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PLAYING OUT LOUD!
ARTICLES
GIG OF THE MONTH
STEVE EARLE, THE ANVIL, BASINGSTOKE – FRIDAY JANUARY
25.
 Billed
as “An Evening With Steve Earle,” this gig also features special guest Allison
Moorer.
Grammy Award winner Steve Earle is touring in support of his new album
“Washington Square Serenade.” Born in Hampton, Virginia in 1955, Steve moved to
Nashville, Tennessee in 1975 where he became a songwriter with the publishing
division of RCA Records. He later became a performer himself, releasing his
first album, “Guitar Town” in 1986.
Steve went on to achieve a great deal, despite a period when he was addicted to
heroin. He released several more albums before being imprisoned for drugs and
firearms offences. He kicked the habit while in jail and released two albums
after his release in 1994. His comeback album “Train A Comin’” was nominated for
Best Contemporary Folk Album in the 1996 Grammy Awards. He went on to release
another half-dozen albums between 1996 and 2004.
His latest release “Washington Square Serenade” is heavily influenced by his
adopted home town of New York, even down to the title of the album. A protégé of
legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he is a master storyteller
in his own right, having had his songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson,
Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, The Pretenders, Joan Baez and
countless others.
On a personal note, Steve has enjoyed (if that is the right word) a stormy
private life; he has been married seven times, twice to the same woman, Lou-Anne
Gill, and is currently married to Alison Moorer who is his special guest at The
Anvil.
Tickets for the concert are £22.50 through
www.theanvil.org.uk
CAROLYN MARK TRIO, ASHCROFT ARTS
CENTRE, FAREHAM, THU JAN 24
TOWER ARTS CENTRE, WINCHESTER, FRI JAN 25
FOREST ARTS CENTRE, NEW MILTON, SAT JAN 26.
 Canadian
singer-songwriter Carolyn Marks brings her trio to three Hampshire arts centre
this month with her own unique brand of country/folk.
Ever since first appearing on stage at Templeton the rat in her elementary
school’s musical version of “Charlotte’s Web,” show business has been the
driving force in Carolyn’s life. Hailing from Sicamous, British Columbia,
Carolyn formed her first band, The Vinaigrettes in the early 1990s, an all-girl
surfy pop band.
She later had brief stints with other bands including The Metronome Cowboys and
The Fixins before making her first solo album, “Party Girl” on Mint Records in
2000. She followed that up with four more albums, “Terrible Hostess,” “The Pros
And Cons Of Collaboration,” “Just Married: An Album of Duets,” and her latest,
released this year, “Nothing Is Free.” The latter album is described by Carolyn
as her “woodsy, introspective album.”
Carolyn is renowned for her strong voice and charismatic stage presence, and she
has toured Canada, the USA, UK, Norway and Italy, sharing the stage with such
talented musicians as The Handsome Family, Wanda Jackson, The Sadies and Blue
Rodeo, to name just a few. She has also provided backing vocals on recordings by
The Buttless Chaps, Greenfield Main, Neko Case and Frog Eyes.
On her current tour she is backed up by Diona Davis on violin and vocals, and
Paul Pigat on guitar and bass.
KILL HENRY SUGAR, THE RAILWAY INN,
WINCHESTER, THURS JAN 17.
 I
hadn’t heard of Kill Henry Sugar until I got an email from one of their team in
the USA asking me to help spread the word about their January gig in Winchester.
And after having a look at their website, I am intrigued.
Kill Henry Sugar is the name drum/dobro duo Erik Della Penna and Dean Sharenow
perform under. Both bred in New York City, they create modern folk music from
the roots of Gotham. They met while performing around town and discovered a
shared obsession with the city’s corrupt beginnings and the frenzied ambitions
of its inhabitants. Kill Henry Sugar became the minimalist, streamlined vehicle
for this ongoing discourse – thin “Gangs Of New York” (book, not movie) meets
“Metropolis” (movie, not book) for some idea of their approach.
The pair have a new album “Swing Back And Down” which explores the epic timeline
of like in the boroughs of New York. Recording took place in the basement of
Erik’s grandmother’s Bronx apartment to the backdrop of sepia photographs of
generations past, and the songs are snapshots of New York life captured in
stark, vivid tones.
A preview copy of the CD impressed folk icon Joan Baez who was inspired to add
two of the album’s songs to her repertoire. Shortly after seeing Kill Henry
Sugar perform she asked them to be her backing band for her 2007 tour, which led
to a series of UK gigs for the duo, including a packed show at London’s Green
Note venue. The CD has impressed reviewers in the USA with New York’s Time Out
magazine describing it as “effortlessly beguiling” and The Washington Post
declaring it as “masterful low-fi storytelling.”
NOUVELLE VAGUE, THE BROOK, SOUTHAMPTON,
THURSDAY, JAN 31.
 And
now for something completely different….a French musical collective who cover
new wave and punk music in a 60s Bossa-nova style. That’s what is on the bill at
The Brook at the end of this month when Paris-based Nouvelle Vague take the
stage.
Nouvelle Vague were formed by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux, their name
reflecting both their “Frenchness” and their “artiness,” referring to the 60s
new wave of cult French cinema.
On their eponymous first album, “Nouvelle Vague,” the band resurrected classics
from the New Wave music era, stripping them back to acoustic arrangements with
lithe shaker rhythms achieved by gathering a parade of chanteuses from all over
the world (six French, one Brazilian and one New Yorker) to sex up everyone from
XTC to The Clash to Joy Division and Depeche Mode. The various female singers on
Nouvelle Vague only performed songs they were not previously familiar with, to
ensure that each cover would have a unique quality.
Their second album, “Bande a Part,” included versions of “Ever Fallen In Love”
by The Buzzcocks, “Blue Monday” by New Order and “Heart of Glasss” by Blondie.
You may have unwittingly heard Nouvelle Vague’s music as hit has been used in
adverts in the UK and also in the Channel 4 drama “Sugar Rush. Their music has
also been used on the film soundracks of “Mr & Mrs Smith” and “Grindhouse:
Planet Terror.”
Amongst the former members and contributors to Nouvelle Vague are many French
artists who are now well known as solo artists: Anais Croze, Camille Dalmais,
P{hoebe Killdeer, Melanie Pain and Marina Celeste.
Tickets for The Brook gig are £16.50 advance through
www.the-brook.com
LIMEHOUSE JAZZ BAND, CONCORDE CLUB,
EASTLEIGH, SUNDAY, JANUARY 27.
 The
Concorde is going Dutch later this month with a visir from The Limehouse Jazz
Band.
The band was founded way back in 1965. Originally from the Haarlem region, near
Amsterdam, they developed a reputation as a traditional band playing arranged
music acoustically and specialising in classic New Orleans music of the 1920s
and1930s.
Five years ago the leadership was taken up by Robert Duis - first cornet and
contact-man for the band. The band’s arrangements, have been focused on the
instrumentation of bands such as Fletcher Henderson, Luis Russell, Don Redman,
Jean Goldkette and Duke Ellington. In 2006 the band asked Peter Stove to write
some special arrangements for the new CD to be launched in January 2008; seven
fragments of this new CD: "Club Conversation" are already on the band’s website.
The band’s lineup is: reed section Rob Radoux (alto-sax/cl), Jerome Pellemans
(alto-sax/cl) and Alhard Zwart (tenor-sax/cl). The brass section features Robert
Duis (cornet), Louis Lanzing (cornet/tutor) and Coen Gerritse (trombone/vocals)
The all important rhythm-section is made up of Jan van der Woord on piano, Sir
Wil van Schaik on the banjo, Stef Geurts at the drums and Andre Pet on the tuba.
The band have played many festivals outside of Holland including The North Sea
Jazz Festival (2004) and the Ascona International New Orleans Jazz Festival
(2005).
BRITISH SEA POWER, WEDGEWOOD ROOMS,
PORTSMOUTH, MONDAY, JANUARY 21.
 Brighton-based
rockers, British Sea Power steam in to the Wedgewood Rooms later this month with
a new look. Apparently, they no longer drape the stage in greenery for their
intense shows, and flags are now their motif.
British Sea Power have their roots in the Lake District, where brothers Hamilton
and Yan attended the same school as drummer Woody in Kendal. After finishing his
exams Yan relocated to Reading in Berkshire, where he met a guitarist from Leeds
called Noble. Hamilton and Woody came down to Reading to join the Jamwagon, and
in essence British Sea Power had begun. But it was not until they moved to
Brighton that anyone noticed.
In Brighton, BSP began to stage their own Club Sea Power night in 2001, the Year
that also saw them release their first single “Fear Of Drowning.” With beech
branches arcing up over the amplifiers and a plastic peregrine falcon peering
out at the crowd, Club Sea Power soon became a byword for a remarkable night
out. One Friday, Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis came down to the club, and soon
after offered the band a recording contract.
BSP have so far made two albums; the third “Do You Like Rock Music” is due for
release early next year. It was made in the Czech Republic, Canada, and Fort
Tregantl, a 19th century coastal fortification on the Cornish cliffs. BSP also
released a new EP recently, “Krankenhaus,” “one that will combine a pre-school
understanding of atomic theory with ancient wisdom in amplified rock music”
according to frontman Yan.
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STEVE EARLE
THE ANVIL, BASINGSTOKE FRIDAY JAN 25
CAROLYN MARK VARIOUS GIGS THROUGHOUT JAN
KILL HENRY SUGAR THE RAILWAY INN,
WINCHESTER, THURS JAN 17
NOUVELLE VAGUE THE BROOK, SOUTHAMPTON,
THURSDAY, JAN 31
LIMEHOUSE JAZZ
CONCORDE CLUB, EASTLEIGH, SUNDAY, JAN 27
BRITISH SEA POWER WEDGEWOOD ROOMS,
PORTSMOUTH, MONDAY, JAN 21 |
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