overlap

A certain lack of engagement in sweating my utmost for the company (that still can't decide whether to continue my employment or not, despite the very imminent deadline for a decision) means my conscience is pretty clear as I leave the office after less than a half a working day. Having not been to a gig in London for months, it's something of a refreshing reversion to normality to be on the motorway for half the afternoon, listening to England's first innings in the deciding Ashes Test as the wickets tumble. And a lesser experience that I couldn't face becoming a normality as I'm gradually working my way through the London traffic. 'Hold your nerve and hold your line' appears to be about the best approach, and is a decent line on the approach I'm taking in the face of my employer's unintentional brinksmanship. For a change, and yet not much of a change, I'm pleased to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in a few months, including someone who's taking my spare ticket off my hands. The cash for the spare ticket is quickly exchanged for the Shared album, and it's straight inside to watch one of the artists on it, Timothy Parkes. When I saw him last, I found myself mildly uncertain what to make of him but he's obviously got his own style and the acoustic guitar on his track Looks Like Rain sounds not unlike Fixer or something else by Vent414, so that's always going to be a bonus. Can't say I'm going to rush to travel for hours to see him on his own, but he's another to file under the category of support acts I intend to catch and keep an eye on. This many years on, anything I have to say about the experience of The Wonder Stuff live on stage is hardly objective, and likely to be more about the peripheral aspects of the gig-going experience. Nevertheless it's a solid show in a tiny venue, and with either the live sound mix or my position relative to the speakers making Mark McCarthy's bass sound more like a Ned's Atomic Dustbin style lead instrument than just some background thudding. The recent reinventions of both 'Mother And I' and 'The Animals And Me' sound splendid, and it's a pretty damn good gig that finishes only just after the 11pm curfew. Despite a brief tour of Mortlake as I miss a turning somewhere, the clear motorway sees me home before 2.15, which is also a welcome change. Apart from when I was slowed down by a burst of very heavy rain, this was one of those drives when I almost wish I had a CD player in the car, all the better to listen to the Shared album. The tracks by Wayne Hussey featured at the Shared show in Jaunary, so there's little new there, Timothy Parkes I've already mentioned, and the three new songs by Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls are up to their normal high standard, and unsurprisingly would easily have fitted on the Catching More Than We Miss album. Dirty Ray is someone I'm not about to rush out in search of as the Tom Waits growl thing leaves me totally cold but you know, Waits has had a good enough career to manage without me and Dirty Ray shouldn't lose any sleep over my taste either. Which leaves the two new artists that impress me most on this album - Matthew Derrick's three tracks sound remarkably like early solo Miles Hunt, and could easily be outtakes from Hairy On The Inside. Better keep my eyes peeled for his name appearing in local listings, as I really want to hear more. Rob Dunsford's 'Millionaire' sounds inordinately like Liam Dullaghan's band The Have-Nots in the bittersweet blend of male and female vocals, but it's the slightly fuller sound of 'Dashboard Therapy', helped immensely by the accordion, which really catches my attention. There's someone else in there who he reminds me of a little, it may well be Rob from The Voluntary Butler Scheme, but that'll come to me in time. It's not as if I won't be listening to these tracks again, as a quick look at last.fm will tell you! So for two brand new artists I'd never encountered before, Shared (the album) represents excellent value. Cheers, Milo! * is a line from Rob Dunsford's magnificent 'Dashboard Therapy'. Setlist ------- Red Berry Joy Town A Wish Away It's Yer Money Here Comes Everyone On The Ropes Caught In My Shadow Circlesquare Mission Drive Size Of A Cow Donation Golden Green Animals And Me Don't Let Me Down, Gently Radio Ass Kiss Give Unbearable Ten Trenches --- Cartoon Boyfriend Mother And I Ruby Horse Poison

Labels: gigs, Matthew Derrick, Rob Dunsford, Shared, The Wonder Stuff

And after a short break... I've had a vague but growing feeling something was missing over the last month or so, and so I've just checked. There's only a couple of times in the last five years I've gone more than forty days between gigs, which answers that question! Despite discovering yet another new variant of how to make a mess of finding my way into Brum, I ended up parked with time to spare. There's a good reason why I try to build room for manoeuvre into my travelling plans! The recently re-opened after refurbishment Town Hall is a magnificent building, and a far cry from the sticky beer floored venue across town I was in last time. This is a great example of how local authorities can do venues well, and for future reference it's definitely a big handbag venue for grown-ups rather than a minuscule clubbing purse venue for teenagers, which has its own obvious attractions. In a change from common practice, this was a one-off (for now) event where instead of a support act and a headliner, the idea was to showcase a number of people whose songwriting has influenced the headliner, and a chance to introduce some fans to some other artists who they might be less familiar with. * Katell Keineg (sounds like cuh-TELL cuh-NEGG) opened the evening. I hadn't checked her out on myspace beforehand, partly because I quite like the idea of complete newness, and partly because I am idle. Over the course of a twenty minute set, her nerves settled and she went down very well. Female singer-songwriters, especially of the acoustic kind, are always going to suffer from comparison with Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian et al. Katell reminds me more of the latter, with a hint of what Carina Round could do with a bit more songwriting discipline and a bit less catharsis-screaming. * Roddy Frame shouldn't need much introduction beyond the two words 'Aztec Camera', but his solo stuff is also excellent. I hadn't seen Roddy for a couple of years, but it's great to be reminded of what a stunningly gifted guitar player he is, and I really should make plans to see him again. Setlist(ish): Small World/Black Lucia/Bigger Brighter Better/How Men Are/Down The Dip/Oblivious/Birth Of The True/Reason For Living After a short break, the audience settled into their seats again for the next act. One of the interesting things about this sort of multi-performer show is the variation among the crowd of who is there to see one act in particular, and this was especially apparent if mildly suprising in view of the varied age groups. * for many people Nick Heyward is inseparable from his Haircut100 days as the face of magazine covers, but that was quite some time ago. In recent times, the Now And Then tour has kept him on stages around the country, which sort of explains how people half my age may have encountered him if they've been dragged along by their parents to see Bananarama and Curiosity! He noted that that sort of exposure has its drawbacks, explaining how much he was enjoying playing a few select pieces of new material rather than the N&T hits medley. All the same it takes a certain boldness to do Love Plus One in acoustic guitar and vocal format though I'm sure I'm not the only one who could hear the sax line in their head anyway. Fantastic Day closes, with the help of someone from the crowd that he knows from myspace, and her friend who was delighted to get on stage with a hero, and help him with the odd forgotten line or two! Great fun. * If you'd asked me beforehand, I'd have said I'm really not sure I know anything by The Mission, and certainly have never seen (and have nothing by) either them or the Sisters Of Mercy, which is what Wayne Hussey is probably most famous for. So it's a minor surprise when we start with Wasteland, which I recognise as familiar, and then move into Severina, a song I'm certain I haven't heard in twenty years but which nevertheless dislodges long-dormant memory cells of it being on the telly, presumably on The Tube, though I could be wrong. We also get a cover of Ashes To Ashes, Butterfly On A Wheel and Erica Nockalls joining him on stage to add some fiddle. Then Miles joins the pair of them for a final romp through Tower Of Strength, which rather sounds like Vent414-go-goth. Unlike a certain saving the world type with a mate whose hat is permanently glued to his head, Wayne even makes wearing shades indoors look cool. Nice one. * With the new album Catching More Than We Miss on sale tonight in advance of its proper release in a month or so, Miles and Erica give us the first live sighting of a handful of new tracks, some in collaboration with Erica's Nemesis String Quartet, a quick run through Mission Drive for fans of The Mission, er, no, for fans of The Wonder Stuff, and close with Amongst The Old Reliables which sounds a bit more delicate with strings. As an intro for fans of some but not all of these acts, this was a great opportunity to check out some other people they might not immediately have thought they'd like, and makes a refreshing change. Excellent idea, Miles! Miles & Erica's setlist: D.W.I./Corny But True/Back On The Charm Offensive/The Rogue's Biography/The Test/Fill Her Up And Foot Down/Everything Is Not Okay/Mission Drive/Amongst The Old Reliables

Labels: Erica Nockalls, gigs, Katell Keineg, Miles Hunt, Nick Heyward, Roddy Frame, Shared, Wayne Hussey