Tony being warmly greeted by yours truly

Last Sunday I wasn’t too well. Overwork, a summer cold and a lack of sleep had laid me low. But Mothertongue were playing on Sunday in Balham, so I wasn’t staying in bed were I belonged. I was heading to south London.

The other motivation, along with supporting Mothertongue and fellow BEM acts Under a Banner and Verbal Delirium, was to find and punish a man named Tony.

Tony claims he’s a fan of my music. That might be the case, though if you can decipher this sub-Joycean melange of a review you’re more clever than I. He is however guilty of the most egregious, violent punning on the internet. He’s, let’s be frank, a twatbadger and one I was determined to deal with, despite my cold induced fug.

Mothertongue! Mothertongue! Mothertongue! Mothertongue! Mothertongue!

Mothertongue are everything I want in a band. The moment I heard the opening lyrics to Tyrant of the Lizard Kings – “I’ll work the pedals and the devil can steer, things are gonna change, gonna change round here” – I was hooked and the rest of their album Unsongs is an absolute delight.

What do they sound like? Well, at Midsummer Madness, the gig in Balham, they were sans drums, so this gig wasn’t exactly typical. On record, with the full electric set-up they’re all catchy choruses, hooky trumpet lines, catchy choruses, interesting guitar parts, catchy choruses, amazing lyrics, and songs you want to dance, jump and down and singalong with.

I like a singalong chorus and Mothertongue have got ’em by the bucketload.

Acoustic, obviously things were quieter which meant the melody writing was highlighted, both in the vocal harmony parts and the lead guitar and trumpet. Frontman Louis was a delight, thanking David Elephant of Bad Elephant Music was signing them, thereby taking them from obscurity into further obscurity.

As a teenager, as well as my metal, I loved Britrock stuff like Mansun and Gomez and so on. Having got older, I also like clever muso things, and I’ve always liked a singalong bit. Mothertongue do all of that and this gig was the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Before them I caught the end of Under a Banner’s set and was surprised by the cover of Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, which they performed with gusto and skill. Broken down trains had kept me from the venue for the start of their set, but I really enjoyed what I heard.

Verbal Delirium from Greece were clearly the audience’s favourite of the three and I can see why. There’s was a performance of real class and skill, and much closer to a traditional prog act – albeit with goth and metal ingredients as well – which explains the enthusiasm given the prog bent of the rest of the bill.

By this point however, I was flagging and had gone deaf in one ear – a hindrance more related to illness then loud music. Tony by this point had already heckled me from the stage, which I’m sure is not the right way round for heckling, but other than giving him a warm friendly greeting (see the picture above) I decided that it was time to head home and find my bed.

Next time, Tony. Next time.

Jack Arthurs in Darlington, displaying an elephant bag he hopes will mollify our evil record label boss

On Friday 7th July I played a great gig in Darlington, in the North of the UK.

The opening act was Jack Arthurs, a singer-songwriter who I’d not really listened to properly,  despite being on the same label as me.

I was very happy that I caught his set, because he really is a great songwriter. His set-up was dead simple, just himself and an acoustic guitar in an open tuning. The songs themselves were evocative of the Northeast, inspired by trips to the coast and full of hooks and proper choruses, as well as great guitar playing.

Jack is really good. You should listen to him!

 

Over the last 12 months or so I’ve acquired a little stack of CDs by independent musicians. Most of these I acquired from acts I shared a bill withhh at last summer’s gigs.

Being a rubbish music fan (I make music far more often that I listen to other people’s), I have not listened to all of them. To make amends I thought I’d do some proper listening and write some little mini reviews.

First up is Tom Stedman’s Little Blue Dot.

Tom is a solo guitar player and Little Blue Dot showcases his guitar playing across 4 tracks. The recording is very simple – a solo steel string guitar, a good mic, a bit of reverb, no metronome or click track to be found. Lovely.

Tom is a virtuoso so the guitar playing here is full of fingerstyle twiddles, lightening arpeggios, harmonics and all sorts of cleverness. For all the technical skill that’s not the point of the music however. The technique is there to serve the music which sketches and meanders its way through modal chord progressions in an almost improvisatory way.

Little Blue Dot, the title track, is 7 minutes of bliss. B the second track has a great melody. Pootle, the third track has some lovely little excursions. The closing track, Eye of the Observer features percussive guitar paying to accompany its minor key motifs in way that really works well.

If you like soundtracky instrumental guitar stuff, Tom Stedman is for you. For reasons I don’t understand, Tom is literally the only indie musician I know who doesn’t use bandcamp, so you’ll have to head over to cdbaby to grab a copy. Alternatively, get yourself over to Tom’s website where he has a new album available too.