I think I’ll just leave the set list here……’nuff said xx

He’s much better than David Nixon ever was…

Lino print after: ‘People walking towards the sea’ by LS Lowry (1965)

This was the first gig of the year for me and it was a corker!

Of course it was – it was THE WAVE PICTURES. I’ve been seeing them for over a decade now and they’ve never let me down. Tonight they were in the mood to ROCK. Part way through the set they asked if we wanted another rocking tune or a slow contemplative one “Rock” someone shouts “OK – mind you the people who like the slow contemplative stuff aren’t the people who shout out at gigs so….”

Loads of stuff off their newest LP ‘Look inside your heart’ with the usual superlative drums by Johnny (what a solo!), bass by Franec (and mandolin) and guitar solos to die for by David (no effect pedals of course) and a new member on bongos who complemented their sound wonderfully. The oldest tune of the night was ‘I Shall Be A Ditchdigger’ from ‘Susan Rode The Cyclone’ and there was a welcome return to The Woods for the encore.

A fabulous night with their biggest Brudenell crowd yet.

Bob the Chiropodist

Obligatory T-Shirt for Lee’s collection

This was my first visit to the Hyde Park Book Club for a gig – the upstairs is quite swanky but the basment gig venue looks like an old disused basement – still – the sound was excellent and it gave Mathias from the burning hell lots of banter material as he had flashbacks to playing with his first band, as they started out practising in friends dank, dark basements….

As we entered down the stairs, deadflowers (Ian I think was his name) was playing a beautiful set – one guitar with a ton of effects pedals and low growling voice – with the low level red lighting it felt like one of the end scenes from an episode of the 3rd season of Twin Peaks – moody and magnificent, loved it.

The Burning Hell are a truly wonderful thing to behold live and it’s been too long since I last saw them. Funny as hell, they come across as just having the best time together which translates into a great evening for everyone else. Asking for requests Mathias replied to one “Oh, I don’t think we know that one” to which Ariel tartly retorted “Well, I do!” – so they did it. They are all great musicians – Darren played bass and mandolin whilst Ariel switched from a bass sax (?) to drums to guitar but is maily the dry vocal delivery of the fab lyrics by Mathias that has you beaming from ear to ear. My daughter Marisa knows the words to Amateur Rapper off by heart so I always think of her when her favourite line “Come on dog it’s the Apocalypse – we can’t get sentimental” comes around. Their other ‘hit’ was originally off Ariel and Mathias own LP which also contains another song they did tonight about kids author Maurice Sendak and his ‘secret’ lover – just ace….

Great on record but you really really really need to see them live.

Bob the Chiropodist

I had a look to see if there were any gigs on my birthday this year and saw that Snapped Ankles were playing at the Brudenell – fantastic – love them and love that place – perfect! Couldn’t find any tickets on the Jumbo ticket page (my ‘go to’ site to find out what’s coming up) but just assumed they weren’t on sale yet. When I looked again last week, I still couldn’t find them…..then realised they were supporting Beak>……which had sold out – Bugger! Marc Riley had A Certain Ratio in session that night so I emailed with my tale of woe and said that hearing ACR had cheered me up….and did they remember boozing it up with Mitsu in Paris….who got them to sign this….

Well, Marc not only sympathised – but pulled some strings and got me on the Beak> guest list +1 – what a true gent. He chose their LP >>> as his album of the year and it was on his programme I’d first heard Snapped Ankles and went out and bought the LP (on yellow vinyl) the next day. Pulsating dance tunes – glorious!

Snapped Ankles had set up their kit on the floor in front of the stage and Sledge and I were standing right next to them, dressed in their full on shamanistic garb, nearly knocking out some audience members with their instruments as they wandered into the crowd. It was like an indoor rave! Watching the keyboard player use a theramin and all sorts of electronic trickery was a joy. Bring on the new LP……

Beak> make a great edgey sound that is familiar in some ways – the bass really reminded me of the band ‘Morphine’ (a good thing!) and any of their tune could be the backdrop to a cool Netflix series – intense and often brooding….but thet weren’t – joking and taking the piss out of each other between tunes. They had a great lights show with them which looked like a whole bank of speakers before it became apparent what they were. The packed crowd loved them.

Sledge was just back from China where his beard had caused a stir with folk wanting to be photographed with him (“didn’t see another beard in my whole time there”). We bumped into Gary who has similar beardage and so they had a beard-off (no idea who won). Post gig we sat in the bar, drinking and chatting away to all and sundry including a couple over from Manchester who’d never been to The Brudenell before. A great way to spend a birthday – cheers Marc

 

Bob the Chiropodist

It’s been a busy few of weeks for Commoners Choir. Singing (and starring in) the Leeds International Film Festival, being part of the George Orwell Exhibition and……my best bit of all….doing a gig with the Notsensibles!

This flurry of activity started when we supported Reem Kaleni at a charity gig for a Palastinian Womens charity based in Sheffield. She’s planning an LP of cover versions and I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting this one….. Reem is a force of nature (“voice of an Angel, swears like a trooper” as Mark put it) who had us singing backing on a few of her numbers. With very little prep, she managed to pull a great sound out of us and wore her Commoners patch with pride.

The film festival event was the public debut of a documentary by Commoner Phil Moody, aided and abetted by Commoner Carolyn Edwards, about the song ‘True North’ which we did with 2 other choirs at the start of ‘The Great Exhibition of The North’ in Newcastle. One of those wonderful events that you look back on with great pride, which this short film elegantly captures. It’s 20mins long so grab a cuppa and have a look.

Boff wrote a song about George Orwell and The Road to Wigan Pier for the set of food-based gigs we did earlier in the year called ‘More than a Mouthful’ (tea towels still available). With food poverty and foodbanks on the rise it feels like we’re ‘walking back to Wigan Pier’. So, when the curator of the travelling, Orwell inspired art gallery, asked us to sing it at the Leeds opening, we jumped at the chance. You can hear us and see the art here:

The next night we were up in Lancaster at an amazing Co-op they have up there – not the music one that the Lovely Eggs helped save, but another one with shared eco housing and an old mill (Halton Mill – where they used to make elephants) that’s been turned into an arts space. Our support was the Stephen Hartley band – ex of the Notsensibles who did a great set of new songs (and one old one) with loads of stories in between – mainly aimed at ‘Boffo’ as they were in the same class at school together in Burnley. He’s also been an A+E consultant in his time as well as running a record label, doing some printing and keeping an allotment. I got his book and what a great read it is!

So with one more gig to go (Hebden Bridge Trades Club – 14th Dec) it’s been another tremendous year for this raggedy band of ne’er-do-wells….heaven knows what we’ll be doing next year – what a joy!

Bob the Chiropodist

Posted in News | Leave a comment