Rose Kemp Single Launch Night (well, sort of...)
This event may have been one of the last and most important gigs at Seymour’s Family Club – this venue may shortly be falling victim to ‘developers’ as the present proprietor retires soon. It has a ‘stay of execution’ till the middle of January – it would be a shame to lose a venue such as this as it caters for more than one type of audience: with a room for beer and skittles and a huge room (capacity somewhere in the region of 80/90 and that’s SEATED guests) – this venue could lend itself to so many uses outside of live music – bingo/dance clubs/weddings, etc
Excuse my rant but we’re seeing many venues in the Bristol region closing through lack of use – the availability is becoming restricted to a few, well-known, established venues. So ‘thank you’ to Fact Fans for organising this event in a favourite venue and giving those of us who like a seat a chance to enjoy great local music in comfort!
But, back to the night – this was the much-hyped new debut single launch for Rose Kemp – ah, the best laid plans, etc – as it turned out said single was having trouble getting through Customs, probably because Rose let herself be talked into changing the name from an innocuous title of “Silence in D Minor“ to “Violence” – guess those guys in Customs aren’t too sure what to make of it!
(Meanwhile, check out Rose’s MySpace page to see the video for ‘Violence.’)
To a packed audience – and I mean PACKED as in ‘standing room only folks’ in a venue that seats around 80/90 people, we were treated to an eclectic mix of Bristol’s talent. It turned into a treat for all of us – real talent, real atmosphere and pure creative genius at work.
We opened with SJ Esau – a one-man band in the experimental genre. He’s been in a few bands over the years but writing under his own name since 1999. He put this writer in mind of the old stereotypical one-man-band acts who has time-travelled through to modern day – now the one-man band has bugbrand tone generators, looping backing capabilities, and no longer do you feel that you’re watching one man, it begins to feel like he’s slowly firing up a whole backing orchestra to his soundscape! It really is a phenomenal event – and had the whole audience spellbound – and readily warming to this engaging artist. He’s amazing to watch – you begin to wonder how he manages to set this all up with just the one pair of hands!
With numbers including the quirky “Cat Track” with its witty lyrics that evolves into a heavily strummed ending he certainly knows how to entertain and keep an audience guessing.
This guy cites The Bonzo Dog Doo Da Band as an influence and if any of you remember their crazy fun style you’ll get an inkling of what SJ Esau has to offer……….’do not adjust your set’……….
Next up was Men Diamler, a name this writer has seen cropping up on several gig lists recently – this is one busy local artist. Having seen him I can now begin to understand why. The emotion propelled into his music and lyrics has to be seen to be believed. It came as a very welcome surprise to see an audience of 80/90 people completely enraptured and spellbound – or, as Kev, my partner-in-crime put it ‘you could have heard a mouse fart’ in the quiet moments. Looking round the faces of the audience you could tell they were hanging on every word………which wasn’t always easy as he switched from moans to screams, using his powerful voice to great effect. Whether he’s on guitar or a’ccapella the gospel/blues feel comes across wonderfully.
Having started his set with ‘Lawdy Miss Clawdy,’ off stage and in the middle of the audience, the foot-stomping turned to more haunting, mournful numbers and here’s where his range can be used to best theatrical effect. He finished off with a number to “howl at the moon” and did just that!
How do you follow that? With a complete change of pace. So, next up was Babel, a 6-piece up-tempo hard-folkrock group that has been on my ‘to see’ list for a few months now. I’d heard good things about this group; I’d heard (and loved) their tracks on MySpace – I was eagerly anticipating the night in question and I was not disappointed. From the opening track, through ‘Piece of Me’ and ‘Pearl Street Raga’ (I defy anyone to sit still to these!), to ‘Rain’ from the EP as their last track, this energetic band had all our feet tapping and several pairs of hands clapping along (without prompt!!) and were even wanted back for an ‘encore’ which they politely declined. Hand on heart I recommend them as a ‘must-see.’
And finally, the highlight of the evening, Ms Rose Kemp and her new band: Annette Becker (Big Joan/Male) - skins and cymbals, Anton Maiof (Geisha/My Ambulance is on Fire) - thin strings and pedals, and Joe Garcia (Vilna/Mansri) - thick strings and pedals. Literally on only their second gig together as a band having initially played the previous weekend.
Having seen Rose perform at The Folk House some time ago, minus band and instruments, I was keen to see what new material she had, and what difference a new band would add. I was spellbound with the effect. Add rock numbers in with Rose’s interspersed looped harmonic numbers and it was an eclectic mix and to add magic to the whole evening I was lucky enough to be at one of the tables immediately in front of the stage when she movingly sang a’ccapella, off the stage and right in front of me, so close I could have touched her. An absolutely pure magic moment – something I will remember for the rest of my days!
‘Violence,’ the new single, is from the new album A Hand Full of Hurricanes, and is a blistering hot rocker in parts, sveltely switching mood, echoing the lyrics of love and anger, trust and betrayal. ‘I predict a riot’ if Customs hang on to this one much longer!!
Words: Chris@BristolBands.com
Photos: Kev@BristolBands.com |
