Rodney Branigan + Eastroad + Band From County Hell + Lily Gaskell |
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| @ Duke of Wellington
12 March 2010
Photos & Review by Pete |
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Thanks to Lincoln Bands for organizing this one. Upstairs at The Duke is looking pretty run down these
First up and understandably showing a few nerves during the first song was Gutshot band member Lily Gaskell giving us an acoustic solo set. Kinda weird to see some left handed guitar playing (got to add that while limited in technique this was sufficient to provide the backing to show what she could do vocally). There was some edgy slow build going on through the first number and oddly that suggestion of self-doubt gave the delivery a bit of quirkiness as she struggled a little to hit her stride. I
The Band From County Hell were hurried and lively and brought some early St Patrick's Day cheer. Their bassist had bagged himself a mandolin from somewhere earlier in the day and decided to ditch his usual
Eastroad are a threesome of super-nice guys rockin' out. In short, lite vocals, quality playing - especially that churning, grinding bass - they are kinda admirable in their determination but nothing special, lacking in something but not Glasto invites - they're invited back to play once again this year. What failures. Maybe it's their basic decent human qualities that hold them back, dunno but being that nice doesn't seem to be conducive to giving them the cutting edge they sorely need in my non-festival oriented opinion. The clothes were nicely torn and their fans were extra super nice. .
Rodney Branigan a Texan re-located to London is MASSIVE in India (I'm reliably informed). He has one helluva party trick which had me salivating at the prospect of this gig in much the same way as if I'd been a Victorian geezer looking forward to heading down Hackney Marshes on a Saturday evening to see the Elephant Man by gaslight for the dubious benefit of some elucidation on the more unlikely wonders of the universe. For Rodney Branigan is adept at playing two guitars SIMULTANEOUSLY. And with a lot of
Some more photos at www.shinephoto.plus.com website.
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days and with only a couple of dozen making it along tonight there was no place for all that grim shabbiness to hide. And it was cold. Maybe that cheerlessness and the poor turnout gave the performers little to get excited about. It's a big ask for anybody to get worked up about playing these kind of nights. Good sound helped bring some respectability to proceedings so all was not lost.
was actually really liking the moments of vulnerability, that fragility punctuating the forcefulness that was starting to break through. It takes nerve to get up there and open the night and she did real good. Too many covers, though, especially for someone with such a clearly interesting personality - and even though Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance' was confident it was maybe a bit too respectful. As she went along Lily's voice got more rousing, louder - and, for me, less interesting. But oh yeah there's enough to suggest plenty of potential here, deffo.
instrument in favour of it - now that's musical talent, even though it took two or three songs before he could fully pitch in to support the bashing six string guitar work and lush electric violin alongside. With later added support from an audience member invited to play 'the boot' it was a warm vibe all through. Lead singer, Jock McLelland, with a lean, sorrowful face delivered with plenty of soul, a precious thing and could could fire things up when needed, too.
vivacity. That combination practically equals Rodney Branigan has two heads. He indeed gave us a couple of numbers with a couple of acoustics piled on him like he was holding a chest of drawers and while also stamping along with a tambourine under his foot. So, he dutifully made us marvel then dispensed with one (and practically both) and for most of the rest of his set played it regular, with just the one, like a regular mortal. I got the feeling he was deeply wary of being regarded as a one trick pony singer. Shame but understandable. And it was fine and sometimes marvellous - particularly when he let fly with tenderness, both on the fretboard and in his voice. Some of the sounds he made I'd never heard from a guitar before and it was a lesson in what is possible. He also did the percussive thing that is quite cool. Why local guitar wonder Elliott Morris was not here for this one I do now know, they would have had a fair bit to chat about after. The way Rodney can conjure new sounds from both strings and vocal chords was constantly surprising. The big foible in Rodney's make up is the ambivalence he seems to have for his gift with the guitar - spending long periods preferring to tell us slightly funny but very, very long rude jokes and just rambling a bit too long. I like a singer to have issues, it's often their main resource - and Rodney has some he's working with but I did wonder if he really just has had enough of making music for now and needs to take a long break or simply work on becoming a stand up comedian instead, who finishes his routine with his guitar thing to blow everyone away. Moments of genius, crumbling into nonsense. His Radiohead 'Creep' cover gave the game away, no-one sings those lyrics like that who isn't fairly significantly fucked up. I think I like him.This page was last updated Monday, 15 March 2010
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