Monday, July 30, 2012

One Man (And Woman) Show


Making an effort to get to the gig on the basis of a single song can be a gamble. Sometimes though there is good reason to be thankful for where you live, as a local gig reduces the gamble element, and sometimes it’s just one song but with a brief interview that makes it clear it’s a gamble you can’t afford not to take. This is definitely the latter.

Support act the Only Poets are already on when I get in. One electric guitar and one acoustic, sometimes one vocal and sometimes two. When it’s two voices is when it works best for my liking and for a first gig it’s a decent start.

In the remaining limited standing room only, the room fills a tiny bit fuller, the temperature goes up another couple of degrees and in the humidity of the massing crowd, guitar strings start to go out of tune. There’s a degree of anticipation in the high summer air and I’m sure I’m not the only one brought to the gig entirely due to having heard that one song being played by Radcliffe and Maconie on 6music.

Paul Zervas is James Taylor from the Mud Slide Slim album cover circa 1971, before JT started needing a hat. Kathryn Pepper is Stevie Nicks by way of Emma Atkins, long before Stevie got into the heavy self-medication. Paul sounds like the Neil Young of Pocahontas charming his way out of a fistfight with Gram Parsons. Kathryn has the warmer, fuller voice of Natalie Merchant or Trisha Yearwood taking on Emmylou Harris and just coming out on top. I've been trying to put my finger on who she most sounds like and it could be Rindy Ross. In any case, the important thing is it's a sound I really like.

Z&P start off with a couple of tunes sung to the accompaniment of Paul’s guitar, then the stage fills with five more musicians and the sound level goes up several notches, sitting somewhere in between the driving rhythms of Jackson Browne and the summery rock of The Eagles. There's ample space for a bit of slide guitar, and the electric guitar solo that fills that space comes in perfectly for six or eight bars and leaves, never over-staying its welcome.

I could keep mentioning more influences for the next half hour but for all the influences are plain to see, it would still be difficult to call it derivative.  The he sings\she sings\they sing variations keep everything moving along nicely, the repeating short loop of film projected on the screen behind them reminds the crowd, as if there should be the remotest doubt, of Z&P’s love for West Coast Americana harmony vocal folk-rock and there’s a gentle tingle of special in the air.

At times Paul looks surprised to see that many people turn out but never overwhelmed by the crowd. The dynamic between the couple is one of obvious mutual trust, something that doesn’t happen overnight, and their faith in the other musicians around them looks well placed – again for a first gig in a full band format it’s a hugely promising start.

For an hour or so, the impending rain outside and the too many signs advertising those big sporting events, you know the ones, all disappear and we are on a beach in California or we are on a road trip out into Joshua Tree (nothing to do with tax-avoiding, perma-hatted, er, that lot). Or as in the encore that follows the preview showing of the new video, we are coming into Los Angeles, bringing in a couple of keys. But never off-key.

Why should you listen to Zervas and Pepper? I've got the album and the purple ep on heavy rotation right now, but you can just give this fresh new video a go and see for yourself.

Labels: ,


_