A Flock Of Siegal

Tuesday 15th March: Regular readers will know that I have a wide taste in music, if not a wide knowledge. If there was one genre I would like to know a lot more about, it’s Blues. From my narrow experience, I know that I like Blues music but I also know that what I have heard barely scratches the surface. Take tonight, for example – I know that I like the headline act and this is the third time I’ve seen him but I couldn’t tell you which particular style of Blues he plays.

I haven’t knowingly seen The Blueflies before tonight. (I think they may have been playing at the York Beer Festival when I was there but can’t be sure.) They play what I would describe as riff-laden, bass heavy Blues and a lot of what they played tonight sounded familiar. I did note down a few lyrics but, despite extensive Googling, I have only managed to come up with the fact that one of the songs was Riot In Cell Block Number Nine (The Blues Brothers), another may have been Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix) and their final song may have been Sugar Sweet (Freddie King). As to the rest, I don’t know – they could have been originals, they may have been covers that I can’t track down. What I do know is that they were certainly played well. Helped by some astoundingly clear vocals and superb guitar solos, the band certainly got more than one person in the better-than-average sized Fibbers crowd tapping their foot, especially during a lengthy third track which was an effortlessly varied instrumental. There was even a nifty little drum solo to fill time during a guitar change. If, like me, you’re a bit of a Blues fan, you could do a lot worse than to see The Blueflies play, especially since you can generally do so for free – keep an eye out for them at the Roman Bath or Victoria Vaults in York, or at a whole host of other venues around the North.

As I have already mentioned, this is the third time I’ve seen Ian Siegal and the second time he’s been the headline act. Either the British Blues scene isn’t very good, or Ian and his band are (I’m putting my money on the latter), as they seem to win a fair few awards, getting best band and best bass player (Andy Graham) at the inaugural British Blues Awards last year as well as Broadside winning Mojo magazine’s Blues Album of the Year in 2009. His style is very different to that of The Blueflies and is described (by Wikipedia) as “rootsy”. He’s a very laid-back performer and doesn’t introduce all of his songs so, again, I have to rely on catching lyrics and t’internet to put together anything like a full set list. Something which, this time, I have singularly failed to do. There was mention of a new album, from which at least The Skinny came from, but there doesn’t seem to be an mention of it on his website. Other songs may have been called Dirty Brown Dog and Hard Pressed to Find Another Man Like Me, but I’m not sure. It doesn’t matter, though – it’s the performance that counts. With a variety of vocal styles, outstanding guitar work, a great variety of songs, including one that starts out slow and simple but developed into something so complex that I had no idea what was going on and another that I would be hard-pressed to recognise as a Blues song, Ian never fails to impress. There’s the occasional nice line in dry humour between songs – “When I got my first tattoo my mother told me that she didn’t really like tattoos. So I recommended she didn’t get one…” – as well as a few anecdotes (I hesitate to call it “name-dropping”) about who he has played with, making it a more genial and, perhaps, more intimate performance than some artists give. We even get a solo performance as part of the encore, which also includes the one cover that I know of – Hot Legs (Rod Stewart) – and, finally, Take A Walk In The Wilderness, from the already mentioned Broadside.

Midweek Blues

Wednesday 18th November: It's a mid-week trip for the three regulars this week as an act we have have previously seen supporting Johnny Winter is headlining at Fibbers. We were also joined by a Fibbers debutante and potential new regular.

First up was Ryan Spendlove, a man with a blue guitar (so Roj was impressed) and a clear, very strong voice. He was previously frontman for the Blueskins - the only band I've ever come across who are/were based in Gawthorpe. His set started strongly, with tracks called as Medicine and Bye Bye. Then came something I assume was called Lies (or, possibly, Lies Lies) and which seemed to turn him into a West Yorkshire version of Billy Bragg. Lyrically amusing, but perhaps a little shouty, this track was, for me, the last highpoint of the set. Not that the rest was bad, you understand, it's just that the songs started to sound a bit samey. Internet search results indicate that Ryan is a Blues guitarist. I'm not going to argue with them but his music didn't really fit in with my (albeit somewhat limited) experience of the Blues. A reasonable start to the evening.

Next on stage was Fox'N'North - members of Vudu-Blues band Hijak Oscar. Now, Andy was with us tonight and he's not exactly enamoured of Hijak Oscar so we weren't paying as much attention as we maybe should have been. To be fair, though, they certainly fit my definition of the Blues a bit more than Ryan Spendlove did, albeit with a little bit more harmonica than is necessary. From what I heard, they didn't sound too bad and the set was certainly better than when we saw the full band at The Duchess a few months back. They finished with Dylan's Rock Me Mama, a favourite from the Hazzard County days, which gained them extra respect from me.

Finally, Ian Siegal and his band (Andy Graham on bass and Nikolaj Bjerre on drums). Ian definitely plays the Blues and plays them well. The last time we saw him, we didn't know what to expect. Having heard him, though, we knew we were in for a treat. Ian's occasionally humour-laden lyrics are performed with an incredible vocal range which belies his deep, gruff speaking voice. His guitar playing is superb, mixing bottle-neck and traditional styles. This tour is to promote new album, Broadside (Mojo magazine's Blues album of the month and, if Ian is to be believed, soon to be announced Blues album of the year) so most of the tracks are from that album. There was one, however, that I thought I recognised from the last time we saw him. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any of the titles.

Ian and his band performed a well-crafted set - building to a show-ending crescendo, leaving the reasonably sized audience clamouring for more before Ian takes to the stage to perform a solo track from his The Dust album (not one he wrote but one that, according to the author, he performs like he wrote). Finally it's the full band again with and incredible final song. Throughout the set, Ian shows a very dry wit, commenting on the size of the audience and the luxurious Travelodge that the band will be staying in before their next gig, amongst other things.

This was, as we expected, a highly entertaining and well-performed gig. I just have one criticism - if you are touring to promote and album, should you not have it on sale at the gig?

White Men Can Play The Blues

Friday 22nd May: ...and in attempt to counter the disappointment of not being at Wembley on Sunday I'm taking a punt with two artistes who are unknown to me, although one does come highly recommended (by both Roj and my highly-knowledgeable colleague Phil). We're also not at any of our usual venues - tonight it's York's Grand Opera House. In the Dress Circle. Seated. It's really warm and, to my embarrassment, I find myself nodding off a couple of times.

Tonight's support act is Ian Siegal, a British blues guitarist, with Andy Graham on bass and Nikolaj Bjerre on drums. If there's such a thing as traditional blues, Ian comes close to playing it, to the point that I originally thought he was American. The band's short set was a joy to listen to with some very original guitar-playing styles and an easy-going vocal style. I found it difficult to distinguish the lyrics but I think that was more down to the acoustics of the venue and unfamiliarity with the songs, rather than any deficiency on the part of the band. Bjerre's drumming was simple yet very effective - he's another proponent of the small drum-kit, a la Jan Akkermann's drummer from a few weeks ago - while Graham's style verged on humorous, with a touch of funk underlying some of the bass-lines.

The short support set was over all too quickly, but it was an almost perfect set-up for the main act.

That main act was one Johnny Winter, 65 year-old, Grammy nominated Texan Blues guitarist, and personal guitar-hero of fellow blogger, Roj. As I said, Mr Winter comes highly recommended and the more I hear of the blues, the more I like it, so tonight should be a winner.

The set starts with Johnny's band (Paul Nelson on guitar, Scott Spray on bass and Tony Beard on drums) on stage without the main man. After a short instrumental, Johnny shuffles onto stage, looking as frail as you are ever going to see a live act. He spends the entire set sitting on a chair, playing some kind of small, cut-down version of a guitar. (I'm no expert, but I'm assuming it's the dew-dropped shaped, headless Steinbeger, mentioned in this review which, being professional, is much better written than mine.) Apparently, it's not just his age, but the fact that he damaged a hip while escaping a house fire a decade ago.

Anyway, while he may not be the most dynamic act I've ever seen, his voice is superb (like dark chocolate running over velvet when he speaks, which isn't that often). Again, I struggled a bit with the lyrics and, not being familiar with Winter's history or (being honest) a lot of his musical roots, I failed to spot some of the more famous tracks. Winter plays a combination of blues, rock and rock-and-roll (it's safe to say that I'm not a huge fan of the latter) and plays then well. I have to admit, I found the small guitar to sound a bit strident and preferred it when Winter swapped to a more traditional instrument (a Firebird, I think) for the encore - it had a much cleaner sound. His was a no-nonsense performance - he introduced each song, counted it in and performed it, letting his fingers doing the talking.

From some of the shouts coming from the audience, there appeared to be some long-time fans at the gig. I suspect, but can't be sure, that at least some of them would think that Winter was now past his best. From my point of view, as a "newbie", he was an excellent performer, although possibly not up the standard of the recommendations I was given. Maybe it's the case that legends have to grow, rather than being discovered. I think overall, I preferred Ian Siegal, although I wouldn't think twice if given the opportunity to see either act again.

At the end of the gig, warm, slightly drowsy and in need of liquid sustenance, we headed off to the Roman Bath where the lasers, muscle-shirts and rocks covers of Storm, were in evidence. We've seen these before and they, more or less, perform the same sort of covers as most bands we see at the Bath, but they are pretty good and, although in a different class to the main gig, were a good enough way to finish off the evening.