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March 21, 2017March 21, 2017

BREVIEW: Laura Marling @ O2 Institute 14.03.17

Words by Damien Russell Pics by Rachel Mason

Hot on the heels of her album release, Laura Marling embarked on a 32 date international tour – playing to a sold out show at the O2 Institute on 14^th of March.

It’s a gig I’ve been looking forward to. I like the album, Semper Femina (although it’s not perfect), but my friend is a long-term fan of Laura Marling and is mad keen for the show. I’ve not seen Marling before but hear good things, so I ignore the fact it’s been a long and stressful day and commute up from Basingstoke to be there just as the support band are starting.

Said support are a four piece country/soft rock group who are melodic but slow. The singer’s quite quiet and in-between songs I have no idea what he’s saying, so I must confess I never got their name. They unfortunately fail to get my enthusiasm, and I see pockets of people chatting who seem equally disengaged.

The band are clearly competent but just a bit too slow and a bit too laid back. Their last song, before clearing the stage for Laura Marling, is an up-tempo number and exactly what they should have been doing the whole time. It’s a shame as you can see they recognise that song is the best received, but just don’t seem to have made the connection.

I notice there doesn’t seem to be much activity preparing the stage. It seems odd but I don’t have to wait long to find out why; out with Laura Marling come the bass player and drummer from the support group, as part of her backing band. A nice touch and something that must make the tour more efficient. Additionally Marling has two backing singers and an electric guitarist.

The first song of Laura Marling’s set is ‘Soothing’, the opening track from the album. In fact the first five tracks tonight are the first five off Semper Femina, played in tracklist order. ‘Soothing’ is my favourite song off Semper Femina and while I feel it’s only right that it has such a prominent place in tonight’s set, I am disappointed that the double bass I’m certain must have been used on the record to get that fantastic deep sound is nowhere to be seen. The double bass does feature on later songs in Laura Marling’s set tonight, but not on the one I feel it really needed (to read Damien Russell’s Birmingham Review of Semper Femina, click here).

The five track Semper Femina section is followed by a tri-song treat of Laura Marling on her own, performing tracks #7 and #8 (‘Next Time’ and ‘Nothing, Not Nearly’) again from her latest LP, alongside ‘What He Wrote’ from the 2010 album I Speak Because I Can. The final new track, ‘Nouel’, finishes off this section of the set with the full band again. I like the split and the way all of the new tracks are performed together, it has a touch of the dramatic about it and is something I rarely see done.

The tracks themselves are lovingly reproduced from the album to the stage, and although I pick up a couple of small arrangement changes for the live setting each track is easily connected to the studio version. But when Laura Marling takes the stage alone, it’s a real highlight of the set; her stripped down version of ‘Nothing, Not Nearly’ is, in my opinion, much better than the album version. Her solo performance of ‘What He Wrote’ is the best song in the set by far.

Following the new material, Laura Marling and her band run through some of her best known other songs – including ‘Daisy’, ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ and ‘Darkness Descends’ – before ending the set with ‘Rambling Man’ and her trademark announcement that she doesn’t do encores.

Musically, the group were solid and the songs are obviously good, but there’s something missing in the band’s performance tonight that makes me wonder if they’re as well rehearsed as they could be. There have been a few minor slip-ups tonight; nothing major, but coming from either inexperience in the musicians (hard to believe) or a lack of preparation time.

Laura Marling herself is excellent musically but spends the gig gazing into the middle distance, leaving me feeling a she’s not entirely with us tonight. We get a couple of “how are you?” but little in the way of other banter or engagement.

On the whole, it was a good night but it was far from a great one; even the reactions from the other crowd members seemed muted. I think next time I see Laura Marling (and yes, I think there will be a next time) I’ll make sure it’s at one of her solo shows. Otherwise I’ll stick to the albums.

For more on Laura Marling, visit www.lauramarling.com

For more from O2 Institute, including venue details and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

For more from SJM Concerts/Gigs and Tours, visit www.gigsandtours.com

March 20, 2017March 20, 2017

BREVIEW: One Love: The Bob Marley Musical @ REP until 15.04.17

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Production pics by Helen Maybanks

‘One Love’ is a misnomer. The title alludes to Bob Marley’s song about getting together to fight those who seek to break and tear the world apart, more specifically about the tumultuous civil war in Jamaica during the 1970’s. ‘One love, one heart’ is Marley’s chant.

However One Love: The Bob Marley Musical did not portray Marley the man as impassioned peace keeper but a womanising, often unlikeable character. This was not a clear-cut tale of a social and musical revolution, but a series of events that happened seemingly because a variety of people around Marley pushed and cajoled him into making decisions.

A party celebrating Jamaica’s independence set the scene for the beginning of One Love and introduced us to the early formation of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Indeed the DJ called them this rather than simply The Wailers, as they were known then. A live band played at the back of the stage with the main cast – Bob, Bunny and Peter playing their parts on a podium made of wooden pallets.

The set nicely represented the troubled history of Jamaica, with the flag pinned above the stage with hologrammatic picture of the Queen projected on top of it. Massive speakers, piled high like Tetris formations, flanked the podium where Bob (Mitchell Brunings), Bunny (Newtion Matthews) and Peter (Jacade Simpson) stood early playing the song ‘Simmer Down’. These first scenes depict the musical development of the band and initiate the themes of civil unrest, poverty and Bob Marley the bully. Bob, Bunny and Peter are told by Rita Marley – Bob’s wife who is newly pregnant, that they need to change their look from rude boy to nice boys who sing love songs like ‘Guava Jelly’ instead of violence orientated ‘I Shot the Sherriff’.

Humour is used well here, but when the band beat up a radio presenter at Jamaica Broadcasting House and basically threaten him to play their songs, it suggests that violence was an ordinary part of Jamaican life. The fight sequences were sloppy and badly executed, which cut through the fact that the protagonists were so desperately poor they would wield baseball bats to make some quick money.

Bob Marley and The Wailers escape poverty to do a few concerts in Britain. Marley signs with Chris Blackwell (Alex Robertson) at Island Records and the band make their first album, Catch a Fire. Blakewell is seen dancing to their album with Marley in the background, singing ‘Get Up Stand Up’ in the sound booth. This scene captures the raw danceability of Bob Marley’s songs and the passion with which they are sung. Later Bob Marley and The Wailers take these songs on tour to The Flamingo Club, Dudley. Here we see the controlling determination of Marley who pushes his friends away by touring England instead of going back to Jamaica. They in turn leave, to the indifference of their friend.

Pablo (Eric Kofi Abrefa) from the band The Upsetters tells Bob Marley that he should forget love songs and realise that he has the power to change things for the better, ultimately telling him to join the Rastafari movement. This was a major change in Marley’s life and made apparent in One Love as key part of his identity – Bob Marley’s Rastafari clothes, chant and belief in Haile Selassie I running throughout. Complete with dreadlocks, Brunings looked the spitting image of Marley.

However the single scene to bridge the change is Pablo singing ‘Forever Loving Jah’. What caused this change of identity? I’m not sure I know; One Love: The Bob Marley Musical does arguably require some prior knowledge, especially about the political and civil unrest in Jamaica during the 60s and 70s. The production shows two leaders of Jamaica’s main political parties – the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition party – clearly conflicting, standing at each side of the stage with films and pictures of soldiers shooting people being projected on the walls behind them. The use of projection was effective in creating and building the context for Bob Marley’s music and quest for peaceful unification. However spanning a decade and a half the narrative lacked depth, such as Marley’s seemingly sudden interest in making peace whilst he was in England signing with Island records and touring for the most part of the first act.

After ‘Forever Loving Jah’ the political tensions ramp up with Bob Marley gearing up for the Smile Jamaica concert. ‘Burnin’ and Lootin’’ and ‘War’ are aptly used to tell the story of the assassination attempt upon Bob Marley and his reaction to it; Marley feels betrayed by Jamaica, a country he has only ever sought peace for (at least he did with the free concert). These last songs were performed excellently by Brunings; his vocal work is impressive, his mannerisms, swaying, twisting and bobbing recreate Marley’s performances aptly. Although when not singing Brunings tended to be stiff and stilted which could make a scene look awkward.

The ensemble cast have lots of passion and energy, helping to lift the flatter pace of the second half. The later narrative centres around Bob Marley’s self imposed exile to England and the worst in his behaviour that this brings out – from his various affairs with women, fall out with his friend Pablo, and lying to his wife Rita. Bob Marley’s mood becomes self-destructive, until a series of scenes in the recording studio making the album Exodus change his mind about Jamaica.

One of these scenes features ‘No Woman No Cry’, sung by Rita Marley who has found out about her husband’s affairs; one of the highlights of the production, as she sings with an emotional poignancy that emphasises her misplaced faith in her husband. Alexia Khadime shines as Bob Marley’s strong wife who fights to get him back from his lover Cindy (Cat Simmonds), but the scene is long with various characters coming and going whilst Bob Marley stands onstage. The pace became flat again and needed a change of levels or setting, a shift to add some much needed energy to the performances. I think Brunings would have been better suited to singing a full concert, instead of parts of songs interlaced with dialogue which tended see the character’s motivation get lost.

As for the soundtrack, the live band were excellent but the changes of songs could be awkward and the sound quality a little poor in places. Plus the actors ran over each other’s lines in the beginning (nerves?) and on a couple of occasions the timing of the music suffered from this.

The finale saw Bob Marley return from the Rastafari homeland in Ethiopia to perform at the One Love Concert in Jamaica – the titular event where Marley united the islands two warring politicians by thrusting their hands together in the air.

A fitting end to a Bob Marley tribute – the music says it all. And as the REP audience were on their feet singing, chanting and dancing, one that goes to show what a legend Bob Marley has become.

One Love: The Bob Marley Musical runs daily at Birmingham REP (except Sundays) until Saturday 15th April. For direct event info and online tickets sales, click here.

For more on Kwame Kwei-Armah, visit www.unitedagents.co.uk/kwame-kwei-armah

For more from Birmingham REP, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

March 16, 2017

BREVIEW: Peaness @ The Sunflower Lounge 13.03.17

Words by Khryssy Blount / Pics by Courtney Blount

Normally I say, “On a warm spring evening, I am going to review…” However I believe this will work much better: I am going to review a band named Peaness. Yes, you are reading that correctly.

I choose to sit on the sidelines, rather stickily on the stairs, peeking through the stair rails. The crowd assembles as the first band, Maybe Don’t, steps onto the stage; the audience falls silent. We are all suddenly blasted with a heady mix of loud, slightly out of tune, singing and melodic guitar playing. The band (after this rather loud introduction) present themselves, “Hi, we’re Maybe Don’t and we have politics…”

However no political statements were to be seen, apart from the lead singer/guitarist having to tune his guitar before playing another song and trying to say “Peaness”. The crowd is a mixed bag of folks, some moving along to the music eagerly and others looking bemused.

I am feeling like a wild caged animal at this point, grabbing onto the bars of the stairs, and I find myself subconsciously nodding my head along to the loud riffs as Maybe Don’t finish up their set. A small interval happens, taking a small proportion of the crowd back upstairs, before Mondo Royale take to the stage as six piece group.

Unfortunately I don’t catch the names of the band members apart from a keyboard player called ‘Ben’, but Mondo Royale launch into a soulful and jazzy tune, guiding the crowd to clap along with them to the beat, and the audience oblige. It is almost as if they own the stage and their song ‘Sonic Boom’ certainly gets things going.

Both singers jive and dance along whilst harmonising with the funky soulful jazz infused beats. ‘Day and Night’ turns up the levels and the room comes alive (at one point it’s pointed out that it is getting just warm enough for one of the lead singers) but the song that really sets everything on fire though is ‘Run, Run, Run’. A brilliant set; Mondo Royale are hard to put into a box, with styles ranging from Abba to Depeche Mode.

Time for tonight’s the headline as act Peaness start setting up; the stage and the audience are, by now, all nicely warmed up. Without introduction they begin playing and launch into a series of Pea-pop chord progressions and toe tappingly good harmonies.

Now they introduce themselves, “Hi, we’re Peaness and we’re from Chester”, and get stuck into another one of their songs off their No Fun E.P. Unlike the other two bands tonight, Peaness seem to have some microphone issues. The audience seems to have calmed down too, until Peaness go into a new track called ‘Ugly Veg’ off their upcoming debut album, set for release later this year. A few people attempt to jump up and down to the track with limited success.

Peaness also have their guitars slightly louder than the vocals, so you can’t really hear the words – which is a shame as the trio appear to be a tight knit gang.

The rest of the gig goes by in what seems a flash, including moments of laughter at the drummer having a “spa day” in Birmingham while the singer and other guitarist had to slog in from Chester, “These guys had to come all the way from Chester while I was getting a back rub”. Peaness are young, genuine and in parts comical, and not just due to their name.

The gig winds down, and without a set list the audience have nothing to squabble over. Except perhaps the merch store which has cute and cuddly stuffed toy peas with googley eyes. But it’s the music I came for tonight and if I get the chance I’ll be back to see Peaness again.

For more on Peaness, visit www.peanessband.tumblr.com

For more from The Sunflower Lounge, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.thesunflowerlounge.com

For more from Counteract, visit www.counteract.co

March 13, 2017March 12, 2017

BREVIEW: Dutch Uncles @ Hare & Hounds 06.03.17

Words by Steve Crawford / Pics by Denise Wilson

Fuelled by a pre-gig curry, Dutch Uncles take to the stage at the Hare and Hounds to the opening bars of Emerson Lake and Palmer’s version of ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’.

It’s good to see that all the band members got the memo regarding dress code. Not strictly a band uniform as such, but the grey-ish monotone garb, along with more or less matching haircuts, give them a gratifying Gang of Four/Winston Smith dystopian-future citizen look.

As the rest of the band take their places, guitarist Pete Broadhead picks up the ELP riff on his black Stratocaster prompting front-man Duncan Wallis to christen him “Prog Pete”. The entrance music fades and Dutch Uncles launch into tonight’s gig with a “two-for-one” set opener: ‘Baskin’ and ‘Some Plane Dream’ – both from their new album, Big Balloon.

And so begins… Dutch Uncles’ fifth appearance at the Hare and Hounds, on the fifth date of the tour, promoting their fifth album. Tonight the four founding members are joined by touring guitarist Neil Wright and Prog Pete’s brother, Henry Broadhead, on Casio synth – or the “glorified calculator” as it is referred to. “50 quid off EBay, honestly the sounds he can get out of it – the man’s a genius,” Wallis tells the crowd.

Next up is the pumping rhythmic ‘Cadenza’, from the album of the same name, which gets heads nodding and bopping in the audience. It’s a good turnout for a Monday night; the large room in the Hare and Hounds is near to full.

Dutch Uncles are on top form, much more powerful and energetic than they are on record and obviously accomplished musicians. A variety of sounds are summoned that reference their influences: Eighties style synths stutter, chirrup, drone and loop; guitars are urgent and spiky. It’s all propelled along by Robin Richards’ thunkingly tight bass and Andy Proudfoot’s precise drumming, holding those pesky “atypical” time-signatures in check.

Seven tracks from Big Balloon are played tonight; ‘Sink’, the slower ‘Comb Box’ and ‘Achameleon’ are omitted, the latter for reasons of difficulty in learning to play live or so Wallis informs us (I suspect with an element of tongue in cheek). ‘Achameleon’ is replaced by the Japan-esque ‘Tidal Weight’ from 2015’s O Shudder; Wallis’s vocals conjuring David Sylvian.

Distinctive voice. Distinctive stage moves. Duncan Wallis is a natural front-man. He’s captivating to watch as he uses the medium of dance to interpret the songs, moving like a body-popping Kung-Fu Ian Curtis with a dash of Jarvis Cocker thrown in.

As well as vocal and dancing duties, Wallis also has piano and marimba duties to execute, all of which he seems to do at the same time. This is impressively demonstrated during ‘Threads’, from Out of Touch in the Wild, which sees Wallis not only sing and dance but along with Pete Broadhead perform an impressively fast marimba duet.

Unfortunately it does include a slight mishap as Wallis messes up what, to an untrained eye, seems a relatively straightforward piano part? “Sorry,” he says to both band and audience “but I’ve fucked up that piano part every night so far on this tour”. Although, to be fair, he’s just taken multi-tasking to a brand new level. The only other mistake tonight involves Prog Pete, who plays one extra single note on the marimba – a fact that would have gone unnoticed by most had it not been for Wallis gleefully pointing it out. Harsh.

Set closer is ‘Big Balloon’ – the title track from the new album, and it’s well received. But ‘Flexxin’, played in the encore and probably the Dutch Uncles’ most popular track, is the biggest hit of the night and something of a treat for birthday boy Henry Broadhead. Having reached the dangerous age of 27 he is allowed make any sound he likes on his Casio calculator as way of an intro into it.

The final song of the main set is ‘Dressage’ – a more guitar driven number than most, it’s the Prog Rock experience in a three minute pop song.

I’ll be honest, it took me a while to come around to the Dutch Uncles on record and I was never sure how well their material would work when played live. The dictionary definition of a Dutch Uncle is: ‘someone who issues frank, harsh or severe comments & criticism to educate, encourage or admonish’.

After tonight’s performance I feel both admonished for doubting Dutch Uncles as a live act, and educated in just how vital it is to see bands playing live to fully appreciate them.

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For more on Dutch Uncles, visit www.dutchuncles.co.uk

For more from the Hare & Hounds, including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk

For more from This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk

March 11, 2017

BREVIEW: Tom Harrison & Cleveland Watkiss present ‘Ellington’ @ The Red Lion UAB 03.03.17

Words by Anna Whittaker / Pics courtesy of Tom Harrison & Cleveland Watkiss

Jazzlines at The Red Lion in the Jewellery Quarter; it becomes clear this is a place for the jazz regulars of Birmingham. I arrive bang on time to find nearly every seat taken, and myself to fit somewhere in between the hipsters and middle-aged aficionados.

(My last jazz gig was in a tiny standing room only dive in Copenhagen. Before that it was the complete opposite, Maria Schneider orchestra at Symphony hall, massive, seated, multiple instruments – and that’s just per musician. A real queen bee set-up).

Tonight is the first night of the Tom Harrison and Cleveland Watkiss‘ tour, their ‘Ellington Project’. My plus one and I thought it would be a quintet but there is no pianist. No matter, as Cleveland Watkiss can do things with his mouth that go so far beyond beat boxing; he’s practically a walking orchestra and vocalist wrapped up in one – that explains the awards.

If you’re not an ardent jazz fan you may find this weird to the point of funny, but if you love jazz you will stare at Watkiss in disbelief as he takes scat singing to a whole new level, then slides back effortlessly into vocals blending easily with Tom Harrison‘s twirls on his faded alto sax. Harrison might look straight out of school, with the addition of stubble, belt, and braces, but clearly has the lung capacity of a blue whale and makes the thing sing.

With the accompanying drums and double bass, Harrison and Watkiss’s ‘Ellington Project’ is a showcase of some fantastic pieces from the Duke himself. Tonight kicks off with ‘Take the ‘A’ Train’, with accompanying train brakes sounds from Watkiss. Percy Pursglove and David Lyttle are the double bass and drums, respectively.

Continuing the legends of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, next up was ‘My Little Brown Book’ by Strayhorn. The piece finely illustrates how Tom Harrison has put a great collection of musicians together for this project and is proper familiar improv jazz (if improv can be familiar) around the theme of well known and lesser known jazz classics.

Yes, we’re admiring the skill, yes, we’re tapping our feet and fingers, and then just as we think we know how this is going to go, the musicians do something more experimental on the drums or Cleveland Watkiss kicks into the bass solo with whatever instrument he is feeling right then. This project is not to simply play covers, but their own interpretation of historical jazz foundations, as Harrison echoes and ping pongs with Watkiss‘ vocals.

Song three is a bit more up tempo (you could dance to this, if there was room, or a dance floor) moving smoothly into swing from more mellow jazz, with similar adaptability to that shown by Ellington throughout his 50yr career. At this stage we’re treated to a bit of audience participation, led confidently by Tom Harrison‘s Mum and a team of the regulars. We are graciously given a few chances to get it right but “basically it needed sorting out”, as Cleveland Watkiss tells us. Both effort and laughter ensue and we almost get it, until the complicated bits where we all remember why this is not our day job.

As the set continues we find ourselves holding our breath and wondering when Tom Harrison will breathe, as the bass and the venue hots up. Tonight’s gig is, after all, upstairs in an old pub and looks like a larger version of your great auntie’s lounge without the lingering smell of cigs. Were this venue bigger you could argue out a bit of a wooden dance floor and a regular to take you round swing-style in his brogues.

Next up ‘Things Ain’t What They Used To Be’ (written by Duke Ellington’s son Mercer) and what Tom Harrison says rings true, “the more well known it is the more creative you have to be”. Duet vocals and sax turns to trio with the trumpet and soft brush additions with Lyttle on the cymbals. Cleveland Watkiss takes over as the double bass (with his mouth of course) so Percy Pursglove can get his hands on the trumpet, but I imagine they could also do vice versa. So what we have now is basically four blokes playing, or sounding like, about eight instruments.

I think whatever set up Tom Harrison put together would be good, but this ensemble bring that bit more experimentation and fun to your usual dive pub jazz gig (no offence to The Red Lion – I love a proper traditional dive pub).

Then ‘A Flower is a Lovesome Thing’ gives a nice bonus beyond Harrison‘s latest album – Unfolding in Tempo, should you wish to part with your tenner (I did. I’m listening to it now on my plus one’s surprisingly good sound system, with a rather nice Tempranillo. And yes, it’s worth it).

David Lyttle makes his cymbals sing like a harmonic on the violin (I checked this later and Lyttle agreed a harmonic is the closest description) or a piccolo’s highest note, bringing another orchestral section to this version of a classic – leaving Watkiss to sing the melody with moody echoes from Harrison to compliment. “An acquired taste”, says my plus one. Jazz in general or this particular interpretation? Jazz apparently, but by the end of the first set he concedes “they are rather good”.

Set two, after we refurbish with moderate amounts of alcohol, rolls straight into ‘There May Be Trouble Ahead’ – one I like to comedy sing at any appropriate moment. Watkiss astounds us again with three sounds at once that honestly make you check if he’s using a sampler. You can’t do that naturally… yep, he is, it’s on the mic stand.

Moving to the slightly less well known with ‘Upper Manhattan Medical Group’, another Billy Strayhorn which to me epitomises the sound of New York streets. On the aside, I doubt there will be many who haven’t heard of Duke Ellington, but Billy Strayhorn..? His long term (and apparently unpaid) collaborator maybe less so, but Strayhorn is the composer of many of these great tracks and tonight’s ensemble delivers them with a whole bunch of tricks.

Duke Ellington’s ‘Solitude’ follows and possibly draws a tear from some of the audience – I’m not admitting to anything. Tom Harrison displays considerable humility given his palpable talent and hands over to David Lyttle for a drum led, ‘The Intimacy of The Blues’. Harrison plays mini tambourine that looks like your mother’s old icing sugar sieve, then back on the sax, as joint vocals and sax in unison carry the main melody.

My plus one likes this, it’s a bit tidier. We get our missing pianist after all as Watkiss briefly takes to the keys, which may be the only instrument he can’t impersonate. Then there’s a flourish of a double bass finish from Percy Pursglove, whose calluses must be large enough to have their own names.

If you want traditional jazz in the style it has been played in for decades, the ‘Ellington Project’ may not be for you. But if you’re happy to let your imagination run loose then Harrison, Watkiss, Lyttle and Pursglove will transform classics – perhaps in a way you’d only find in a little room, in a proper pub, featuring your great auntie’s carpet. And for afters… silk sheets style sax and double bass encore. Serious but friendly, and enough fun to make you smile whether you’re a scat singing newbie or an old jazz hand.

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For more on Tom Harrison, visit www.tomhrriosonsax.com

For more from Cleveland Watkiss, visit www.clevelandwatkiss.net

For more from Jazzlines, including a full event programme and online ticket sales, visit www.thsh.co.uk/whats-on/org/jazzlines

For more from The Red Lion UAB, visit www.theredlionbirmingham.com