Category: BR Content

Words by Ed King / Pics by Paul Reynolds
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“About the price of a small mortgage. But I’ve got some friends who live on Machu Picchu, so…”

I don’t like the man to my right; we’ve never met, but I know that much about him and me.  Him and I. Sometimes, when people are talking to more than their audience, they say the most ludicrous things. Fatuous things. No one in this room has ‘friends’ on Machu Picchu.

My +1 is in Chester so I’ve come alone to the Institute (a Birmingham landmark that holds much of my past) to watch The Staves use us as “guinea pigs” for their new material. No one in the room seems to mind either, but as Camilla tells us “it’s not going to change”. Opening with the title track off their new EP, and the precursor to that precarious second album, ‘Blood I Bled’ eventually drowns us all.  Soft with clear vocals, identifiable; an intricate guitar picks into a hurried crash of harmonies and big rolling drums. It’s the first of the ‘new material’ I’ve heard from The Staves and there’s a certain melodic fervor, one I recognise but didn’t expect. Spectacular.

There’s a mournful impetus to the accompanying video too – an ambiguous rites of passage narrative filmed in India (the territory that’s owned the last decade of my life) but tonight’s on stage delivery is noticeably more powerful.

‘Steady’, another new track, keeps Camilla firmly in the front, with Emily’s instrumental smorgasbord landing on a glockenspiel topping. Again the big rolling drums and hollow, echoed back line threaten their way round the room. Again the sound is bold and ferocious.

Back to the more familiar harmonies based Folk with ‘Wisely & Slow’, but delivered tonight with extra confidence. It’s been a while since I’ve seen The Staves, and the world keeps on turning, but there’s an authoritative difference here – a sense of ownership. I also write the word ‘travelled’ into my notebook.

‘Black & White’ follows with another distant thunderstorm, before ‘Tongue Behind My Teeth’ reminds a lot of the room why they’re subconsciously here. It’s an odd moment in the set for me, and to explain why you’ve got to go back, with a wavy screen dream sequence and disappearing echo… go back… go back… go back…

I first saw The Staves at The Glee Club in April 2012 and my overall impression was pleasant, but not overwhelming.  Then about six months later Dead & Born & Grown came out, which slowly grew through my car speakers over another couple of months. But I held onto my ambiguity – despite the careful lyrics and subtle brilliance encroaching further with every slow, snow covered journey.  That was the winter I nearly crashed, at 5mph, into a double decker bus.

Then I saw The Staves perform at the Hare & Hounds, to an early queue and packed out room that murmured “Jools Holland, Jools Holland” in reverent tones. I’ll admit it, I wasn’t in the best of moods; between the fawning Radio 4 hyperbole and the drunk twat constantly heckling behind me (at a Folk gig?!?!) I’d just about given up.

But it was during that set that the well publicised ‘acoustic Folk trio from Watford’ started to take shape for me. I began to see what I’d missed at The Glee Club, and when they played ‘Tongue Behind My Teeth’ (a track I’d previously, readily dismissed) it clicked. I clicked. Something did something and I was forced into new opinion. But as I hear it tonight, played against a backdrop of new material, the track that once won me back now sounds comfortably two dimensional. Not bad, not at all, just not as good as what else is on offer.

“…I’m hoping, I’m hoping that I’m alright.” Jessica’s soft vocal lead, her guitar. The big, hollow drums; the glockenspiel. Another song I don’t know. The unconscious wave of bobbing heads looks up and looks out.

The Staverley-Taylors break for some well groomed banter and a pirate EP offer I would hear again in The Guardian. “We burnt them in our mum’s kitchen,” confesses Camilla, and I watch the thick blood ranks close in a little closer.

The Staves, as they are presented to us, have an onstage in-joke humour that is funny and endearing, but more funny – although the tightness tonight seems tinged with something else. A warm brick wall (not that we warrant anything other) but so potentially solid I wonder how detached three years of touring can make you. What makes angels draw claws. ‘Pay Us No Mind’ edges in suggestions of darker times, lyrical intent and an anger we should perhaps already know.

A trio of new tracks roll into each other, with the last bringing Jessica back to the front of a laconic snare and slow Blues Rock. The audience go a little bat shit clappy and get ‘Mexico’ to reward them – the big, hollow drums, again, announcing the hidden battle between what was and what is to be.

‘Teeth White’ and ‘Eagle Song’ close off the main set; the former sounding like the result of rehearsal room humor (or cabin fever) the latter like a pantomime as Camilla’s informs us “…is our last song”.

And as we earn our next “strange piece of theatre”, like good hungry seals, The Staves open up a two track encore with ‘Facing West’ – the album track that made me first notice Camilla.  Tonight she owns it, more, and delivers her song (for it feels like hers alone) in a way I can only image has been fashioned on countless stages in front of countless strange faces. Intimacy must be hard on such a wide and public scale.

‘Winter Trees’ finishes the night in a tight and tired manner, a beautiful song performed too often, before we huddle into jumpers and shuffle down the Institute steps. There’s a lot of noise and commentary on the way out (from a crowd surprised to be back in a venue they once needed fake NUS cards enter) lots of “the first time”, “the last time”, “yeah, yeah… well that’s Vernon.” The man to my right is now explaining how he “didn’t want to do the whole Harley thing.”

But I resign and stay schtum, noticing a much more interesting production credit on the Blood I Bled EP I now hold in my hand. Besides I’m cold and alone, not the best time to bring up 80’s Pop culture.

And if my history of reviewing The Staves has taught me anything, besides the distinction between a sound and a song, it’s that I should just keep my mouth shut. For a couple of weeks, at least.

Blood I Bled EP is out now, with The Staves second album – If I Was, due for release in February 2015. The find out more on The Staves, visit http://www.thestaves.com/

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For further listings from the Institute, visit http://mamacolive.com/theinstitute/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/

Pics courtesy of The Paper Birds & Richard Davenport

Blind comes to mac Theatre – for one night only on Saturday 8^th November. Doors open at 8pm with tickets priced at £14 (£12 concessions).

Devised and performed by Grace Savage – a beatboxer who beat Dana McKeon to become UK Champion in both the 2012 & 2013 finals, Blind is a solo show that ‘explores what young people are hearing in the world today’ and the subsequent impact those sounds have.

Starting from the storyteller’s perspective, Blind analyses what women are told about themselves and the role both genders play in today’s status quo – with a range of catalysts, from motherly advice to social media and pop songs, under scrutiny.

Produced by The Paper Birds – a Leeds based theatre company who ‘create and share devised work that is important; work that is culturally, socially and politically observational and conversationally urgent,’ Blind premièred at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Having been touring the UK since early October, Blind comes to mac in the death rattles of a 20 venue debut.

Grace Savage trained under beatboxer Belle “Bellatrix” Ehresmann, going on to take her mentor’s 2009 UK Beatboxing Champion title in the 2012-13 competitions. Recently playing ‘Jade’ in the Nadia Fall’s play Home, at the National Threatre, Savage was also part of The Vocal Orchestra – Shlomo’s ‘uplifting mash-up of intricate beatbox routines and roof raising interpretations of all times classics’.

Crossing over into a more traditional singer/songwriter territory, Savage has also worked with producer & song writer Dee Adam – recording her own material and supporting Newton Faulkener on his third album tour in 2012.

Meeting The Paper Birds after flyering for the theatre company at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Grace Savage was invited to devise a solo show ‘exploring the songs, sounds and statements our world is making and the impressions these gradually form on our lives.’

“As a beatboxer and an actress, Blind is one of the most refreshing, unique and exciting projects that I have had the privilege to work on in my career so far,” explains Savage. “There are a few beatboxing shows floating around but I think we have created something truly unique and theatrical in a way that has never been seen before.

I have admired The Paper Birds’ work for years and working with them has allowed me to integrate beatboxing with narrative in a way that feels meaningful and impactful.”  

Blind – tour trailer, click here or on the image below:

Blind comes to mac Theatre – for one night only on Saturday 8^th November. Doors open at 8pm with tickets priced at £14 (£12 concessions). Ed King will be there for a Birmingham Review

For more info & tickets, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/the-paper-birds-blind/

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For more on Grave Savage, visit http://www.gracesavageofficial.com/

For more on Blind / The Paper Birds, visit http://www.thepaperbirds.com/

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For more from mac, including full listings across the centre, visit http://macbirmingham.co.uk/

Promotional pics & artwork courtesy of Atlantic Records / Gig pic by Katie Foulkes

The Staves come to Birmingham on Sunday 26^th October, playing one night at Institute’s top floor venue – The Temple. Doors open at 7pm with tickets priced at £12 advance, presented by Birmingham Promoters.

*At the time of publishing this event had sold out – please check availability with the venue or official ticket outlets before attending*

The Staves are back in Birmingham as part of a six date UK tour, showcasing songs from their new Blood I Bled EP and ‘as-yet-unnamed’ second album.

Birmingham Review last law the three Staveley-Taylor sisters (The Staves for short) play a sold out show at the Hare & Hounds last November – in the city to promote their debut album, Dead & Born & Grown.

But it was at The Glee Club in April 2012 that Birmingham Review first saw The Staves, where reviewer Ed King ‘enjoyed The Staves more than expected’ but felt the three part harmonies created ‘more a sound than a song’ – finally questioning ‘how much the trio can continue to offer.’

Two and a half years later The Staves have grown from strength to strength, honing a proficient live set, confident on stage personas, transatlantic audiences, and carving out a subtle identity in a genre that many adopt without merit. It seems the answer was a lot more.

The Staves have also found a new friend in Justin Vernon – the high pitched centre piece & songwriter for Bon Iver. After supporting Bon Iver on both North American and European tours, The Staves first rested then later recorded at Vernon’s April Base Studios in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Finding ‘their perfect creative environment’ in the freezing February of the Midwest’s Badger State, The Staves began working with Julian Vernon on new material.

Blood I Bled EP is the first release from their upcoming new album, with Vernon producing and other members of Bon Iver performing – out on general release from 28^th October.

Watch the official video for the EP’s title track, ‘Blood I Bled’ – click here or on the image below

The Staves come to the Institute (The Temple) on Sunday 26^th October – presented by Birmingham Promoters. Ed King will be there for a Birmingham Review.

For more gig info & tickets, visit http://mamacolive.com/theinstitute/listings/upcoming-events/17029/the-staves/

For more on The Staves, visit http://www.thestaves.com/

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For further listing from the Institute, visit http://mamacolive.com/theinstitute/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/

Pics by Katja Ogrin / www.katjaogrinphotography.com – taken at The Glee Club on 17.2.13

Nerina Pallot returns to The Glee Club on Wednesday 29^th October. Doors open at 7pm, with tickets priced at £18.50 + booking fee.

Writing and performing songs for both piano and guitar, Nerina Pallot began composing when just 13 – citing ‘This Woman’s Work’ by Kate Bush as a mark behind her musical endevours.

Balancing a gift for melody with classical training, Pallot’s songs are self described as ‘exquisitely crafted pop’ – stepping from solo piano ballets to guitar led radio edits with a consistent identity.

‘Sophia’, the second single from her second album, was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 2007, whilst Nerina Pallot herself was nominated for BRIT’s Best British Female Solo Artist Award the same year.

Her last album, Year of the Wolf, ranges from the ‘highly addictive’ lead single ‘Put Your Hands Up’, to the smoky Jazz drawl of ‘All Bets Are Off’.

Previous releases, such as ‘Idaho’ – Pallot’s ‘manifesto song’ and reminder of personal resilience, and the calling up of a nation’s call to arms in ‘Everybody’s Going to War’, represent a wide portfolio from Pop to poignancy.

But as a performer Nerina Pallot once more comes into her own, with endearing live shows and a busy schedule accruing a loyal army of fans over her thirteen year musical career – with many travelling across the UK to catch her at various stages of a tour.

Nerina Pallot comes to The Glee Club on Wednesday 29^th midway through UK autumn tour. Ed King will be there for a Birmingham Review.

For more information & tickets, visit http://www.glee.co.uk/performers/nerina-pallot.htm

For more on Nerina Pallot, visit http://www.nerinapallot.com/

For further listings from The Glee Club, including music and comedy, visit http://www.glee.co.uk/

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Ed’s…

It’s simple for me; I’m a sucker for piano.

I first heard of Nerina Pallot after ‘Put Your Hands Up’ was marching through its mainstream radio plays, its ridiculously addictive melody grabbing my ears and compelling me to Google. I still can’t hear this song, in private or public, without having to, HAVING TO sing along. It’s like crack, with sugar frosting and lyrics.

But it was watching Ms Pallot perform ‘Sophia’ on some miserable Gloria Hunniford show (a place I once took an 8ft bear) that simply broke me apart; seeing this song performed live is still one of my most memorable memories. As I said, sucker/piano.

And whilst there’s some of Pallot’s portfolio that’s too Pop for me, the frustrated superstar perhaps at the helm, I am constantly challenged with new material – her (relatively) recent cover of Ce Ce Peniston’s club classic ‘Finally’ being nothing short of inspired. Lyrically too; I mean, how often do you hear Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance referenced in song?

But waffle, waffle, platitude, counterpoint. Doesn’t matter. Click here or on the image below and decide for yourself, just mute the segue:

Ed King is editor of Birmingham Review. Follow him @EdKing2210