Matt Goldberg Solo Album Review!

Matt Goldberg- Rip it Up

If over the last couple of years you’ve frequented Harrogate’s more salubrious music  venues you will have come across the mighty skanking sound that is The Matt Goldberg Band!

                                          Rip It Up is the  Matt Goldberg debut solo  album recorded and produced by Dan Mizen at Active Studios Harrogate.

                                           This album is no less skanking than the MG Band it’s subtlety is a stripped back to basics sound that accentuates its core roots!  A  collection of thirteen brand new self-penned songs featuring a microphone, Matt on lead & backing vocals all accompanied by his trusty telecastelele!

                                            Goldbergs unique catchy phonetic scat and trademark kitchen sink humour are prevalent throughout  and impossible to ignore,  his considered Caribbean lilt and Marley-esque renditions give off real warmth and a feeling everything really is going to be alright!

                                          There’s a new found fluidity here with Goldberg stepping into his new guise of reggae troubadour and we the audience are very much required to listen carefully, titles such as Commonsense extoll on how we all make the rules so we can break them, Matt revels on Positivity and the fact it’s “lifting me” and on Live Life the affirmation to one and all “pretty little ting live life, you’ll never know until you try it”!

                                          Rip It Up is very much geared up on sunshine , laughter , and living a life you don’t plan it is a highly accomplished and enjoyable work from an artist who deserves to get far more recognition!

                                         Matt Goldberg can be found on Facebook or if you’re lucky at a venue near you and ting!

The Hailbails-Blues Bar -Harrogate-8th March 2015

 

Rockin the Blues!

The 3pm Blues Bar matinee spot seems to becoming a regular haunt for some top quality bands who are currently growing in stature on a very much resurgent rock’n’roll scene! The Leeds band Hailbails are very much on the up and out touring their new seven inch vinyl single imaginatively called HB,EP#1 and out on Ginhouse Records, todays Sunday feeling is definitely rocking!

The three piece band feature the lead guitar/vocals of Michael Rossiter, stand-up double-bass/vocals David Broad and on drums Bruce Renshaw , the boys  in their fifties Sunday best and look good, the right side of dapper!

Hailbails pick up the pace!

The Hailbails play two sets and from the off the pack a real punch ,tracks from their aforementioned EP coupled with some nice covers of some classic Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly tunes get the Blues bar crowd feet a -tapping!

If you only see one band all year!

Outside may have been enjoying the crisp spring sunshine, the Hailbails second set sees them now playing to a noticeably larger crowd.  The Blues is red hot as the band go through the  gears the full power of the rock’n’roll spectrum is released the whole place is by now seriously rocking, sporadic bopping breaks out, it’s impossible to resist the beat, every tune is greeted by howls of delight, the band put on a serious rockabilly tear up , they really were that good!  There’s no such thing as a lazy Sunday afternoon for the Hailbails you too should make the effort! See you there next time!

The Hailbails! Job Done Chaps!

Porkies Prime Cut V - love & Loathing Valentine Night 14th February 2015

Porkies  Prime Cuts V - Love & Loathing Valentine Night-14^th February 2015

They say all the best ideas are simple! DJ Trev and 10 Devonshire Place Harrogate have hit on a real winner here! Porkies Prime cuts features guest DJ’s who get 25 minutes in which they can play anything as long as it’s on vinyl! Ten Devonshire supply the in-house turntables and of course the sound, the eclectic range of DJ’s some experienced, others making their debut performance  it’s this juxtaposition that adds to the evening’s entertainment!  A quick run through of basic instruction, your announced to the packed venue by Andi Aikman tonight’s stand –in DJ Trev! and your off! The odd mistake and wrong speed are all part of the fun but the real winner is the music, the range from the   guest DJ’s is astonishing! I’ve rarely been to a place where it’s patrons are so open minded to a night of  top quality music, forget genres, people were dancing, discussing a songs merits, feet were tapping, spontaneous sing-alongs broke out, sometimes a look of deep concentration appeared on the audiences faces as they tried to work out what it was they were experiencing! The enthusiasm continued up to midnight and thanks to Ten Devonshire’s inspired guest ales and fine selection of romanticised pork pies the love just kept coming! The next Porkies Prime Cut night is February 26^th and if you’ve got some vinyl languishing in your attic or cellar and you think the people need to hear it, you could do worse than contact DJ Trev and be part of something really special! Sometimes people need to expect the unexpected, proof positive as tonight was a real triumph! A truly crackling night!

                                

Release The Hounds Spoken Word /Poetry festival 2014

                         

                                                Release The Hounds Knaresborough

The Hounds are watching!

Release the Hounds Knaresborough is into its second year and the 3 day event is growing! Last years “in at the deep end” strategy for organiser Stef Jones certainly looks to have paid dividends, a great venue mix of pub, theatre , gallery and market place created a sense of adventure for the audiences, some of whom  may have been frequenting  some of these spaces for the first time!

SpokenWord/Poetry is very much alive around the UK, this year’s stellar line up of new and contemporary acts is proof positive, the very best were in Knaresborough to inspire and offer an alternative to life’s so called certainties!

Most curious local people will have seen The Emergency Poet doling out poetic prescriptions in the Market place and John Pearsons ‘Inspired Art’ producing a canine masterpiece! If they were to have looked up they would have seen last years ‘Replete Hound’ standing guard on the old town hall balcony!

Friday night at The Mitre!  Ross Sutherland fresh from a triumphant run at the Edinburgh Fringe is playing to a packed and expectant crowd in the cellar bar! Ross starts off announcing the chilli’s ready and he’ll be back in an hour! It’s a nice touch and it’s true, during the meal new friendships are formed, no one is quite sure what to expect and it’s a particularly well fed audience that greets Ross on stage, now that the food’s out of the way  Ross starts with a film quiz, the clues were generated by computer program film finder and while seemingly producing random words it would  eventually  lead to a movie title, such as ‘Hall’ ‘Mirrors’ ‘Detachable-Hand’ which of course naturally led us to ‘Enter The Dragon’ , the audience were very enthusiastic as prizes were on offer,  a CD for every correct answer. Ross explained how after making his recording he’d enthusiastically ordered 2000 copies most of which were stuck under his bed,  he may have got rid of another half dozen tonight. The audience were tested tonight! Ross’s level of dedication to producing his work is staggering it comprises of computer generated pieces, cut up verse  and his use of modern tech even the dictionary and it  produces quite amazing work and with often hilarious results simply put Ross brought the house down leaving a happy crowd who didn’t want to go home.

The Fraser theatre studio is a new venue, an enclosed intimate space and with a pay what you think it’s worth policy after the show! When entering we were confronted with a long white trestle table surrounded by chairs, white cardboard model houses and paper snowflakes were scattered upon the table surface. This was the first of two shows and It was full, Matthew Bellwood stood and thanked us for coming and said “I’m a storyteller”, the story ‘An Icy Man’  I can’t remember when someone actually last told me a story ,Matthew’s clever manoeuvring of on table models and figures and accompanying props brought the story to life and as we went deeper into the tale It got colder and everyone in that room was there in that icy landscape, Matthew had us spellbound for over an hour and at it’s conclusion the audience let out loud gasps and for some their journey back to reality was greeted with real emotion, very moving indeed this ancient form of spoken word was powerful stuff!

Katie Bonna appeared at the Art in the Mill gallery it’s top room is flooded with light and we are surrounded by beautiful ceramics and interesting paintings and there is another full house. I had to concentrate on Katie’s set simply because of the sheer amount of information she imparted, sometimes I wasn’t sure whether she was performing or talking at times she looked like she had singled out a particular person in the crowd, they in turn were nodding not too sure either!  Tales of her underage drinking were hilarious especially as she provided four different accounts of the same story, her relationships and her missing father were laid bare seemingly with an underlying sadness but all said with a winning smile. Her final piece was a reflection of a pupil at a school workshop who’d cried when hearing a Katie poem, a work that had to be dropped because there was official concern of a poem being able to open up someone’s emotions, sort of the point really! I found her set a bit of a rollercoaster but very moving and there was that smile again!

The final Release the hounds festival act Luke Wright is at The Hart and it’s packed, the guy has real pedigree, TV and Radio appearances, host and programmer of the poetry arena at the Latitude festival ,founder of the poetry collective Aisle16 and tonight appearing as his alter ego the ‘Fat Dandy’! Luke seems quite taken that he’s performing in a sports bar, he ventures to the crowd that it may be the first time that someone walking into this venues gents would has seen a fop putting on his makeup. Luke is actually looking trim he says the realization of putting things off has finally led to the loosing of the paunch, however a strange side effect of the weight loss is his baby-face at 32 years old he’s become king baby and says small children recognise  and gravitate towards him as their natural leader. Luke’s poetry is very topical and easy to understand as he recites his verse it like there’s a dozen people performing all at once everything is from memory characters appear and vanish within the blink of an eye, it’s truly hypnotising  often hilarious even scary! The only respite not that anyone wants any are when he’s priming us for his next work, It’s a brave man who talks politics this loudly in a sports bar Luke is fearless his poetic take on the thorny subject of Scottish Independence with the poem ‘Better Together’ was very poignant and thought provoking it had the crowd howling ! Luke ended by telling us he was going up to Scotland for the referendum he was hoping to see history made!

The years Release the hounds legacy will hopefully be more of the same next year it showed us difference is to be embraced and perhaps even showed that this is how life should be lived, next year make sure you’re in the pack!

Chris Wood - Frazer Theatre Knaresborough, Saturday 8th February 2014

The new Kula Productions offshoot ‘Frazer Theatre Music’ has pulled off a real coup in booking the magnificent Chris Wood. A major name in the music world a former Radio 2 folk award winner and now a 2014 nominee for ‘best original song ‘None the Wiser’. No one should bet on the 19^th February at the Royal Albert Hall as he won’t be first passed the post again!

Tonight touring his new album also called ‘None the Wiser’ it’s inception a direct result from a 2012 fifty date tour support and to quote the man himself “pieced together from observations and overheard conversations! Nothing is made up!”

I’m not altogether sure what Chris thinks about awards but after the briefest of introductions, guitar in hand, a quick smile, a strange guttural hum as he nears the mic almost ‘arabesque’ in its sound and straight into the 2014 nominee song. His understated guitar accompaniment draws the Frazer audience into Woods world! Another song passed and it was like he’d just realised there’s someone else in the room; “We’re alright, aren’t we?” he asks. The crowd responded with mass enthusiasm; Wood simply smiles!

His unassuming demeanour is backed with a fierce conviction. His lyrics had us all recognising life’s failings, half- truths mixed together with nuances of politics and honesty, rare in any form of entertainment these days!

There were moments of humour, such as when Chris was concerned about his guitar on his lap, he was never quite sure how pretentious it looks; various positions were adopted! Next, he played ‘My Darlings Downsized’ a song about wife, Henrietta, being able to relax more now things have taken off! A tale of life enjoying each other, togetherness at the allotment and of course ‘chitting’ (Google it) your potatoes, beautifully done!

Collaborations have resulted in Wood taking the William Blake poem ‘Jerusalem’ and reworking Hubert Parry’s music out of the equation! Finding himself on stage with Billy Bragg, something clicked; Billy belted out the lines as statements and kept turning to ‘Chrissy-Boy’ and berating him to sing up! Wood’s version was stunning, telling us he saw the words as questions with the answers being ‘no’. Not your average Saturday night party music! He also told us about working with a rap artist Dizraeli, who made him feel ancient, which resulted in the song ‘A Whole Life Lived’ the realisation that the exasperating clichés of a young man who is now at an age where he recognises his younger self and how it’s all part of growing up!

The Frazer Theatre was treated to a Maverick performer at the top of his game! Check out those folk awards; I suspect he’ll be needing bigger trophy cabinets soon! 

Matt Goldberg Band – 17th January 2014 – Christie’s Bar, Harrogate

The last time I saw Matt Goldberg he was doing an early solo support slot. He played a no-nonsense set, cracked a few jokes and later, uke-case in hand, with collar turned up; walked into the night, his walk purposeful.

Tonight at Christie’s, Matt Goldberg has a band. Now, there are seven purposeful musicians, this time looking at the expectant Christie’s crowd. Out to promote a five-song EP of self and band-penned songs, Matt Goldberg has certainly been busy! There’s a triumphant air to the group – and so they should be. The night was to be split into two sets, their own material and, I hate to say, covers of other artists. Of course, all the songs were given the MG band treatment – Reggae and ting! Featuring drums, sax, trombone, keyboards, lead guitar, all driven by the fantastic bass from the inimitable Pete Oliver. Of course, let’s not forget MG’s electric ukulele.

 An opening faux-pas as MG sang “Rat-Race” while the band was playing “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. A few bewildered looks and next Matt’s waving his arms frantically: “Start again!” not before he quipped “I’ve been living in a rat-race all week!” He recovered with a few self-inflicted slaps around the face; the Christie’s crowd moved closer.  It was not long before there was some serious skanking (Reggae dance) taking place – the MG band stepped up a gear into a more Ska Two-Tone arena. I defy anyone not to relax those tense muscles – this music just couldn’t fail to move you! I was particularly impressed when Matt said: “This is one of mine!” and proceeded to sing “Jammin”. It was during this number the band visibly gelled.

Play resumed after a couple of ‘strengtheners’ during a self-enforced interval. Set two saw that word had spread as a notably bigger audience had gathered, all very knowledgeable as to what was about to unfurl. Matt Goldberg moved into what he called “The workout” section of the gig – he was no mean mover himself! The Christie’s crowd responded in kind! The EP roster of songs came and went; there were tales of Harrogate, hilarious lyrics and alleyways. The whistling refrain of “I’m a gangster” impressed; Matt exclaimed “Whistle if you know the words!” The night ended with the MG band’s very own theme tune entitled “Reggie Brown”. A mass sing-a-long of the crowd ensued, its chorus being “Nuts! He’s hazelnuts!”  This extended version was magnificent and, quite frankly, no one wanted it to end.

On that note, the MG band has a residency at Christie’s, every third week in the month.  The choice is yours – don’t leave it too long, this band is definitely going places. 

Big Boy Bloater Solo Tour -The Basement York - Thursday 5th December 2013

York Basement! A small intimate venue tonight's  show is a suave affair, candlelit tables, ambient lighting and a stage so close you could strum a couple of chords yourself!
        This was to my knowledge Big Boy Bloaters third visit to York, twice with his band The Limits and tonight a run of nationwide solo dates, featuring a mix of original material, rock & roll and classic rhythm & blues a.k.a. Jimmy Reed, Lightening Hopkins et al. His name gives you a clue to the mans stature but it merely scratches a very large surface!

Acoustic Bloater

        The solo show's make up was interesting, I've no idea of the technicalities involved! Big Boy Bloater plays a riff clicks a button on the floor and it repeats, he then knocks a beat out across the guitar frets clicks said button and it joins the earlier riff and repeats! Bloater then cries "yeah got it" and we're off! for all intense and purposes it's a backing band, sometimes it all went a bit pear shaped Big Boy Bloaters disarming manner and sheer stage craft made for an almost seamless show, mistakes all part of the experience. To say BBB then just plays on top of everything would be an injustice the crowd (and it was a good turnout!) were almost drooling to hear those red hot guitar licks, they were not disappointed! What we were witnessing here tonight was one of the best modern day exponents of blues/funk and rock'n'roll artistes on the planet, his audience is growing, once seen you will keep on returning!
        The stage set Bloater explains is his design being solo he felt lonely up hear on stage away from home, so to keep him company he built a bar it had a slight club Tropicana theme, bamboo frontage it's top festooned with vintage era tat and what looked like a violin case, more of that later! The stage floor area was carpeted BBB explained at a prior gig the headline act had brought their own black shag-pile carpet "lovely stuff" said Bloater and after each gig hardened roadies had to vacuum it! BBB's rug was slightly less salubrious a leopard print motif! The support acts did remove their shoes during their sets any cleaning requirements would be a quick shake outside the venue after the gig!
       A semi-circle of guitars posed ready for action, most interesting was a three stringed cigar-box adorned in yet more leopard skin (fake) with bridges  made out of used bullets BBB warned the front rows near fatalities had occurred at previous gig dates, as a red hot riff had been played the fret bullets had been known to malfunction and fly into drinks,eyes and up peoples noses! Robert Johnson (must mention him) would have been proud if the devil plays an instrument it will be a cigar-box guitar! I should also mention Scott's £20 guitar. BBB explained when it's previous owner had fallen on hard times he was right there to help him out with a bargain basement offer for said instrument it's rock bottom price did have a sting in the tail as Scott now lives with them and any financial gain had been well and truly negated by this event!

Cigar-Box Guitar The Devil Has one!

        Every song had a story "Leonard Cohen" from his latest album "The World Explained" was inspired by a bout of food poisoning contracted on their first visit to York with The Limits after the whole band ate in the same sandwich bar within hours all came down with the green-apple-splatter-dacks both ends! The show must go on and  the band played on, fighting over one toilet before ,during and after the gig ,some of the band never came back! The stricken musicians return to their hotel which was hindered by falling snow and a permanently stuck on heater! BBB began to hallucinate a reflected Leonard Cohen's CD case in the tour vehicles wind screen it seemed to be staring ! A song formed in the stifling stench ridden atmosphere  and it stuck and because he survived we get to hear the result!

Big Boy Bloater Stage

Yeah! got it!

          We were invited to guess BBB's real name, maybe we shouted it, he gave no clue but of course he wrote a song about it "That Aint My Name" even after gig inquiry were no go, answers on a postcard the mystery continues!
         It's difficult to quantify just how diverse a player and songwriter he is ? A well known DJ wanted one of his album tracks , "Whammy"on 7" vinyl and stumped up the cash (Collectors Item Sold Out) for  500 to be pressed so what do yo back it with "Double Whammy" an even better track! Which just blew the York Basement crowd away! The cigar-box returned followed by the contents of the violin case it was in fact a ukulele which was used to display BBB's softer side and to highlight that fine voice the old standard "My Prayer" with a dedication to Lady Lisa Queen Bee for looking after him something went in my eye at this point honest!

Not a dry eye in the house Big Softie!

        The list of banter and sheer entertainment kept on coming! A well deserved encore the crowd roaring his return he asked "do you want one more"? Yeah we cry! "Do you want Two more"? Yeah! "Do you want ten more" Yeah the volume now hysterical! "Well please visit the BBB entertainment station who will cater for all your R/B needs" BBB a twinkle in his eye as we all fell for the joke goes straight into "Got My Mojo Working"
    However many songs Big Boy Bloater played it'll never be enough ,the mans larger than life and most people in this room, come back soon Mr Bloater we need more!