It's a strange set-up, with the stage area being almost as big as the audience area. The are a few tables, lit with candles (very intimate), including one which is almost on the stage itself, an impression only heightened by the fact that you have to go around or over the barrier separating stage from audience to get to it. Roj and I, both getting somewhat used to going out during the week, positioned ourselves at a corner table and settled down for the evening's entertainment, with me for one hoping that the hour's delay in opening the doors didn't mean that I had to rush off to catch the last bus home.

First up were two fifths of Sheffield band Dave Woodcock and the Dead Comedians, namely Dave himself on guitar and vocals and Chris Saunders on guitar. They are playing a series of gigs to promote Omaha High Low, their album due to be released in November. Dave sings with an almost growl, painting pictures with his lyrics and producing songs which could be the North England equivalent of Springsteen's quieter, more parochial output. Highlight for me was City Lights (which is lucky as it is also the only song title I can remember...) Chris's backing guitar almost gave the impression that he was ad-libbing as, at times, the two sounds didn't quite seem to match up, but they always worked. An enjoyable, if not standout, set and it would be interesting to hear the full band line-up.

Next on the bill was Boss Caine or, more accurately, GT Turbo, from York. (Confused? The explanation is on the linked MySpace page.) Categorised as Americana, Country and Blues, this is a singer/guitarist with a rich, deep, mellow voice and songs about hard drinking and drugs. Again, like the first act, his songs evoke images of Northern life - Smoking In My Backyard was a standout for me. Other songs tonight included Lady Macbeth, Sweet Sorry Surrender and a cover of Has Anybody Here Seen Hank (originally by The Waterboys). This is the first time I've caught this act but, hopefully, it won't be the last.

Finally, the band we had turned up to see - a cold-ridden, Leeds-based Hope & Social. I have waxed lyrical about H&S's album, Architects Of This Church, before and still urge anybody who hasn't bought it to do so. Tonight's set was comprised mostly of songs from that album, although there was one that I didn't recognise. Although they didn't perform the full album, the songs were proper live (by which I mean extended) versions, including one which was preceded by the strains of Prefab Sprout's When Love Breaks Down. There wasn't a duff song in the set but the instrumental ending to Sunlight Hold Me was incredible. Along with the welcome return of comedy interludes (I'm never sure whether these are rehearsed or ad-libbed), audience participation is encouraged at H&S gigs and tonight we sang along with gusto to the chorus of Red Red Rose and (without encouragement) joined in impeccably with the "whoa whoa" section of Looking For Answers (performed acoustically by Simon on guitar and vocals and Rich on backing vocals, as the performance had gone on longer than they were allowed to use the PA system.) For a band whose various members were either dosing themselves with Strepsils or in imminent danger of having to rush off stage (you really don't want to know...), this was another superb performance, retrospectively tinged with a little sadness when I found out that it was bass-player Jason's penultimate gig with the band.

For anybody interested, I didn't miss the last bus, but I did have to run further than I currently find comfortable in order to catch it!