SftBH News Archive Jul 2004 - Sep 2004
Kelvedon Institute 'Songs For Sudan'. 25/09/04
Words by Bill 'Stalker' Pipe, Midnight Rambler: -
What a pleasant night at Kelvedon last night. The guys put on a great show, James forgot some words and Helen sung like an Angel, is it me or does her voice get better the bigger she gets?
The night opened up with a band of young kids called Anonomos, they did some covers of the soft metal/rock numbers in the charts now and a couple of their own. Three of the band were 14 and the singer was only 12. They were great, a little ragged around the edges but they rocked, with kids like this the future of live music is safe.......mind you the singer will probably get more power in his voice when it breaks. As they finished about 10 (very) young ladies rushed backstage to congratulate them.....welcome to rock 'n' roll kids!!!
They were followed on stage by Tony Winn, SftBH's mild mannered banjo helper, who had organised the evening. I have not seen Tony play a full set on his own for a while. He was brilliant, an accomplished singer/songwriter in his own right and a wonderful guitarist; his songs are full of warmth and humour and can be quite thought-provoking.
I particularly enjoyed the the "utility trilogy", songs about well...utilities like the humble refrigerator...it's cool! He must be the only bloke who writes blues songs about flies. Tony is not your average singer/songwriter, he's an entertainer who can hold the audience in the palm of his hand - a rare beast nowadays.
Anyway I had a great night so did my friends, the place was packed so some dosh was raised for a good cause and I got to sit next to Mrs Kirk for a while, thanks Hannah!!
PS Can I be the Midnight Rambler rather than "The Stalker"? Sort of....Webmaster.
From Helen: -
The look on Russ' face as the rest of the Blue House turned up for the Songs for Sudan charity gig in Kelvedon told us all we needed to know about the technical joys ahead of us - having volunteered, with his good friend Martin, to organise the PA and man the desk, the behatted behemoth was rapidly becoming buried under piles of cables and politely asking the young drummer from the first act of the evening - "Anonomous [sic]" - to "stop hitting things" for a minute before his headache turned into a migraine…
So, no sound check for us, then - but hey, as James pointed out, we always had the option of sitting in a circle in the middle of the hall and doing it acoustically, should that have proven necessary. Which it didn't.
A mere forty minutes or so behind schedule, the evening kicked off with Anonomous (aged between 12-14) knocking out an impressively tight and reasonably ambitious set of sk8ter rock favourites, much to the delight of the many mini goth gals in the audience and to the polite (and quietly proud) indulgence of their parents. In true rock'n'roll fashion, the band also managed to blow one of the amps, a fact which I imagine was a tick in the box for them, but which our intrepid sound engineers only actually confirmed after Tony Winn had performed his own eclectic set of beautiful ballads and quirky ditties, with effectively no amplification at all. It didn't really matter, though - Mr Winn's vocal chords were more than capable of filling the hall and the audience listened as attentively as the witty and moving lyrics deserved.
Finally, SftBH took to the stage and, despite having to sacrifice our monitors in order to get some sound front of house, managed to get the audience swaying, stomping and smiling. It was a bittersweet evening in many ways - not only was it Tony W's last appearance with SftBH for a while, due to his upcoming drama course, but also the cause for which the money was being raised wasn't far from people's minds throughout. Still, there was a great, warm atmosphere, an intriguing mix of an audience and it gave Russ a chance to display his spangly new multi-instrument stand - hurrah! In fact, the fluffy feelgood element was so pronounced that James and Shane even managed - eventually - to forgive whichever of the mini-goths nicked half of their backstage beer. Bless their fishnet vests…
PS - Big Respect to Tony for organising the whole thing. He's one of the good guys.
And from James: -
Will the person(s) that stole most of our beer while we were on stage please make sure that they really enjoy it. Thank you for leaving us a couple of bottles. Very thoughtful.
From 'With The Blue House' to 'Tilkey Road'
Words by Shane: -
Excitement in The Blue House Snug as a SftBH quorum of James, Shane & Gibbon were joined by accomplished Beatle completists and long-time chums Tony James Shevlin (if you Google him, yes it's the same one that wrote a song on that album REM recorded with The Troggs) and Steve 'Kilbey' Mears (and no, it's not that one); or the other way round, depending on your perspective. A number of songs were reworked, tweaked and, in one case extremely dramatically rearranged & rewritten in preparation for October 8th's High Barn Beatles night.
Having been relieved of bass duties by Kilbey, Mr Gibbon was free to give full rein to his pianonanistic and rebel guitarista tendencies, employing self-confessed "brass band-inspired countermelodies" throughout.
Mr Partridge was on several occasions caught in possession of an offensive banjo, and there was unashamed flaunting of capos (see 'other stuff' for a full explanation of the sort of havoc this can wreak in the wrong hands, or in this case, Skirk and Shev's) from the other two.
As a long-time CSNY fan, your correspondent is pleased to be able to report the occurrence of three, four (and even, at times, five part) harmonies, drifting off soothingly into the Essex night sky, along with blue-grey tendrils of rolling tobacco smoke and a faint tang of ammonia (well, it's quicker to go to the compost heap than back into the house at that time of night…)
The King's Head, Pebmarsh, Essex 17/09/04
Words by Bill Pipe, chief SftBH stalker (just kidding, Billy!): -
This was the kind of evening that only happens occasionally. Good ale, good companions and good music.
After a bit of a magical mystery tour, my travelling companion Vince and I found Pebmarsh and the King's Head - a duo was just finishing their set as we bought drinks and SftBH were preparing to take to the stage, well a small strip of the bar that passed for a stage.
After 'hellos' the guys started with Lets Do It Country, Ms. Mulley was in fine voice and looked most fragrant if a little rotund (James’s fault). The set continued with some old favourites - Fragments, Special Kind Of Love etc. The guys were on form but a little cramped, I mentioned to Vince that the fiddle sounded loud then peered through the crowd to see Fiddly Richard sawing away about two and a half yards away, and Gibbon standing almost in the audience with nothing to lean on. At the other end of the “stage” Tony Winn had found a chair and was looking very laid back on banjo despite having Helen's flute in his ear hole. In the middle of the stage Shane was discovering that folkie guitarists shouldn’t play guitars with pointy headstocks as he tried to dodge the end James’s Fender and Russ was probably glad to wield his mandolin so he had more room to dodge Shane’s tuning pegs.
SftBH where followed on by an outfit that played some Irish folk club standards. They were very good and the young lad on the bodhrain was excellent - he did a brilliant solo. The next act on was a young lady called Polly, she was about 15 and did her own song, this lass will go far, she was brilliant and very purdy too!!! The duo on next...I didn't get their names, were great guitarists - anyone who can play Hendrix well acoustically is OK in my book.
Time for SftBH 2nd set, a livelier affair then the 1st with everybody cool and relaxed, with Shane in particular in fine voice. Not That Kind Of Girl always goes down well, we all bounced about to The Big Dipper, and Happy Day made my day. The guys finished off with Bless My Broken Heart which I haven't heard live for a while; all good stuff. This was a fine evening with all the guys playing tight and relaxed. P.S. Sorry about the line dancing to Bless My Broken Heart.
The High Barn, Great Bardfield, Essex 26/08/04
Words by David Hughes (www.recognised.org.uk): -
I had the marvellous
pleasure of a visit to the High Barn to watch James, Shane and their mates
in live action!
They are the most engaging band with a small tip of the hat to Austin, Texas and
all its cultural refinements (and not much bigger it seems than Bardfield
itself). I even got a dedication! A song by the magnificent Helen. Tickled pink
I was.
James and Shane are natural leaders of men let it be said. They command
the stage and, indeed, the room and I hope to see them again soon. It's
wonderful to know such talent is available in this county of Essex with its
Texan skies and broad horizons.
A thoroughly entertaining night...Country 'n' Eastern at its best!
And another one....
Unplugged Music Club - The High Barn, Great Bardfield, Essex, 26/08/04
Words by 'Eastern Ear': -
Although I had yet to visit the High Barn venue in Great Barfield, Essex, its reputation as a class venue is spreading through the musical community - and rightly so. It looks stunning, and is possibly one of the most well equipped venues in the region. Maybe it was that it had come so highly recommended that I was immediately looking for fault with it.
You could tell it was a no-smoking venue because camped outside, were most of the musicians who either had, or would perform that night. Inside, it was like Vince Power of The Mean Fiddler had got into bed with Ikea and the National Trust - but tasteful!
Having just seen the remake of The Stepford Wives, I was unnerved by the friendly smile of the lady who took my money, and the cheery disposition of the bar staff. Where was its dark underbelly? Where were the painted over cracks? Perhaps it just felt odd walking into a venue and not feeling my feet sticking to the carpet.
In the end the only fault I could find was that the sound mixing desk, being situated up in the loft, is a little too high above the room (but level with the speakers) to allow the sound engineer to mix adequately for the punters down below, the result being that the sound was a little top light, and very quiet down at the business end, when the acts started playing. But I'm nitpicking; it's a great venue.
However, any venue promoting acoustic/folk music that runs out of real ale on a gig night ought to be ashamed of itself. If my Cropredy friends had caught me drinking Budweiser! But what about the music?
The first act I caught was a delightful young lady by the name of Amy, who turned out to be the venue's soundperson (doesn't it sound odd not saying soundman?). Her cheeky scamp persona was a little at odds with her melancholy songs ("I'm not really a miserable person, honest" she said) and I would be delighted to hear her again sometime. She was followed by a young lad, who's name escaped me, but who appears to have learnt the guitar sitting on the toilet, such was the way he perched himself on a chair, and probably while listening far too frequently to his dad's Cat Stevens record collection - it's nice to emulate our heroes but a little of himself in the songs would have been nice.
Next up was the trio, Alone Me, who, not so long ago, were a duo called Springett Booth, namely Sarah Springett and David Booth. The addition of percussionist Simon Edgoose turns out to be inspired. His subtle contributions never once overstepped the mark, and at all times he was tasteful and mindful of the songs. As ever, the vocal harmonies would put the Finn brothers to shame - as someone once observed, "Sometimes, some voices were made for each other: it must have been an exciting moment when they first discovered they sounded this good together", and I couldn't agree more.
Next up was Helen Watson with a simply stunning performance. The Lancashire lass proved beyond doubt that you don't have to come on stage all guns blazing, by starting with a Bruce Springsteen cover, sung a cappella apart from the accompaniment of a pair of plastic shaker eggs. Less is definitely more - apart from when she was joined on stage by folk superstar David Hughes for only one song - I can't wait for them to come back to High Barn in their own right.
Finally, it was time for Songs from the Blue House. I have a confession to make: Bless me, father, for it is three months since I've seen them. In that time they have recorded a new soon to be released CD and, having had a sneak preview of it, I was terribly excited to be hearing the new tunes live in such a grand setting. And I listened and it was good; notably Big Dipper and I'm Not That Kind of Girl (5-0 thrashing at Portman Road - jumpers for goalposts!), which sat in particularly well with old favourites such as Special Kind of Love (which, damn it, I know I'll be humming for a week or more).
As ever, the band oozed an infectious, devil-may-care attitude, mixed in with a delirious bewilderment that's been with them from their first gig - namely that playing acoustically can be this much fun! But while the on-stage attitude of "heads down and see you at the end" seemed to work for presenting songs from the first album, the new record is far less feral, a more domesticated and housetrained beast, and being raised in a caring, loving environment, deserves to be treated differently on stage. Not everyone playing throughout every song would help. While this may seem anathema to the SftBH principle, it would give the performance some light and shade, allowing the songs to breathe a little and show what class acts they are.
Fiddly Richard (as good as ever) and banjo playing guest, Tony Winn were the only musicians to resist the urge to play on every song (and why is it that a player as talented as Tony is allowed to stop, to let the Russ the guitarist/ mandolin/dobro player put on a banjo?).
The band pulled in Tony Turrell, one of the region's finest piano players, to cover for being a Bluehouser or two down. Unfortunately, his contribution was barely audible (but maybe it was heard up in the loft?). But rather than augmenting people on stage, the addition of a dedicated soundperson (still sounds odd) would serve them better; someone who knows the songs, knows when that lovely flute bit is coming; knows that the fiddle should be louder than the mandolin; and so on...
After performing several delightful ditties, the lovely Helen took early maternity leave and left Shane and James to their own devices, which is mainly an alt. country sitcom - Men Behaving Oddly with guitars - you could almost go to a SftBH gig just to hear the witty banter between these two, and tonight they did not disappoint.
James's choice of Moon River as the encore seemed a wee bit lost on those who do not know its history with the band, but to be fair, it was probably fuelled by having a piano player beside him, and the best part of a barrel of Brewer's Gold inside him ("Same key, I think").
But once they have put a few miles, pints and gigs between themselves and the new album, and worked out their favourites, as they have done with their debut disc, the SftBH set list is going to be an awesome display in the craft of songwriting, and will prove just what a talented bunch of outlaws there is hiding out here in the Wild, Wild East.
The Machines Clicked and Whirred - The Steamboat, Ipswich, 19/08/04
Words by Shane, by the way: -
It had all started so well…. A full Blue House crew downed tools mid-soundcheck and then downed baguettes, shortly before opening the first half of the show with half a dozen corking numbers, showcasing not only the breadth of talent in the team but also Helen's very fetching TMOTD&FM boots (e-mail me for a definition if you're interested) and glam t-shirt ensemble.
Sadly, shortly after a rousing, dual-harmonica (or harmonica duel) version of 'Breaking These Rocks' we fell victim to our own hubristic tendencies and attempted a song that we, clearly, had no idea how to play. Not so unusual in SftBH world, but it was fairly galling that it was actually one of our own songs. That kind of stuck a stick in the spokes and we became more and more aware as the set progressed that simple laws of physics (if you put a big empty metal box right up close to a microphone it will feed back, whether it's got strings on or not) and the ill-wisdom of giving autonomy over volume control to band members, especially when they're armed with a 100-watt amplifier and a harmonica, were becoming clearer by the minute - see opening sentence…
A half time regrouping meant that we were able to pull things round a little in the second half, principally by turning everything down and then having a small stage-left coup d'etat which meant that we stopped referring to the set list as anything but the vaguest of guides and played what we darned well felt like at the time - a welcome return to Blue House Values.
Honourable Mentions to the consummately musical Tony Winn for his fine (as ever) performance and the surprise back catalogue request from the audience which I particularly enjoyed resurrecting. The final ignominy came with landlady Val complaining bitterly about our bar tab. It wasn't big enough, apparently. Must do better.
The Next Best Thing To Being There…27/07/04
Selections from Songs from The Blue House's 2003 expeditions into recording territory will be played during intervals at both The Cambridge Folk Festival and at Cropredy this year. We are particularly pleased with The Cropredy connection as our inclusion as between-turn entertainment was as a result of a poll amongst members of the Fairport Convention online community, of whom a gratifying 81% of participating voters gave us the thumbs-up. On Pop Idol that'd almost definitely have got us through to the next round, y'know.
Stu-stu-stu-stu-stu-Studiotime! 27/07/04
We have been back into the recording studio at The High Barn to 'lay down' (as I believe the hep cats call it) a mystery cover version, involving re-working a familiar radio hit (no, it's not our version of Fat Bottomed Girls) from the seventies. As well as the usual suspects we were very pleased to temporarily welcome Tony 'TT' Turrell to The Blue House fold to tinkle some extremely expensive ivories on our behalf. Not sure what we'll be doing with this just yet, but if you hear an intricate and hauntingly familiar melody (nope, it's not 'Cavatina' either) being introduced on acoustic guitar and banjo over your radio speakers either we'll have released it as a single or you'll know that the Deliverance revival is definitely underway. There's some pictures here.
Milestone Beerhouse, Ipswich, 15/07/04
Radar reporting: -
It's just over a year now since my dear friend and bonafide musical genius Richard "Gibbon" Hammond invited me to the Milestone to play a little bit of mandolin and harmonica for Songs from the Blue House. The principal differences between then and now are that A) I now have a clue how some of the songs go (honest), and B) there will soon be two Blue House albums available to buy instead of just one. A return, as guests of Suffolk Songwriters, was therefore overdue. If you've ever come to see the Blue House live, I hope it's obvious that I like to enjoy myself (except when prevented by heavy medication). I found this gig particularly enjoyable, having been promoted to set-list author and deputy stage manager in the absence of Russ "in a funny way, making beer is a lot like building bridges" Barnes.
I hope it's even half as much fun to watch as it is to play, it can only help that it's all driven along by two fifths of the inimitable 'Picturehouse': Gib and Shane "rib-cracking" Kirk, who is always up for a stage fight or a spell of mindless jumping about. This time out, Fiddly "when I was a lad I used to live on water hens' eggs" Richard lent his weepy best, especially to Ophelia, which surely sports a sucking chest wound when performed in his absence. I'm sure I'm not alone in always wishing Tony "bathtime" Winn was turned up a little louder… I find his banjo arpeggia quite hypnotic… in the best of all possible ways. I notice James "mexican farmer" Partridge experienced some form of spiritual rapture during the extended coda of Song III (one of my personal SftBH favourites). Overall special mention ought to go to Helen, who sang with as much soul and feeling as I've ever heard her without once exhibiting diva tendencies. She's not that kind of girl, you know.
Hopefully the Milestone will invite us back before too long to its Colourblind Blues Radiators themed roster, its friendly crowd, and its wide-ranging selection of hop-based beverages. Under the moose is a nice place to be.
Music In The Park, Ipswich, 04/07/04
Words by James: -
Sunny with showery spells. Undampened by a deluge of some of the dampest rain ever to fall in the British Isles, SftBH Extra (all eight of the current regulars plus Matt White for one song as well) played to the remaining 60-odd sodden souls who braved the enormous downpour that preceded the set. Certain of the members had enjoyed a bottle or two of JHB before getting up to play (mea culpa, for example), and it was always going to be an odd one.
Technical excellence wasn't to be heard in any great measure, but there were some fabulous moments in amongst the forgotten lyrics, playing of the wrong chords, strumming banjos with one's hand on the wrong side of the capo and a PA that randomly cut out due to overwork and/or exasperation. It was particularly pleasant, however, to have some more sunshine at last, to herald in 'Then There Was Sunshine'...a nice touch from the heavens, we thought. The sight of two people on high stilts and an enormous pink fairy with a suspicious-looking adam's apple served to increase the rather surreal feeling of the set. It was all a bit like the album sleeve of 'Strange Days' by The Doors.
'The Big Dipper' turned into a magnificent stomp again, to lift a nicely ramshackle set into the stratosphere with some fine scat vocal work by Matt White. Mention must go to Radar Pete, who made up for his long absence by bouncing around and bumping into things a lot while thrashing seven shades of soul out of a rather frightened mandolin. Moments, aaaaah, moments. A great day, gone but unlikely to be forgotten by those that hung on and got muddy.
My goodness, we've been gigging for over a year...thank you all.