"I got a stamp on my skin"

So said George Thorogood on his 1995 album Live: Let's work together, although he was talking about playing in Atlanta, not about blogging, and it was two years not two months.  If GT ever reads this, sorry for the mis-quote.

Two months ago I went to the Love Music:Hate Racism concert/festival/carnival in Victoria Park, East London.  Somewhat naively, I was expecting a celebration of multi-cultural music with a continual urging of people to get off their backsides the following Thursday and vote in the local elections,  ensuring the far right party that preys on worst fears of the weak would no seats.  What we really got was a dreary line up, interspersed with trades unions leaders urging everyone to “bash” and “crash” and “fight” and “hate”.  In the gaps between bands you at times struggled to hear and rhetoric you didn’t want to was filled with black and white footage of fighting and rioting.  As I made my way home I knew that I had no time for hatred, regardless of who it was directed at.

Now, if I had written that two months ago I could have got on with stories of the best Retrofin gig I’ve ever seen; my first Hush The Many (Heed the Few) concert; a day of culture taking in a midday Post Rock gig, good food, an art gallery, a film and another gig (I’m greedy like that) and Stokefest where the stage came down on The Penny Black Remedy.  Time now to move on.

Friday saw Retrofin playing The Clapham Grand.  I went to gigs there in the mid nineties, it was sort of a Town and Country Club south of the river but the only thing I recognised was the exterior.  This may be that my memory is not what it once was, but I’m sure I’d have remembered a light up dance floor. 

The promoters operate a system where the bands have to buy a set number of tickets which they then recoup by selling on to their fans.  Despite thinking this practice is, despicable, morally vacuous and a thinnly veiled pay to play racket I can, kind of, see the promoters point of view here. If a they are offering a band a gig in a venue holding 500 odd people, that’s easy to get to, on a Friday night, with a big stage, proper sound and proper lighting, is expecting that band to bring 40-50 too much to expect?  If they can’t, should they really be playing?  Of course what the promoter is really doing is de-risking the night for them by transferring that risk on to the bands.  But this is not a forced situation; the bands know about it in advance, it’s their call.

What they wouldn’t know in advance would have been the piss poor sound we all had to endure.  There are times when I do think that muso’s are a bunch of tarts, constantly carping on about not hearing this or that, levels being wrong and “could you hear the cowbell two thirds of they way through track four?”  Guys, it’s rock and roll, it live, deal with it.  This may be a touch unfair coming from someone whose hearing has, basically, been screwed by spending too much time in the Half Moon less than foot away from the PA (there seems to be a trend for people wearing earplugs at gigs where bands are “re-defining loud” in my case that is really a horses bolted/shut gate situation) but, if I think the sound is nigh on the worst ever, there’s got to be something in it.  They can have as many flashing lights as the rig will hold, but they count for nothing if you can’t hear the lead guitar.

Despite this, Retrofin’s performance was great and we were treated to the first new live track in probably about a year.  Even though I knew this beforehand by the time I had worked out how to get the camera on my phone working, and then how switch to video most of the song had finished.  You will just have to believe me that this track should be staying in their live set for a long time.

Sunday was a more relaxed affair.  Instead of waiting for a London bound train I went further into Essex, to Leigh-On-Sea, for a folk festival.  You come out of the station, cross the road, go down a set of steps and follow the narrow road between the railway line and the cockle sheds.  The tide was out so all you saw was small boats stranded in the mud waiting for the sea to return and bring them back to life.  At the top of the High Street and snaking up and over Belton Bridge were scores of morris teams waiting for their turn to parade down to Victoria Wharf.  I must confess I’ve always liked morris dancing; as a bloke with a beard who often wears both hat and waistcoat (but not, thankfully, breeches or bells) and is fond of a pint of ale from a pewter mug I feel a bit of a connection.  Indeed, if there were a local team who eschewed the dancing and thumping each other with sticks I would probably sign up.  As it is I can’t help but smile as I remember the words of Sid Kipper:

Pick your bells and sticks up quick,
'Cos now we're going to get rustic
Get some drunks to play a tune,
And you'll be morris dancing soon.

But I’d not come for the dancing, I’d come to see Clare Blackman.  Two years and a day after I’d first seen her play at the Golden Lion in Romford and probably about a year since I’d last seen her (not all my fault as she had spent six months travelling around Europe) I was aching to hear her voice again.  Two years ago I wrote this:

Claire Blackman was the reason for my visit; recommended by the Pixie, listened to on myspace, live she didnt disappoint.  Her style is an effortless mix of English Folk (think Sandy Denny) and Trad American Country (think Iris Dement).  She played six songs, all wonderful, all making you sit back thinking Im hearing this, in Romford.  Now comes the criticism, when all the crowd (including the other bands and the promoter) want you to do an encore, you don’t say Ill let someone else have a go, but it wont be the last time Claire is asked to do another song (or three).

One more song than two years ago and with Chris Davidson on bass she started with “Labour of Love” and “My name is Creosote” before she was joined by the 6’2” pianist on backing vocals for the rest of the set.  The beautiful “Times are hard for dreamers” was followed by her cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, “Hello Hitler” and then the sublime “Every time I close my eyes”. She then closed with a new song “Wood for the Fire”.

Clare is, quite simply, the finest vocalist I’ve heard.  Her voice can soar higher than the mountains she loves and is purer than any stream flowing down its side. 

This clip really does not do her justice, but at least I managed to capture a debut song once this weekend.

Friday night was the Indy Music Awards Ceremony at The Forum in Kentish Town and I, courtesy of Dana Immanuel, had a VIP ticket.  This is the second year of these awards which 'celebrate, reward and recognise the hard work of live music venues, promoters and ... artists'  artists cannot nominate themselves and no one is charged for voting.  600 venues, promoters and festivals nominated over 700 artists from the 120,000 that played for them.  52 artists were shortlisted in 13 categories, there were another 3 categories for venues plus ones for promoters, fans and festivals.  There was also a peoples choice award and an inspiration award.  As the host put it:

it's a bit like the BRITS, but with no shit music

Dana was up for best folk/country/blues act but was in Chicago (possibly playing her banjo, probably playing poker) hence my ticket.  Alas, she did not win, which was the only disappointing part of the whole evening, although Viva Viva being nominated for best bar was a little strange.  I would have thought that the bare minimum requirement to be nominated for best bar was to actually be a bar.  Viva Viva is a restaurant - a very good restaurant - but a restaurant nevertheless.  If there was a category of 'best restaurant that does live music every night but also a dodgy talent competition' they'd be a shoe in for that.

I hadn't been to the Forum for a long time.  I remember it as the Town & Country Club and was horrified when it's name changed in the early nighties only to find out that it was originally called The Forum and has been for around a decade of it's seventy plus year existence.  The venue still looks a touch shabby from the outside and the stalls are pretty mush as I remember them but the circle has been refurbished and done really well.

The show was opened by James Walsh of Starsailor and then there were half a dozen nominations, a couple of live acts, another half a dozen nominations until the Buzzcocks closed the show after receiving their Inspiration award.  I spent the first half of the show up in the circle listening out for a west country accent.  My cousin had asked me to get an autograph for her and I had only seen Katey Brooks on her myspace page I figured listening out for the accent may be less embarrassing than approaching every blond girl in the place and saying:

excuse me, are you Katie Brooks? could I have an autograph please? no it's not for me, it's for my cousin, oh and would you play in Brighton?

Feldspar winning the Folk/Country/blues category meant there was no need for me to worry about having to pick up the award in her absence; I could imagine the comments:

Ooh look at Dana, hasn't she let herself go?  she looks a lot better in her photographs and you'd have though she'd have trimmed her beard a bit, it is a Gala evening y'know.

I took myself out of the circle and down to the stalls.  Vimala was very good (and I'm not the worlds greatest fan of soul, jazz or funk) but seeing someone play from afar when I could be up front was no fun and the only way to The Penny Black Remedy was to be front and center jumping up and down to their infectious mix of gypsy country punk and that's exactly were I was.  Before that a band called Little Fish played, they were up for the Guitar Hero Best Rock Act and after the two songs they played is was blindingly obvious why they won it.  Quite how they managed to generate so much power from a drum kit and a guitar I do not know, but I'm glad they did.  Thankfully they've got plenty of London dates coming up so I can get to see more than two tracks in the near future.  Just as obvious as was why The Penny Black Remedy won the Best Alternative Act, to see them on stage at the 12 bar club is an experience not to be missed; if (like me) you wear a hat, you'll need to hold onto it.

After the Buzzcocks closed the show I went to speak to Keith (from the Penny Black Remedy), Rosered had asked me to say hello from her.  I first saw them play at the Bullet Bar (about half a mile from the Forum) a couple of years ago, I had gone to see Rosered play and get a gig for Retrofin from the who is now the bass player in The Penny Black, what a small world this is.  I didn't realise that I'd never actually spoken to Keith before, he made me turn around to check my back to make sure I really was "The Jacket", apparently meeting me was "unprecedented" and he bought me a drink.  The winner of one of the evenings awards buys a drink for a fan, this is what these awards are all about, not watching people from afar, but meeting them, talking to them, sharing a drink and seeing new bands that you will go and see again.

Oh, and the winner? live music and all those involved of course.

Best Regards
John The Jacket

"Later ... with Jools Holland" has now been running for fifteen years and it used to be essential viewing.  Now it gets sky plussed and I generally watch an hours program in about fifteen minutes.  The collaborations I loved are no longer there and I struggle to find anything truly memorable, apart from the last two weeks that is.

The week before last Portishead played a new song called "The Rip".  Now I liked the song, but Yasmin (who was visiting last weekend) very quickly found out how to rewind at x30 so it was played at least half a dozen times whilst I was cooking potato and pea curry.  This Friday I recorded the program (series link, wonderful invention) and, as I was at the Indy Music Awards, didn't get to see it until Saturday afternoon.  I was happily forwarding through the Charlatans and the Pigeon detectives and then saw Brandi Carlile, and was slayed.

"The Story" is awesome, it is immense, starting with some gentle acoustic strumming and haunting vocals nothing quite prepares you for the second line of the second verse when the soft folky country styling changes up into a rock voice, the guitars crash, the drums pound, everything is louder and more intense.  After the guitar solo the songs changes down again and I thought it would coast through to the fade out, but no, there was another gear yet, more power, more control.

I didn't rewind and replay, I went out and bought her album.

I guess "Later" does retain it's essential viewing status; I can just watch it in a different way now.

How do you find out about new artists and bands you might like?

Gigs. 

• Go and see a band you like and if they're opening stay till the end, if they're headlining see the support, if they're in the middle - I guess you get the picture. 

• If you see someone else you like tell 'em, get their names, grab a flyer, have a listen on my space, find out when they're playing next.

• Go to their next gig

• Repeat

Best Regards
John the Jacket

I got this invite back in February:

Hello all!

Quick reminder. The next "Retreat From The Greek" party will take
place on Saturday April 5 at The Paradise Bar, 19 Kilburn Lane, W10.

Usual shizzle. Boss bands, nang DJs, frrroop punters, tonk staff and
free entry and free yout-speak dictionary for every guest.

Diarise, melon farmers!!!

which I read in much the same way as Gary Larson's dog hears humans:

Blah, blah "Retreat From The Greek", blah, blah "April 5", blah, blah, "Paradise" blah, blah, blah, blah

I did not need to be told to "diarise", this was inked in immediately.

I went to the first "Retreat From The Greek" back in November; it was the gig of the year.  Around eight hours of the best live music, featuring a set by co-organiser Ed Harcourt and culminating with a set by The Magic Numbers, it had a slightly ramshackle , hands on, everyone muck in feel to it.  No one stood on ceremony, sharing the one available acoustic guitar and playing on each others sets because they could.

Although last November was the first at Paradise there had been several previous gatherings at The Nektar Bar.  I only discovered (or rather, was introduced to) Ed Harcourt last August so never went to one of these.  Those that did obviously compared the two venues leading this to be dubbed "Fake Nektar".

Upstairs there is a large landing and in the main room itself the stage is to the left, the bar to the right; a room in perfect balance. 

My recent blogs have strayed from my original, self imposed, remit of writing only about the top ten percent as (by Sturgeons Second Law) 90% of everything is crud and I don't want to write about crud.  The following line-up disproved this law:

• Jeremy Walmsley (with Johnny Flynn)
  
• Kami Thompson
• Manner
• Niall Spooner-Harvey
  
• Evi Vine
• Paloma Faith
• Darren Berry
• The Ten Bears
• The Veils
• Ed Harcourt
• The Langley Sisters

There was also a guy was playing when I got there and I didn't catch his name, and a band after the Langley sisters, I only saw there first couple of songs and, again, didn't get their name.

The two acts that hit me harder than the others were Evi Vine and The Ten Bears, completely different from each other but both enthralling, engaging and utterly absorbing.  I don't really like comparing one artist to another; I generally only do it following the words "a third rate copy of ..." but occasionally it useful as a point of reference.  Evi Vine reminds me of Stevie Nicks, not "a third rate copy of " but a singer with the same ethereal, sensual quality to her voice the gently laps over you like soft warm waves on a St Lucian beach.  "Inside Her" is utterly divine.  She is gigging around the country throughout the spring and summer; if you have chance to see one of them you'll not be disappointed.

Ten Bears also create waves of sound but there is nothing gentle, their waves are the ones that the most hardened extreme surfer would only momentarily consider tackleing  before sticking his board in the sand and cracking open a can until things calm down a bit.  I could not decide if they left me invigorated or exhausted; probably both, in equal measures.  They played in November under the name "The Deadbeats", I missed them then, I glad I didn't now.

Best Regards

John the Jacket

Martin Scorsese's "Shine a Light" documentary about The Rolling Stones has been receiving rave reviews. What is your all-time favorite rock concert documentary?

Bob Dylan - Don't Look Back.  I first saw it at the Cambridge Festival, the day before the festival proper started.

Thick end of three years actually: that's how long I've been waiting for Retrofin's debut album to be released.  They've not been working on it for that long (it's only taken a year) but that's how long I've been waiting and that all stems from the first time I saw them play.  In that time they've had four drummers (Sally, Tony, Snipes and Dave), three bass players (Jamie, Al and Jacob), two lead guitarists (Craig and Wez) and the two constants Dean on rhythm guitar and Pete with the vocals.  None of the first four songs I heard made the album, but one from their next gig did.  This blog will cover a week and a half earlier this month and also give a potted history of the band.

Friday, 7th March 2008 - Gig, Musictek

A Friday night at musictek (or The Tek Fridays) is not something I was looking forward to.  It is an all ages night, or, to put it another way, suitable if your aqe is between 13 and 16.  As there was a 'proper gig' a couple of days later it would take something special to get me to this one, something like a phone call that went :

    "Jacket, we've got your advance copy of the album, do you want to pick it up Friday?  We're soundchecking at 5:30"

So, at 5:30 on Friday I was outside Musictek. The doors would not open until seven, but when I arrived there were already about 50 kids queuing to get in.  I thought that there must be some kind of kudos attached to being the first in or maybe cheaper entry.  The reason was a lot more practical, if you are not in the queue when the doors open, you'll not get in.  This venue has a capacity of 300 and it sells out every Friday, leave it too late and you're at he mercy of "one in, one out".

Alcohol is strictly forbidden in the venue on these nights, apart from backstage where a couple of cases is very generously provided.  After the soundcheck the doors opened and there was about an hour and a half to kill before they went on stage.  A few beers were drunk, photographs were taken and every so often someone would peer out front at the sea of kids, an amazing sight.  I had the choice of watching from the side of the stage or getting out front.  Naturally I opted for the latter.  I spent the first couple of tracks standing at the back, watching the reaction of the crowd before making my way to the front.  I was asked, or rather gestured, to join the obligatory mosh pit a couple of times which I politely declined.  There was a temptation to say:

    "Slayer, 1990 mate, done that"

but thought better of it.

The set was strong; they played well, feeding off of the charged atmosphere.  For the record, the set list was:

• Civilian Soldiers
• Tainted
• Jagermeister
• Hunter
• They Get You When You Sleep
• Traffic
• Road To Ruin

I particularly like this set list.  It starts nice and heavy, lightens a little with "They Get You .." and "Traffic" leaving the best to last.

My journey home enabled me to listen to the album.  I was happy, it was better than I dared hope.

Saturday, 8th March 2008 - Video Shoot for "They Get You When You Sleep"

Filming never ceases to amaze me.  I am in awe of it and any one who can do it well.  In Matt Watson Retrofin picked someone who can do it very well.  This shoot was probably a lot quicker than others I've been on, the filming was pretty much continuous for about six hours and the editing was done within a week.  This was on top of the venue being unavailable at the last minute.  "They Get You When You Sleep" is pretty much your average tale about vampires, body snatchers and the like so what better way to capture this than with a troupe of zombie cheerleaders, clowns and a couple of burlesque dancers (one of whom does a nice little side line in fire breathing).

The cheerleaders were so professional, each move was choreographed to the last detail including letting Dave fall into their arms and be lifted above their heads.  All of their movements are done after the count of four, why four? I don't know but when the came to lift Pete I knew why singers say "testing 1 - 2" at a sound check, any higher and they struggle.

Now, if you look really closely in the video you can just about make out my zippo ...

My copy of the album had now been played about half a dozen times.  You can't listen to it once and leave it, you have to hit that repeat button.  I spoke to Pete late last year when he was working on his vocals:

    "I'm doing a couple of strange little bits"

he said.  My heart sank, I didn't want any "strange little bits" .  The "strange little bits" make the album.

Nothing about music this time, but my other passion: cricket.  England are currently 5th in the ICC world rankings, New Zealand 7th.  They have played two days of the final test in Napier, England lead by 176 runs with 8 wickets and three days remaining. 

When Vaughan called correctly at the toss, his eyes lit up and Vettoris shoulders slumped, this was the ground were these two sides shared 680 runs (equally) in a ODI last month.  Vaughan and his team would have been expecting to be batting after tea on the second day and they were; in their second innings.

This was due to rank bad batting by both sides.  Sidebottom is a fine bowler but 7-47 on a flat track?  Southee was impressive but a five for on debut?  Would either have got those figures against the Asutralians or the Indians?  I doubt it (and I wouldn't think that the South Africans would have too many sleepless nights about touring here later this year).

I like low scoring games, but I like them when the bowlers have to earn their wickets, not when they are given so easily and regularly is this.  The ICC seldom get any thing right, you can't fault their rankings though.

Since ruthlessly raiding Rosereds friends list on myspace the vast majority of the really good singer songwriters I saw were female: Dana Immanuel, Beth Dariti, Roxy Rawson, Claire Blackman, Kat Flint and Rosered herself.  When you then consider groups like The Veez and Helens Evil Twin, well, the blokes didn't seem to be getting much of a look in.  Of course, there are exceptions, William Nein and Keith Anderson immediately spring to mind but overall it's those with the two X chromosones that held sway.

This year, the reverse is true. JB Newman, Sam Beer, Dan Raza, Will Miles and, last night, Andrew Clarke.  Andrew opened up another good night at the Green in Clerkenwell.  I had to drive and got lost both to and from the gig, not badly but enough so if you plotted my route it would have looked like a map from a Carry On film.  This also meant that there was no rum, free or otherwise.  For Ramona I didn't really care for - probably better with their missing drummer and a proper stage - I didn't think they carried off thier acoustic set particually well.  Citizene Helene and The Racists were as splendid as ever, as were Marmaduke Dando and The Mooche, especially as they played "Oddessa" which was the first track of theirs I heard.  Andrew stole the show.  He has a bluesy folky voice, who, much like JB Newman, can effortlessly move between the epic, the delicate and the plain funny.

What does this tell us?  Nothing really.  You go to gigs to see someone and (if you're lucky) you see someone else equally as good.  Sort of like social networking sites but with the added bonus of being able to go up to someone and say:

     "I really liked your set, when are you playing next? where can I get your music"

Best Regards
The Jacket

I have a list of gigs to write about stacked up longer than the traffic at the Dartford river crossing at the moment, plus a couple of album reviews one of which I've drafted several times over the past month (sorry Yasmina).  This one has been specially requested so it'll be done during my lunch break.

Monday evening at the Millfield Theatre in Edmonton, North london was a concert in support of International Womens day.  I went specifically to see Rosered and also Jessica Grace.  The somewhat windy conditions meant that I missed the first half an hour of the concert which equated to some dancers, one acoustic act and the first few minutes of Jessica Grace.  She is someone I know I should have seen before and how I wish I had.  She has a clear, ringing voice, occasionaly plays with two capo's (very advanced technique, appartently) and a handful of good songs.  The front row (the last band as I later found out) joined in with very energetic clapping on most songs.

Rosered only got to play four songs, thankfully one was the divine "Divine", a song that no matter how bad I am feeling  immediately lifts me.  It should be bottled and labeled "joyous".  She was able to to make Sadie (her guitar) sound like a ukele on "Lovers Fool", although I'm thinking this was more by accident than design.

The acoustic acts made way for two bands, the first one's name escapes me (I'm writing this from memory) but were an amalgamation of three bands who came together for tonight.  Everyone played two or three instruments and swapped around after every song.  This gave a disjointed feel to the concert and was slightly off putting.  All were "younglings" as Rosered put it, all talented and I would be interested to see any of the three the originate from.

The last band were called "Feisty Females" and like the previous band all "younglings" the lead singer couldn't have been older than twelve, and swapped instruments at will.  They had the highlight of the evening when covering "American Idiot".  I had wondered how a twelve year old was going to sing "The subliminal mind fuck America"?  The offending word was replaced by the word "bleep" said by another band member!  This showed an inventiveness lacking of many "proper" bands I see.  The evening finished at about half past nine, ridiculously early but I guess it was past the bedtime of the band (sorry ageist joke).

It's now time for me to get back to work, I'll probably revisit this to put some links, add the band names when I get my notebook and check my spelling.

Best Regards
John The Jacket