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!

Pink Peg Slax Halloween Rockabilly Party, Thursday 31st October

The Montpellier area’s illumination is quite something! The vibrant café bar and restaurant culture, all tactfully lit, perhaps to entice the more discerning punter, is very attractive indeed. Slap bang in the middle of all this stands the Harrogate Blues Bar. Its large glass frontage highlighting a warm inviting interior is a temptation to all who pass which is aided and abetted by the venues stage being part of the front window. Pink Peg Slax, John Peel faves and NME music press darlings are touting a ‘best of’ album, “Rock-a-beery-boogie”, which makes for a highly-charged Halloween party night, at which the finest Rockabilly this side of the Atlantic was to be played. The three piece line up, Vince Berkeley, Abner Cavanagh and Jonny Hick were hell-bent on raising the spirits of rock ‘n roll. Presley, Vincent and Cochran were in the house!

Opening with the driving ‘Mud On My Clothes’ with its refrain, ‘Head Like a Mule’, it quickly became apparent many of the Slax’s self-penned songs are a paragon to strong lager, lost nights and the strange places and conditions one can end up in! ‘Excuses (at a dollar a throw)’ tells of an agency that, for a fee, can supply an alibi for any misdemeanour, should we require one. ‘The Tale of Scarred Love’, is the story of Chet, the original bass-player, who was involved in a love-triangle that ended in tears. Berkeley, lead vocalist envisages pure-Elvis, mixed with Sinatra swagger and the smooth croon of Bing Crosby. There’s maybe a little Monty Python thrown in too! The Blues Bar crowd totally get it and as the band ramp up the tunes, this place is really rockin!

Jonny Hick on double bass weighs in with a couple of tunes with a real jump-blues feel to his playing, complimented by his dead-pan vocal style, which makes for a brilliant rendition of Don Woody’s ‘Barking up the wrong tree’. This has the crowd barking along with them!

The two-set format allowed much half-time refreshment for the now-packed blues bar; I nearly found myself on stage with the band! People were dancing, and the band fed off the atmosphere, playing a rendition of their first single, ‘Dripping (My Love For You)’, followed by ‘Eat More Meat’, Berkeley’s lyrical riposte to the Morrissey ‘Meat is Murder’ era of the 1980s, backed by Abner Cavanagh’s hilarious backing vocals. Classic stuff!

Halloween night hasn’t felt this good for some time! The zombies, witches and vampires staggered from the blues bar, and barked and howled into the night! It was ‘job done’ by the Pink Peg Slax. I believe it was their first time playing Harrogate. It certainly won’t be their last!

Release the Hounds (Poetry & Performance Festival) 13th Sept. – 15th Sept.

Knaresborough’s first poetry and performance festival. Just think about that for a moment. Stephanie Jones, the creator of Release the Hounds, brought the cream of stand-up poetry and innovative theatre to town thus allowing its audience to experience an eclectic mix of ‘big city’ culture.

The three-night run at the Frazer Theatre (Knaresborough’s best venue, in my opinion) featured five acts, all of which perform to sell-out crowds nationwide. With them, they brought a whole world of new possibilities that allowed a keen and eager local audience to go through their own poetic epiphany.

The first night saw Byron Vincent (the ‘other Byron’, as he was known on the estate he grew up in) tell a couple of short poetic wonders; haikus. The night then became a roller-coaster of his life; funny, sad, harrowing; stories of bi-polar, being sectioned and a run-down of his medication’s side-effects (one of which included death!).

Byron Vincent 

The night continued with Molly Naylor. Her understated beginning lured the audience into a false state of security; a nice, safe and cosy environment. Suddenly, Naylor dropped a rucksack at the front of the stage, there was an audible intake of breath as, through the power of description, we were transported to a 7/7 bomb-blast, we were choking in the smoke and dust, trapped in a train filled with screams and nightmares. Then, we experienced the slow, meandering journey back to ordinary life (if there is such a thing). Naylor’s performance was both powerful and gripping.

Molly Naylor

The second night saw Tim Clare, a ball of nervous energy, read verse after verse of hilarity. Clare finished off with a split-personality rap, featuring himself and his psychiatrist, who explained on the downbeat how to get the desired hip-hop feel. Tim Clare can be proud; the hip-hop revolution has finally reached Knaresborough!

Tim Clare

The final act of the night was Luke Wright, who appeared to be something of a poster-boy; a jack-the-lad TOWIE-persona and genuine Essex-boy. Immediately, he went into swooning loops of poetic prose that consisted of such power and complexity, leading the audience into new territory. Wright’s in-between observations and stories produced howls of laughter and mirth from the audience (especially one involving a lion in his hometown!). It was incredible how Wright’s poetry (and the man himself) metamorphosed mid-performance into a completely different whaling character – scary, but exhilarating. The set finished with spoken song; Wright’s tribute to ‘lost boozers’ (his words!) and the life and community that disappears when they inevitably shut down.

Luke Wright

Sunday night, the final evening of the festival, saw the audience split. ‘Bang Said the Can’ played ‘The Hart Bar’ in town, while ‘Third Angel’played at the Frazer Theatre. Alas, I wished I could be in two places at once! I chose to see Third Angel, and as I waited for the act to begin, I noticed a long row of red chairs on the stage. Then, a man walked on stage and removed his sock. He bizarrely started to discuss his athlete’s foot – a very unusual way to begin a performance! A very intimate hour ensued; Third Angel cracked open a bottle of Blacksheep Beer and recollected his tales of obsession, lost love, what-men-do, not wanting love, overbearing mothers and violence; all accompanied by Third Angel moving the red chairs around in a very OCD way.

Third Angel

As Third Angel began with the bizarre, it only seemed right that they end with the bizarre. My expectations were met; the final act consisted of Third Angel telling a description of how to remove the human brain (for autopsy). The clinical, skin-crawling description was told in a matter-of-factly way that made me think “Wow! This could happen to anyone!”

The addition of the other high-quality acts brought to Knaresborough (Emergency Poet, Replete (Graffiti Artist), Henry Raby) made for a fine mix of poetry that can be enjoyed by anyone. Stephanie Jones’ three-year-plan should be embraced – positive change is a rare thing! Release the Hounds was a first-class mix of the incredible, the gripping and the bizarre that left me hungry for more. See you there next year!

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