LAST WEEK IN LONDON: American Dreams and Local Teams
- Posted on December 10, 2007 2:41 PM
- 0 comments
By Peter Coulston
Hello and welcome to another visit to the best live music in London, or, at least, the best that I was able to cover given the time available. I have been very self indulgent this week, and immersed myself in Americana at every possible opportunity at a variety of venues, including one on my own doorstep.
I began on Tuesday at the Electroacoustic Club at the Slaughtered Lamb pub on Great Sutton Street. Easily reached from Barbican or Old Street tubes, this very comfortable basement venue offers a great atmosphere and excellent live music most nights of the week. The show opened with Rachael Dadd, a talented young singer/songwriter from Bristol who plays guitar and 5 string banjo equally well. She performed a mix of traditional and self composed material and gave a good account of herself. Check her on myspace and listen to “The Wires”. Tom Hartland is a very energetic and talented singer/songwriter from Birmingham who performs very American material, very well. He was accompanied by a good cello player and reminded me a bit of Ryan Adams on his “Heartbreaker” album, which some people consider his best. I’m rather fond of “Gold”, but I digress; I thoroughly enjoyed Tom’s set and recommend you listen to “The Reason” and “Maryland” on his myspace. The Tom Bellamy Band were tight with strong vocals and performed a good set of rock/country songs. With a good rhythm section, versatile keys and a Robbie Robertson influenced guitarist who also plays a mean fiddle, this Birmingham based band delivered. Johnny Gone Home plays country rock fronted by a great Robert Plant style vocalist and three very versatile guys on bass and guitars. One of those three guys is the Electroacoustic sound man, so he felt very much at home. I really enjoyed this band, and I guess the audience did as well, as they did two encores. They are in the process of organising themselves promotion wise right now, but I am on their mailing list and look forward to hearing them again soon.
Wednesday found me a little closer to home at the 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street, which is off Charing Cross Road and was once the centre of the music publishing industry in London. It was nicknamed Tin Pan Alley, for reasons that very few people remember today; I certainly don’t . It is now full of musical instrument and accessory shops with an Indian restaurant and the 12 Bar thrown in to provide refreshment and entertainment. This was, once again, a US dominated evening, with half the featured artists being from across the pond. Neil Cleary, from Cambridge, Mass., opened with some of his own excellent songs and fine acoustic guitar. With songs like “This Girl’s In Love”, “She’s Not The One” and “Sucker”, you have to wonder if he has ever managed to hang on to a girlfriend for any length of time; given that all these song are about how badly he treated them. Well written and sung though, and you can hear them on his myspace. Tom Stone does blues and rock very well and I was sorry that his set was relatively short. Accompanied by his own solid guitar and a very good upright bass player, this London based singer is worth a second listen. Check out “From Now On” on his myspace. UK States are a gentle country folk band from London consisting of Christian on guitar and vocals, George on bass, Mike on drums and Stefan on lap steel, which could have been a little louder as he was good. Good material, well performed; and you can hear “Saddle Me Up” and “Southern Stars” on their myspace. Laura Cortese plays country fiddle and was accompanied by Neil Cleary on percussion and guitar. This American lady is a superb fiddle player and singer, and manages to move effortlessly between traditional songs and hoedowns, country ballads and very modern pieces. If you are not that much into country music, do not be put off; listen to “Blow The Candle Out”, “Blue Jays”, “Just Like Heaven” and, my favourite, “Break Away” on her myspace. I guarantee that you will find something you like.
My apologies to Zaid Joseph for not attending his Zarathustra night at the 12 Bar on Thursday, as I am sure that it was as good as ever. I opted instead to stay very close to home to experience the incredible guitar and vocal skills of Devon Allman and his St Louis, Missouri based band, Honeytribe. Devon is the son of Gregg Allman, the keyboard player with the legendary Allman Brothers band who was also married to Cher when most of her body parts were still the one’s she was born with. Devon is a master of the Gibson Les Paul in the tradition of his late uncle Duane, who appeared on the classic version of Layla with Slowhand as well as being the original guitarist in the Allman Brothers Band; and Richard Betts, Duane’s successor. Before I drool over Mr Allman’s set, I must tell you about the opening act, Storm Warning, a brilliant blues band who are not afraid to jazz it up a bit. Fronted by the most immaculate singer/harp player that I have ever seen, this band showed us how it was done from the first note. Equally at home with the traditional blues of Son House and Howlin Wolf and less conventional offerings such as “Charlie’s Blues” and “Dangerous Blues”, their set could not be faulted. From the great lead vocals and harmonica to the brilliant use of Hammond Organ and the spot on guitar solos this is a band that you cannot afford to miss, even if you are not heavily into the blues. This band is so much more than just blues, and should be experienced at the earliest opportunity. Now on to Honeytribe. In addition to Devon Allman, there is Jack Kirkner on keys, George Postos on bass and Mark Oyarzabal on drums, with the rhythm section adding backing vocals. The music is hard to pin down, as there is Santana, Hendrix and Doors in there, but not much Allman Brothers, which is good. They jam a lot, and the blues are there most of the time, although there were a few Band style ballads where the keys and guitar blended perfectly. “Perfect World” was a perfect blues, their version of “Midnight Rider” was more bluesy than the original and the title track of their latest album, “Torch”, really rocked. When the rest of the band left the bass player on stage alone, things got kind of psychedelic. This proved to be a very long jam, starting with Mr Postos, who was joined next by Mr Oyarzabal, then Mr Kirkner and finally Mr Allman. Each proved without doubt that they are masters of their craft and it is not possible to do the whole thing justice in this column. As if that weren’t enough, an instrumental followed that included a bit of “Jessica”, while “You Are My Life” had some great guitar work that resembled the extended guitar intro on the live version of Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane. “Heaven Has No Mercy” freaked us out, as did the extended blues that closed the finale. The sheer professionalism and expertise of these guys is even more remarkable given the very young average age of the band. Unfortunately, by the time you read this, they will no longer be in the UK. So buy the album and check out their album and their myspace. Before I forget, let me thank Pete Feenstra, the promoter who brought these guys over from the States and provided the venues, which included the BoomBoom Club at Sutton Football Club, which hosted this event. Pete promotes lots of good gigs at various locations in South London and is a credit to the live music business. Keep it up, Pete. Now Christmas is approaching and the amount of gigs is diminishing rapidly, making way for Christmas parties. There will be a column next week, though, so watch this space. In the meantime, good luck and stay safe.
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