Word up everybody say, When you hear the call you've gotta get it underway

Friday 19 March 2010 - and tonight Matthew, we are down at The Duchess for an evening pregnant with the possibility of slightly-heavier-than-usual music.

As we arrived, the first band, Scream Arena were just finishing their penultimate song before launching into House of Pain, which I would certainly slot into the heavy rock category. Apparently they come from York and are currently unsigned which, given their polished performance, I find somewhat surprising.

The second band of the evening were another local outfit, but one I have so far missed, Morpheus Rising. MP consists of Graeme Tennick (vocals), Pete Harwood (guitar), Daymo Sweeting (guitar), Andy Smith (bass), and Paul (Gibbo) Gibbons (drums), although for tonight the bass was played by someone disguised as Andy Smith who I understand was in Cheltenham. The band came onto the stage to the strain's of Orff's Carmina Burana, one of my favourite pieces of music, so a good start. They gave us Save The Day, Brave New World, Fighting Man, Lord of The North, Gypsy King, and Hold On. MP bill themselves as NWoBHM - TNG (The Next Generation) and certainly I could hear elements of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden in their songs. Pete and Daymo produce a brilliant two-guitar sound. Graeme has a voice that reminds me of Ray Wilson (Stilkskin, Genesis) and he can certainly hold a note. I found the drums were mixed slightly too high which tended to drown out the guitar soloing. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed MP and look forward seeing them again soon.

Finally, the band we were here to see, GUN. In their present incarnation, GUN consist of Toby Jepson (ex of Little Angels), brothers Dante and Giuliano 'Jools' Gizzi, and a chap on drums whose name escapes me, sorry. There was certainly a hard core of fans in the audience who knew all the words for the sing-backs, sadly I and my little group were not familiar enough with their work to do the same. I will be rectifying this by a quick visit to play.com! Basically, their performance was drawn from their first albums; Taking On The World (1989), Gallus (1992), and Swagger (1994), plus three songs from their latest 5 track EP, Popkiller (2009). The actual tracks were: Welcome To The Real world, Money, Stand In Line, Popkiller, Money To Burn, Taking On The World, Let Your Hair Down, Better Days, Seraphina, Don't Say It's Over, Something Worthwhile, Inside Out, Steal Your Fire, and for the encore - Shame On You, and of course Word Up. An extremely enjoyable evening and, as mentioned before, CD purchases will be imminent!

The Hazzards of Love

Friday 12 March - we eschewed our hunt for original music by indulging in a covers band that we used to regularly watch at the Old White Swan, Hazzard County. The Hazzards haven't played together for some time now, band members having gone their separate ways and now being involved in other projects. But tonight at the Basement Bar, for one night only, they had reformed (in one of their myriad configurations) for a charity bash. Country Jon's wife, Jayne, is taking part in the London Marathon to raise money for Shelter.

The first act on tonight's bill was Steve Kendra. Steve is a one man and guitar with the emphasis on the lyrics. This was a shame because the general hub-bub in the bar managed to successfully drown out any chance of hearing him properly, except for snatches of one song which was about his father working at the Terry's factory and having hair that smelt of chocolate. Shame really, maybe we'll get a chance to hear him properly one day.

The chatter abated a little for the second act of the evening, Boss Caine, ably accompanied at various times by Andy Gaines, and fragments of the Hazzards. We've seen him before and his music is fast becoming more familiar to me. His voice reminds me of Neil Diamond. He has an album out soon and I'm sorely tempted to order a copy

Finally, the band everyone came to see (since the background noise level seemed to die down when they took to the stage); Chris Johnson, Dave "NZ" Keegan, Country Jon, Simon Snaize, and Patrick "Paddy" Berry. Paddy alternated between an electric bass and a double-bass while the rest took turns at vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, drums, and tambourine, with Chris occasionally on keyboards.

What they played was essentially a collection of their classic material garnered over the many years they were together; California Stars (Wilco), Midnight Special (trad. Lead Belly), Forget The Flowers (Wilco), Wagon Wheel (Dylan/Secor) Devil In Disguise (JJ Cale), It Ain't Me Babe (Dylan), Across The Great Divide (The Band), Passionate Kisses (Mary Chapin Carpenter), Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons), Why?, Song Of The Old Rake (Stormwater Boys), Going To Acapulco (Dylan), The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Robbie Robertson), Cripple Creek (The Band), Ophelia (The Band), Who Were You Think Of (Wilco), I Still Carry You Around (Steve Earle), Tell It To Me (Old Crow Medicine Show), New York, Sin City (Flying Burrito Brothers), Home Of The Blues (Johnny Cash), Everything Is Free (Gillian Welch), Don't Stand So Close, I shall Be released (Dylan), A Little Bit Of Love, Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones), Maggie's Farm (Dylan), The Weight (The Band). Most of these I got from the set list but some were thrown in towards the end at the request of various members of the audience. As always, the Hazzards played brilliantly, in most cases the covers being better than the originals. The band, and audience, were enthusiastic and really enjoyed themselves.

The gig finally ended slightly after midnight and our feet were aching from standing for so long, but it was a fantastic evening. A shame that the Hazzards don't get together more often.