LAST WEEK IN LONDON: Now Showing In a Pub Near You
- Posted on September 8, 2008 1:58 PM
- 1 comment
Last Week In London
Now Showing In a Pub Near You
by Peter Coulston
Hello and welcome to what has become a very cold and miserable city on the weather front at least. But, then again, what’s new; nobody comes to London, or the UK for that matter, for the weather, so it’s good that we have other things to offer, notably live music. Oh yes, there is plenty of that around this week, beginning on Monday at the Half Moon pub in Putney. As usual, Redvers Bailey was on hand to provide a few songs and his sound engineering expertise to another Unplugged session. First up was Ro Tierney, a singer/songwriter from Dublin who was ably assisted by his own guitar and a guy on acoustic bass guitar. Nice set which included “Tumbleweed”, which was a bit jazzy and “Blood Red Manifesto”, a dark war (Iraq) ballad that can be heard on www.myspace.com/rotierney, where you can also buy an album of his songs for £5. I saw Benjamin Thomas at the Electroacoustic last May and commented on his anger and sixties Dylan style, which is still there but to a lesser extent. While “At Guantanamo” and “This is Our Way” aren’t exactly complimentary about certain aspects of life in the 21st Century, much of the anger seems to have subsided, which, in fact, made the material more effective. He’s good at what he does and you can hear the aforementioned songs with some others on www.myspace.com/benjaminthomas1. Gary Rolfe is an acoustic/blues performer who sometimes works as Iron & Wood. He plays a mean slide guitar, pays homage to Ry Cooder, and kept our attention with good things like “Waiting for my Lord” and “White Boy Joe”, which you can hear on www.myspace.com/ironandwoodmusic. Things lightened up a bit when Cool Banana hit the stage with their punky rock sound and distinctive appearance. Lots of hair and piercings went along with some good guitar, mandolin, harmonica and soprano sax and catchy stuff like the funky “I Wanna be 17”. “Choo Choo” was an excuse for the mandolin player to show off his harmonica skills, and “When Mandy Comes” had a carnival feel, a bit like that old Champs classic, “Tequila”. They are active in the Portsmouth area, apparently, with their Junkyard Show. You can hear some of these songs and more on www.myspace.com/thecoolbanana. Phillious Williams describe themselves as Heavy Country, whatever that means. They are certainly country but never heavy, in fact, they closed the evening in a very relaxed and enjoyable way. Most of the material, like “One of My Better Days” and Oh Ma Old Love” was country rock while “Sweet Debris” was somewhat darker and ballady. The guitars, bass, harmonica and drums work well together and they even went a bit Tex-Mex on “Mr Lawrence”. It all finished with Mr Williams himself doing a solo set which embraced the blues/rocker “Caroline”, which had a bit of a “Radar Love” feel to it. Nice stuff and a good show, all of which is on www.myspace.com/philliouswilliams.
There were a few changes to the original line up at The Bedford in Balham on Tuesday, but the end result made for a pretty good night. A set from Sue Verran is always a good way to start an evening, especially if you like acoustic music that has more than a hint of country and is very well performed. I last saw and enjoyed a performance by Sue last October at Ginglik and was looking forward to hearing her again. She performed an impeccable set that included ballads like “Bringing it Home”, more rocky items like “Come Dress Down” and the dark and slightly Tex Mex “Fragile”. She also performed “Tumble From the Sun”, which she wrote for the film “Playing Dead”, and “Tow Away”, which had a great hook and lovely guitar work from the lady. Great to see and hear her again; you could share the experience and even buy an EP on www.myspace.com/sueverran. The next performer usually has a larger band with him, but on this occasion Paul Bullen managed very well with two backing singers, a bass player and his own guitar. Paul is obviously a very professional performer with some excellent material which is influenced by Ben Harper and Jack Johnston; although he has been hanging out with Jason Mraz lately. The whole set was entertaining and the backing singers really made a difference, providing strong harmonies to compliment Paul’s fine vocals. As for the songs, “Nothing” was quite funky while “This is the World” and “Santa Cruz” rocked in a country sort of way. He recently sang a duet at a gig with Jason Mraz, and covered “I’m Yours” on this occasion with one of his backing singers on flute. He also covered Ben Harper’s “Steal my Kisses” very nicely and pretty well won the audience over by the time he had finished. He has an album called “Let the Night Roll In” and a reggae influenced single called “Miyagi”, all of which can be bought or sampled on www.myspace.com/paulbullen. The closing act was billed as McGoozer, a rock/pop band, but we actually got the front man McGoo doing an acoustic set of his own songs. This guy has a great voice and writes very commercial material that you would expect to hear at the Country Music Awards or at a Ronan Keating concert, but it all tends to sound the same. The melodies were strong and commercial and the lyrics OK most of the time but quite predictable. The full band has a residency at the Islington Academy Bar and they will be back at the Bedford on 15 September. For a preview, go to www.myspace.com/mcgoozer.
I finished the week at a previously unvisited venue in the East End. It was, in fact, the George & Vulture, a pub on Pitfield Street which can be reached by taking the Northern Line to Old Street, taking the Old Street East exit and walking until you reach Great Eastern Street; Pitfield Street is on your left. The pub has apparently been recently refurbished but still has lots of character, with old photographs and modern pictures on the wall and some comfy furniture near the stage. Yes, the music is in the pub itself, so no point in getting techy with gig tourists who talk through the acts as this is a pub, not a club. Under the circumstances, the audience were pretty good, and certainly showed their appreciation at the end of each number. The show started with a young girl whose name I did not catch singing to backing tracks. Her voice was pretty good and her songs not bad either, although she opened with a rather tortured version of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”. She’s not ready for the club circuit yet, but she certainly should not give up. A feature of this venue on Thursdays (every other one, actually) is that they throw in some videos as well. The first was animated and called “Wiggle” by Lawrence Watson with music by The Jinks; it seemed to be about a lady with lots of pets and a vacuum cleaner who went dancing after she had finished her chores; as you do. Next up was the reason for my visit to this end of town, Luke Ritchie. This former lead singer with Sevenball is most certainly one of the strongest vocalists on the circuit right now, and his songs are pretty good, too. He opened with the excellent “Pass it Over” and then crossed between folky ballads and dark, bluesy material that included the old Sevenball staple, “Shanty”. He finished with “Song to Sundays”, which started off quietly, but ended as a final showcase to his awesome voice. You will be hearing more of this guy in this column, but better that you go and see what’s on offer at www.myspace.com/lukeritchiemusic. Next up on the live stage was Kids of Horses, a roots, folk rock three piece that covered a variety of styles including rock and a slightly Baltic sound. The vocals/harmonies were good and some of the stuff got quite jazzy, which the bass player was certainly up for, but not so sure about the guitarist. They are still a bit rough around the edges but there is a good band there, as you will hear on www.myspace.com/kidsofhorses. We then had more videos, including “Far Too Many” which had lots of people in it, surprisingly, and “Wind of Change” by Susie Watson, which was just that? There followed a video by Sevenball called “In a Name” which featured their music and Luke Ritchie on an operating table with Sevenball guitarist Andrew Dunn on hand to assist. The only thing missing was Bela Lugosi, probably because he was dead at the time. All good stuff, and nice to hear the band again. The evening closed with a band that I am sure introduced themselves as Data Puddle, but I have been unable to find them on Google. They combined guitars and vocals with loop and backing tracks and got a bit country at times, but overall it was all rather electro and heavy. We all applauded loudly after each number, but it was gone 11pm and they were technically very clever. I would like to know more if they wish to get in touch with me. So, it’s been a mixed week with some highs and lows, but, overall, a good one. Hope yours was too; stay safe and well and keep gigging.
Comments (1)
Hugo
"The evening closed with a band that I am sure introduced themselves as Data Puddle, but I have been unable to find them on Google."
I had trouble finding them too. It's "datapuddle".
http://www.last.fm/event/737845
Posted on September 9, 2008 12:24 PM
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