Tag Archives: Reading

Here Comes The Sun

17 Saturday Aug 2013

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Here-comes-the-sun-logo

It hardly seems possible that it’s already a year since I was last sat in the sun watching bands at the aptly, well definitely this year, ‘Here Comes The Sun’. What can I say it’s been a great summer and many a festival up and down the country has breathed a huge sigh of relief that the festival season hasn’t been devastated by bad weather this year. Here Comes The Sun, for those who don’t know it is the once a year one day festival held by and at ‘The Rising Sun Arts Centre’ in Reading. The day largely features bands who have played throughout the year, in support of raising money to keep this aging institution alive and kicking. Every space both inside and out of this rather lovely and slightly crumbling, Victorian building are made use of with a mixture of solo performers, bands and performance artists. The atmosphere is suitably warm and friendly from this close nit family of artists and audience and the variety of music on show is wide and various from your more traditional singer songwriters to the more Avant-garde electronica. There’s a great bar serving fine ales all day and a food stall, although I didn’t try the food as I was warned it could take up to an hour to arrive, unusually long for savoury pancakes, but hey ho, that’s not why we’re here. I spent the day wandering from room to room to garden and back again catching some old favourites as well as some acts that I hadn’t seen before. Of the bands I got to see, I particularly enjoyed Luke Paulo and the Grapefruit with his dark noir folk tones and rather beautifully accompanied by a lovely graceful dancing woman who expressed the songs exceptionally well. Then there was Rebecca Lambert who I had not heard before, wow what a lovely sparkling voice and with some entertainging and warming chat between songs. Also of note for me on the day were The Herberts who I am quickly growing fond of there slightly ramshackle performances, the ever entertaining and graceful Vienna Ditto, The Ultimate End with their swirling and pumping Eighties influenced tunes, and one of my favourite bands The August list who have a new EP coming soon, I caught bits and pieces of other acts as I flitted about during the day, but due to the slightly awry running order I’m not one hundred percent sure who they all were, it may also be that the beer effect had started to kick in by late afternoon and I simply can’t remember. if only I could have seen and remembered more, oh well there’s always next year.

The full list of who I did and didn’t see is as follows:

The Jettes
Vienna Ditto
The Ultimate End
Damien A Passmore & The Loveable Fraudsters
Alan Clayson & The Argonauts
The August List
Los Chicos Muertos
Rebecca Lambert
Holdin’ Court Showcase
Punch Drunk Lover
Filip Hnízdo
Haze
Johnny Hoggett
Buildings on Fire
Christina Hogg
Luke Paulo and The Grapefruit
The Two Sisters
Frillerz
Lawrence Piddock
the herberts
Jodie O’ Callahan
Bentcousin
Boredoms In The Bathroom

The Jettes – Jette Stream EP

20 Thursday Jun 2013

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The Jettes - Jette Stream EP

The Jettes – Jette Stream EP

The Jettes quite simply rock like a mutha, their debut EP Jette Stream is like squeezing an explosion of rocking noise, smothered in a sweet coat of lyrical loveliness, into a confined space with no doors or windows. I keep getting images of the band battle sequence from Scott Pilgrim vs the World running through my head. Though there’s noise a plenty here it in no way detracts from the strong song writing ability on show. It’s hard to pinpoint one influence, just a collection of influences from any decade from the 70’s on. For me personally I hear everything from The Saints to Mary Chain and The Kills to Mud Honey.

First track up is ‘Silver Knife’ with crunching guitars and wild harmonic ringing notes and driving bass, when that sweet vocal kick in ‘Take my heart, take my light…’ over that pounding beat it really grabs you in an instant, oddly whilst I’m listening to this the vocal for this song really put me in mind of Echobelly lead singer Sonya Madan. ‘Girl of my Dead Friend’ starts off like some heavy grungy noise laden Mary Chain number replete with a vocal harmony buried in amongst the noise and hand clap bouncing chorus, the bass guitar really crunches beautifully on this track and builds to final crescendo. Following on is my favourite track of all ‘The Dying Cowboy’ which spins the plaintive tale of a cowboy dressed in white, layered with haunting backing vocals and shimmering tremolo guitars, as the title would suggest this sounds like a rocking soundtrack to an awesome Spaghetti Western. The final track is ‘Take it out on me’ which kicks of with a fast pumping bass line and again highlights the cool way the harmonies between Sarah and Rich work to great effect, this track for me takes me back to my early years listening to scuzzy Punk and New Wave… wow what a great EP, I know it must be good because I had to put it straight back on again, and then again and… well you get the idea. Check out The Jettes, you won’t be disappointed.

August List at Club Velocity

24 Friday May 2013

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The August List

The August List at Club Velocity

It’s another busy night down at Club Velocity at The Rising Sun, probably one of the best regularly promoted nights you’ll come to in Reading, even taking into account the sometimes ropey PA. Tonight there are three bands, all of which I’d be more than happy to see, that they’re on the same bill is a bonus. The line up is Luke Paulo and the Grapefruits, August List and Vienna Ditto. I’m only here to review August List however, so I can kick back and relax as Luke Paulo kicks the night off with his first gig proper with his newly formed backing band.

Every time I’ve seen August List I always come away thinking the same thing, I must go see them more often, unfortunately life and a plethora of other gigs to cram in seem to conspire to make this not so. If you’ve not seen the band of two, I won’t call them a duo as they play more instruments than most bands with three times the members, they are a roots Americana/backwards country affair hailing from Dorset but now based in Oxfordshire. They are Kerraleigh – Vocals, Harmonica, Percussion, Melodica, Stylophone and pump organ, along with Martin – Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Vocals, Banjo, Percussion and big bass drum. Together they make a heavenly foot stomping sound full of texture, sing along lyrics and the sort of tunes that put a broad grin on your face. If these two lived in the southern states of the US they’d would, I’ve no doubt, be constantly in demand and on tour.

Ok, so at this point I’ll have to apologise if i get any song names wrong as most weren’t introduced, so i made educated guesses, undoubtedly all wrong. They kick off tonight with an excellent tune ‘Cut your teeth’ which sets the tone for a set that has raw rough edges yet is beautifully emotive. Kerraleigh has her work cut out as instrumentation changes for each song along with singing duties, her voice at times reminding me of Tammy Wynette and then at others of Janis Joplin. Whilst Martin delivers the rhythm and beat of the band and has a slightly gruffer, warm and mellow folk vocal, together they compliment each other perfectly. As we head through the set I recognise tracks off their debut Handsome Skin EP, including the witty ‘Death Penalty’, one of my favourites ‘Bird House Song and the exceptionally catchy ‘Forty-Rod of Lightnin’, I seriously have had that tune constantly buzzing around my tiny brain for the last week. The set weaves its way through a mixture of instrumentation and songs that go all the way from easy going to a full on foot stomping finale. All this is tied together with a stage presence that is confident, warm and charming, and from an audience perspective one that makes you feel you’re welcomed in as part of the performance. By the time the set is reaching its climax the crowd are moving, feet are beating the rhythm and even the heads at the back are nodding along.

So, what are you waiting for, go get down, and take in some porch country folk style sounds when they hit a venue near you, I promise, it’ll be worth it.

Check out The August List at https://www.facebook.com/theaugustlistmusic

Sam Carter at South Street

22 Friday Mar 2013

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Sam Carter at South Street

A funny thing happened to Sam Carter on the way to South Street for his first ever appearance at the venue. At least he thought it was funny. A passing pigeon deposited some droppings on him just before the gig. Sam used a more Anglo Saxon word for what landed on him when he told the audience this tale, I should confess.

“It’s supposed to be good luck isn’t it,” he laughed.

And that summed up perfectly Sam’s optimistic and engaging personality.

Like many of the best English folk artists, his affable nature and modest demeanour belie his status as one of England’s finest finger picking young guitarists in the mould of Richard Thomson and Martin Simpson.

Add his strong sometimes soulful, sometimes bluesy baritone vocals, witty between-song banter, and thoughtful lyrics and we had the makings of an intimate evening of laughter and audience participation in the best folk club tradition.

Despite performing solo with just an acoustic guitar, such is the virtuosity and complexity of his playing he filled the room with a rich enveloping sound. The stark emotional honesty of songs such as Pheasant about getting “flattened like a pheasant on a country lane” by love, or The One describing a father’s advice to his son about his failed marriage, his song writing is poignant and moving, while maintaining hope and optimism.

Although he is regarded as a folk singer songwriter in the English tradition, he also performed some newer material with a more American and bluesier feel – particularly on Waves and Tremors a straightforward 12 bar number about the Fukushima disaster.

Sam closed with an encore of audience participation on The No Testament, a secular hymn and title track from his new album.

Hopefully this won’t be Sam Carter’s last visit to Reading – but he should keep his eyes on the pigeons next time.

(This review first appeared on getreading.co.uk.)

Ethan Johns at South Street

07 Thursday Feb 2013

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It’s Saturday night in February and I find myself once again in South Street on the strong recommendation of a friend that I really should go down and see Ethan Johns. So here I am, I have to say largely due to the artists track record as a guitarist and producer for such artists as Ryan Adams and Laura Marling, because I have to admit that I’m at this gig cold, having not heard any of his material and to be honest I have no real idea what to expect, and it would seem a large portion of the audience are equally unacquainted with his work.

As so often seems to be the case at these South Street events it appears to be a sell out. As I take my seat, with a table, this is gigging in comfort, I am pleased to see an intriguing stage set-up, I’m sure he’s playing solo but there seems to be an array of gear that could easily accommodate 3 if not 4 musicians. To the left there’s a mighty fine looking piano that wouldn’t look out of place on Neil Young’s stage, there are several vocal and instrument mic’s set for seated and standing, a fender amp, acoustic and electric guitars and the coolest tape machine that could have been swiped from the set of a 1950’s science fiction movie.

Ethan appears on stage promptly at 9, and ambles around with a slightly distracted look, as if he’s not quite sure where would be the best place to kick off tonight’s proceedings, it has the quality of theatre about it, feeling as if I’m just at the start of some intriguing play. Ethan decides that it’s best to start off seated, gently greeting the audience in a soft considered voice, I have to say that I’m am both impressed and slightly jealous of his mighty fine beardage.

His first number is a melodic finger picking number that immediately puts me in mind of Josh Ritter in his early years, before he went all Bruce Springsteen. This introduction is a beautiful subtle folk number, but if I thought with this first song I have him pegged then I am proved wrong with the very next number ‘Across The Valley’, which is more country roots/rock played on electric with a great riff running through it. This, it soon becomes apparent, is the way the set will ebb and flow, from soft and subtle, to dark and edgy, these are songs of light and dark but at their heart you always feel a positive message flowing.

As the set begins to roll and Ethan seems to relax into his set, loosing some of the early nervousness, the songs regularly switch in sound and style, there are a mix of acoustic and electric numbers and in the middle of the set a rather stunning number ‘Eden’ on piano, ‘The Turning’ introduces the tape machine with a pulsating rumble underpinning the melody, hats off to him for lugging that big bit of kit to the gig for one number, other bits of electronic gadgetry are introduced along the way, including where told, a box that contains the essence of Laura Marling for the track Whip Poor Will, but these are all used in a subtle way that always compliment the tracks and never swamp them.

As the set eases to its finale and we are warned that to avoid awkwardness there will be no encore, I find I have been thoroughly drawn into Ethan’s assorted mix of Americana with its English folk twist and warmed to his soft spoken slightly awkward charm, and man, that is a great beard.

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