SftBH News Archive July 2005 - Sep 2005
Hoy-Leigh contagious - The Hoy at Anchor Folk Club, The Ship, Leigh-On-Sea - 02/08/05
Words by Keith Farnish, SftBH watcher: -
This was always meant to be a hard nut to crack for the Blue House Gang, but surprises are always nice to see, and no-one was to end up disappointed, least of all the members of East Anglia's finest.
Six was the magic number tonight. Helen and James, a little nervous perhaps, but as ever the beautiful couple. Skirky being, well, Skirky, and performing a rare pseudo-doppleganger with the newly and surprisingly shorn Gibbon. Fiddly, having seen the sights of Leigh was quietly confident, and Tony W. looked far too at home for his own good!
After a couple of "interesting" floor spots, and Kitty who was rather ruder than usual (nothing wrong with that) Roy Mette managed to prove that there are always a few more chords available. If it hadn't been for the dodgy "b" string I may have started to worry for SftBH's top billing, but in the end there was nothing to worry about, nothing at all.
Listen to "Too", and then watch the band live. You are talking about two different things here. No amount of engineering can capture the exuberance, camaraderie and love for the music that Songs from the Blue House managed to put across to the, at times, stunned audience.
'Antibike' kicked off, and it was clear that the challenge of a semi-acoustic (well, Gibbon had to plug his bass into something) set on a minuscule stage in a long room full of seasoned folkies was undaunting. No-one needed warming up, Helen's voice soared, Fiddly was in his own special zone, and the ensemble were playing like a single body. A body that had one or two intentional amputations during the set, not least Skirky's rambling minstrel during A Special Kind Of Love that must have unsettled more than a couple of people!
'Reaper' was certainly a challenge, billed as "The first time a Blue Oyster Cult song has been played in a folk club", the middle solo saw Fiddly covering violin, piano and cymbals (!), and very well he did too. The harmonies were particularly tight, and Gibbon deserves a special mention for backing vocals - he has a lovely voice.
The highlight for me, as always, was Helen's ecstatic and controlled rendition of 'Waste Of Angels', delivered largely with the rest of the band seated (much to the surprise of the promoter Steve, who came in so see his objet d'amore singing, only to almost sit on James) to an awestruck audience.
'Song III' and 'Big Dipper' were tremendously expansive - again amazing for an acoustic set - with 'Big Dipper' going for the crowd pleasing jugular, and getting away with it, and 'Song III' introducing Tony on the stage from behind Helen, and a startling rendition of Blackwater Delta Blues halfway through by James.
'Not That Kind Of Girl' introduced an interesting parochial football conversation into the evening, and the pleasing occurrence of a number of the audience desperately trying to sing along to words they had never heard before. For 'Ophelia', the slow, emotional finale, a drunken folkie behind me tried to hum along, he seemed to be enjoying himself!
To say that I love this band is an understatement. I want to take them home and keep them for myself, but share I must, and January 2006 will see the full 10/11/12-piece performing at the same club. Quite where Tony Turrell will put his piano is anyone's guess!
The 'Too' Album Launch. High Barn, Great Bardfield, Essex 22/07/05
Words By Shane: -
And so the school play is over, and we return from a relentless round of rehearsals to our ordinary humdrum lives of, variously, quantum physics, performing major brain surgery, lingerie modelling, and rocket science. It was a major milestone for us in what has become a much part of our lives than we ever envisaged at the outset - we sold out what is for us a major venue, we played one of the best shows we've done so far, and we now have a properly recorded, pressed, printed and accredited album under our belts. That said album actually turned up at the venue at nine o'clock on the same morning as the launch gig was merely one of the great reliefs we experienced over the course of the day.
As has been reported on various forums so far, everybody performed to the best of their abilities all at the same time, and considering how extensive some of those abilities are this made for a wonderful evening for me as I was lucky enough to be stood in the middle of this unfolding beauty - to name-check everyone for what they did would be so long and time-consuming a task (and a read) that we'd probably have had time to write and record the third album by the time either of us had finished (some of it's already written, by the way….).
Suffice to say that without the incredible talent, enthusiasm and generosity of everyone on that stage (as author, I reserve the right to exclude myself from at least one of those categories…), the evening would have been a much quieter and far lonelier experience - no one would have been on hand to plug my lead back in when I stood on it and yanked it out of the input socket, for a start.
It seems an awfully long way to have come, from staying up late in The Blue House back bedroom with a couple of guitars to playing in front of a rapt crowd with a horn section, a grand piano, some percussion, a backing singer, a harmonica, a pair of banjos, a three-way monitor split and a dedicated lighting engineer - and that was just on one song - but it's been a gas all the way.
And now? Onwards and upwards! To travel, to play, to expand in all sorts of interesting directions. To boldly split infinitives that no man has split before. We hope you'll come along for the rest of the ride.
Words By Mic, our Woman in the West: -
Saturday night at The High Barn and there is a buzz of excitement in the air, and not just from the band!! At last the house lights dimmed and 'Mawkin' took the stage... a fiddle, a melodeon, a bass guitar and a six string acoustic guitar (and that's as technical as I get and I probably got that wrong). I wasn't at all sure what to expect (they looked awfully young to me) but, from the first note it was clear that this was going to be high quality folk. From plaintive Scottish airs to rip roaring fast-paced tunes, the guys were excellent!!! If you haven't come across them before I recommend that you don't miss out on the opportunity to hear/see them at the first chance you get. Outside during the interval, the guys from Mawkin proved to be every bit as friendly as they were talented, happily chatting with all like old mates, all in all a great band!!!
The main event...once again the house lights dimmed, figures stepped out onto the stage in the gloom......lots of figures, tonight Songs from the Blue House were Songs from the Full House!! The stage lights came on and Shane stepped up to the mic, the air of expectancy could have been cut with a guitar string, "We are Songs from the Blue House... and this is what we do" (hmm? didn't Shane go to see REM quite recently?), and into the first number. The crowd was gripped, and the band didn't let them go from that moment on.
The on-stage banter was lively and full of fun, and every time Shane or James said "This is from the new album", what could have sounded scripted from another band, came across as exactly what it was, genuine excitement!!!! That excitement was infectious and the whole audience caught the bug. The whole set was crammed full of hilights, but I too have to make a special mention of 'Waste of Angels', written and sung by Helen, beautifully supported by Ali Byrne (a lady with a truly lovely voice). This haunting song, which also came in for a particular mention from the review on folking.com, is full of feeling, emotion and hope. Yes it is a sad song, but right there at the end the hope comes through - "but the scars on her shoulders will heal, and she will fly away and leave you ...". Judging by the reactions all around the room it resonated with many people there, I know it does with me.
Songs from the New Album, classics from the first album, and a little tempter thrown in for good measure.... a song for the 'third' album!........Please SftBH don't keep us waiting Too long. There were two encores, and if the audience had their way we would all still be there now, with a somewhat exhausted band 'tis true, nobody watching/listening wanted it to end. A fantastic evening, launching a wonderful album, made by one of the genuinely nicest bands around.
Good luck with Too, it deserves great things and I for one reckon it will achieve them
Mic - 'twas well worth every mile travelled.
Words by Bill Pipe, The Horkesely Stalker
This promised to be a rather splendid affair being at the High Barn an' all, and a sell-out to boot. The evening's proceedings where kicked off by 'Mawkin', who at first glance appeared more like a boy band than a folk group; not having heard them before I was not sure what to expect but they were superb - traditional folk played with energy and enthusiasm by four young lads who must have bright futures on the folk scene.See them at a festival near you…………SOON!
After a short interval, SftBH took to the stage; tonight they where mob-handed with a grand total of 12 musicians on the stage at times. The set started with three quick songs in succession, with the changes smooth and seamless...I thought "What’s happened? Have the boys and girls been abducted by aliens? Where is the fine and funny stage banter that we have come to know and love?" After these first three songs, nature took its course and the good natured byplay between the chaps surfaced and things took on a more normal course for a 'Songs' gig, with a running joke about “Here’s a song from our new album” continuing through the set.
Most of “Too” was played and with so many Blue Housers on stage, a studio-like quality became apparent in the music; Alie Byrne joining Helen Mulley for some wonderful harmonies on “Not That Kind Of Girl” and “Antibike”, and the harmonica of Radar Pete Pawsey making a welcome return to the mix.
One really good thing about the High Barn is the quality of the sound, allowing every instrument and voice to be heard clearly and bringing a realization of how each individual in this band is a great musician in their own right. Some older songs were played including my favourite transvestite murder ballad “Special Kind Of Love”, which was dedicated to yours truly by a grinning Shane Kirk...cheers pal!!!
The band also played their single, a cover of “Don’t Fear The Reaper”, a 70s rock classic, with fiddle and banjo deputizing for the guitars and keyboards of the original. The set was followed by two encores and had time allowed the crowd would have demanded more. My fifteen year old daughter's similarly-aged friend summed up the evening as we got up to leave…"That was awesome!!"
Thanks Guys.
SftBH 'Too' gets reviewed, and how!
Words by James: -
Those nice people at folking.com have been very kind and given us a great review, which you can read here. You can also download a lo-fi, mono version of one of the songs from 'Too' on the same page.
Holywells Park, Ipswich, 16/07/05
Words by Helen: -
Well, the purpose of the event was to raise awareness of Holywells Park, I believe; and as I for one now know a) where the park is and b) of what an extraordinarily lovely collection of spaces it is comprised, I think it's fair to say that, in at least one sense, it was a success. As it happens, in many other senses, too.
I must admit to being a tad dubious to start with. Yes, it was a beautiful day; but when James and I arrived to discover the rest of the House setting up mike stands and monitors amongst the rose bushes in some sort of secret garden tucked away behind the rangers' offices, I began to suspect that we were going to be somewhat lacking in audience. How splendid to be proved wrong, then - about halfway through set-up, the promised gazebo arrived; and as we started to play, so did a constant stream of happy, be-shorted citizens of all ages, sizes, colours and attention spans.
Some settled down and tucked into sandwiches and bottles of fizzy pop - others simply got out their shades and soaked up the sunshine and the music simultaneously. All of them looked like they were having a good time... and so, for sure, were we. Did we play well? I hope so. It sounded pretty good from where I was (apart from a few bizarre grumblings from the monitors during the first couple of songs) and it was particularly lovely to have Ali Byrne providing backing vocals on 'Antibike' and 'Not That Kind of Girl', as per "Too".
We even managed a pretty storming version of Reaper, despite the lack of piano (thanks largely to Fiddly for keeping us going during the tricky middle bit) and First Banjo (three band members going "diddly diddly dee" at the beginning were helpful in terms of timing, but not really an ideal substitute, if I were to be picky).
There was plenty of banter-fodder, too, with a couple of historical tour guides costumed as a squire and a domestic employee ("when he said, 'oh, go on darling, dress as a maid for me', this wasn't exactly what she was expecting..."), a chap who bore more than a passing resemblance to Sir Richard Attenborough ("Do you think he's looking for the raptors?") and a sort of giant cherry picker that was taking park visitors up for an aerial view of the park in all its loveliness ("Hey, you in the orange t-shirt - we can all see up your skirt from down here...") providing between-songs amusement for everyone except one particular young lady in an orange t-shirt. It was a shame when we had to stop for the owls, really.
I would have liked to have wandered around the rest of the attractions on offer - but we had to move on to our next venue, not least because that's where we'd left the twins. The evening gig was at a private birthday party and, thanks to the copious internal application of Brewers Gold by at least two of the band members by the time we started playing, was rather less polished than our earlier performance. I saw some of it on video the next day, however, and it seemed surprisingly together - and the audience was at least as appreciative as the park-goers had been, which is always a Good Thing. At the end, sometime Blue House vocalist Moj performed a special song for the birthday boy for which she'd provided the lyrics and Gibbon had written the music, accompanied by Gib and James. And very lovely it was, too.
And *then* Paul Mosley out of Moses (www.mosesband.com) did a rare solo set. Bless him for coming and being just generally wonderful.
A marvellous Saturday, then - and, although it's not strictly speaking Blue House related, I'd also like to thank Hannah Kirk for rounding off our weekend by not only cooking a top notch roast lamb Sunday dinner for James and me; but also for whipping up some cheesy tuna and courgettes for Joey and Tev, because I wouldn't let them have something out of a jar... She's just that kind of girl.
SftBH Forum for in-depth chatter, and general Blue House fun
Words By James: -
A few people have suggested we should have a forum to muck about with, so there now is one at: -
http://sftbhforum.proboards32.com/index.cgi
Do feel free to drop by and say stuff.
(DON'T FEAR) THE REAPER CD EP RELEASE
Words By James: -
A little while back we recorded a version of 'Don't Fear The Reaper' at The High Barn's rather swish studio for....well frankly for the hell of it. It turned out rather well so having realised it won't really fit on to SftBH 'Too' (due July 2005), we thought its release on a CD single could serve as a bit of a stopgap. Apart from featuring a whole array of talented guests, we reckon it motors along quite nicely and is well worth the two quid by itself.
However, generous types that we are, we've added four hand-picked tracks from the murky pasts of James, Shane & Gibbon to give you folks an idea of what we used to do when we were younger (but not necessarily better looking). Ranging in vintage from 1986 - 2001, these bonus tracks cover everything from incisive singer-songwriter-ing to mad wigged-out screeching emo-grunge. The thing's a bargain. To buy one here and now, click here - SftBH Shop.