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PLAYING OUT LOUD!
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GOSPORT & FAREHAM EASTER FESTIVAL –
APRIL 9 – 12
Peter Ashton gives a general view of the festival before handing over to Martin
Sirl for more detailed reviews: The best ‘under cover’ folk festival in the
South, and as ever a feast of good music. A pleasant friendly atmosphere in
Ferneham Hall and the other venues, and a pleasure just to sit in the bar and
listen to the impromptu sessions where folk fans play their instruments and
sing. I was backwards and forwards to the festival, catching some of the
Saturday and Sunday afternoon concerts. Young duo Amalthea impressed, as did the
legendary Martin Carthy who included some decidedly gruesome ballads. The
highlight for me on Saturday afternoon was Colvin Quarmby who Martin will be
reviewing in more detail below. The ebullient Gerry Colvin reminded me more of
Ricky Gervais, both in looks and humorous presentation (see Martin’s review!)
and the band played a great set. Sunday’s highlight was the great Jackie Leven
with backing vocals on some songs by partner Debbie. “Standing In Another Man’s
Rain” and “Elegy for Johnny Cash” were standouts from the unique Jackie. Some
gentle stuff from Heidi Talbot and Chris Drever followed, before Irishmen, The
David Munnelly Band set toes tapping with some great jigs and reels. Now over to
Martin:
HATTIE HATSTAR
Hattie Hatstar is a singer/accordionist who writes and performs the kind of daft
ditties that sound like they were made up five minutes ago. A packed house at
the Ferneham Hall were treated to numbers with titles like I Want To Give Birth
To A Clanger Because It’s Made Of Pink Wool and Duck Cow Tractor, both of which
share motherhood as a theme, a theme continued on the amusing Sweat Shop, in
which Ms Hatstar describes in detail the likely destination for all
badly-behaved children. Like Melanie after a few pints of scrumpy this lady’s
performances have a certain naive quality the early evening festival-goers
clearly found charming, even being roused to join in (in Dutch) on a slightly
re-written version of Ronnie Hilton’s A Windmill In Old Amsterdam. Given that
half an hour of this kind of thing is about enough, Hattie Hatstar is just about
the perfect festival warm-up act.
COLVIN QUARMBY
This evening at the Fareham & Gosport Festival was described as a line-up of
acts that were a little hard to pigeonhole and few would therefore argue with
ColvinQuarmby as the choice for second on the bill. ColvinQuarmby play an odd
mix of folk, country and western and what my girlfriend described as ‘power
folk’ but which in truth verges on soft rock.
Lead singer and general centre of attention Gerry Colvin at times reminds one of
an over-excited teenager, all hand movements, clenched fists and some rambling
between-song monologues that can be as long as the songs themselves. But the
ebullience of this Lonnie Donegan lookalike is nothing but infectious and it is
easy to the forgive the odd mediocre number, like the opening Broken Man,
particularly when songs like Dylan Thomas’ Pen and Dirt show that there is a
clear singwriting talent at work here. The highlight of the set was the poignant
House Of The Setting Sun, a tale of care in the community basically performed
solo by Colvin, with minimal accompaniment from Nick Quarmby on acoustic guitar.
With Colvin’s voice in spectacular form Setting Sun had the audience mesmerised
to the extent that one could surely have heard the proverbial pen drop. An
encore was offered and gratefully accepted and it was a case of all hands in the
air as the festival crowd happily swayed and sang along with Feathers before
sending ColvinQuarmby on their merry way. They may not be for everyone, but it
would be a shame not to check this lot out should they happen to turn up at a
festival near you.
UKULELE ORCHESTRA OF GREAT BRITAIN
It is hard to know what to say about the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain that
has not been said before. Anyone attending last summer’s Stokes Bay Festival
would have had a pretty good idea what to expect from them and would not have
been in the least bit disappointed as UOGB turned in another performance mixing
comedy and stunning musicianship in equal quantities. All the festival standards
were here: Life On Mars, Theme From Shaft, Teenage Dirtbag, Born To Be Wild,
Miserlou and Last Night, but there were also enough changes to keep hardened
fans entertained, including outings for Le Freak and The Good, The Bad And The
Ugly and a beautiful version of James Taylor’s Shiver Me Timbers which
demonstrated that the Ukulele Orchestra’s sound is anything but novelty. A
flamboyant rendition of The Dambusters March, which rounded off the set proper
reminded listeners that all the Orchestra’s arrangements continue to remain
lovingly faithful to the originals. Innovative they may be but improvisers they
are not. This bunch really are an orchestra in every sense of the word.
Returning to the stage for the now legendary Fly Me Off The Handel, which sees
Handel competing in synch with I Will Survive, Fly Me To The Moon, Autumn
Leaves, Hotel California and the Love Story theme, the Ukes rounded off the
evening with a head-banging version of Smells Like Teen Spirit which sent us all
home happy in the knowledge that our evening had been well spent.
Review by Martin Sirl
THE RUMBLE STRIPS/ECHO CHAMBER – The
Joiners – Monday 23rd March
 Surely
the most overlooked breakthrough of 2007 was made by London’s The Rumble Strips.
With their Dexys-esque blend of soul and ska and one of the most powerful and
distinctive singers of recent times, debut album “Girls And Weather” should have
been huge. However it did not quite take off as they would have hoped and 2008
was a quiet time for the band.
Now they’re back and ready to unleash their Mark Ronson produced second album
“Welcome To The Walk Alone” upon an unsuspecting public in June. On tonight’s
evidence, the quality control has certainly not dipped.
Southampton band Echo Chamber got the night off to a promising start. Songs
driven by frontman Chris M’s pounding basslines along with clever guitar
interchanges and played with pure, unadulterated joy and energy made sure that
not many people at The Joiners tonight would forget this band in a hurry. “The
Hounded” boasts a psychedelic sound with melodies that immediately springs The
Byrds to mind. “Little Steal” is also head to toe in 60s influences and could
easily have been written by American underground heroes The Sonics. With the
Southampton music scene currently thriving, Echo Chamber could well force their
way to the top of the pile with such strong songs and energetic live
performances.
The Rumble Strips treated a large crowd to a good mix of new material and old
favourites. New songs “London” and “Not The Only One” will be played in their
set for many years to come. On this evidence, the band have taken steps forward
in their writing but not lost that soul powerhouse sound of “Girls And Weather”.
It’s this that makes their meeting of minds with Mark Ronson all the more
mouthwatering and intriguing.
At times, singer Charlie Waller has the startled look of a small boy who has
lost his mum in a busy supermarket. When he unleashes that soulful, powerful and
downright dramatic voice of his, it does not look possible that it came from his
mouth. He really gets to flex his vocal chord muscles on “Motorcycle”, “Time”
and “Alarm Clock” whilst the playful “Girls And Boys In Love” makes you wonder
how this band dodged the country’s radar on a much grander scale when their
first album came out.
If there is any justice, The Ronson Effect will push The Rumble Strips into the
country’s conscience and 2009 will be their year. Review
by Paul Lane.
CD Album Reviews
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CD Album Reviews Coming soon. Watch This Space!
CD Single Reviews
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BY MARTIN SIRL
CD Single Reviews Coming soon. Watch This Space!
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