She was some kind of priestess/With a black dress on

Thursday 10 April – Yes, I know it’s a school night, and it was only by chance that we found out, but tonight there’s a whole posse of us heading for the Post Office Club in Marygate to see The Yards, plus supports (more about them later). On the way in I happened to pass Certificate 18 which is now under new management and is due to open on Friday 11 April with a launch party, re-named as The Speakeasy. Back to the PO Club…

The bill poster at the entrance stated that we were to be entertained by The Yards, The Runaway Sons, and Jim Gipson, but it didn’t quite work out that way. The first act was Mike Newsham. A multi-instrumentalist, Mike has played in bands since he was fifteen, playing guitar in Harrogate/York-based 'Brace' for a few years, then later playing drums for Harrogate based 'Slater'. He then did a stint as bass player for the now disbanded ‘Colour of Fire’ and has played drums or mandolin for ‘Boss Caine’, and doing local support duties for the likes of The Yards, Martin Grech, (that was an awesome gig), Keane, Four Day Hombre, Cardboard Radio, and John Power. He has recently been a member of ‘The Runaway Sons’, but is currently doing solo work. He plays in a Dylanesque alt country/rock style, with an easy expertise on the guitar and a strong, clear voice. I didn’t recognise any of the material, but it was probably his own. Nonetheless it certainly had my foot tapping.

So, what happened to the solo Jim Gipson and why is Mike not in ‘The Runaway Sons’, I hear you thinking? Now concentrate ‘cause it’s about to get complicated. TRS (as found on MyFace) aren’t playing together in this form anymore (and haven’t been for a few months) due to members being too busy doing other things. But, core band members Andy Gaines (guitars) and Benn ‘Chord’ Cordrey (bass guitar) have been spending the last couple of months rehearsing with Jim Gipson and Claude (drums) and putting together a full band for Jim's solo stuff. Tonight was the first gig for the new band who are working under the moniker ‘Jim Gipson and The Runaway Sons’. Andy and Chord spent their formative years as the driving force behind rock ‘n’ roll blues upstarts 'Cardboard Radio'. In the winter of 2006 they left then they chanced across a 19 year old, precociously talented blues guitarist by the name of Mark Wynn. Mike Newsham arrived on the scene at a New Year’s eve party on the 31st Dec 2006and by the summer of 2007 TRS were born. Andy also runs the The Little Num Num Club with Mr. Helme, as well as The Revolutionary Freaked Out Fuzz Club (at City Screen and Dusk) with Team Fuzz. Jim Gipson was formerly the lead singer with ‘Black Night Crash’ (I really liked them) but after the band split in 2006 he moved to London with a guitar in his hand and a bag over his shoulder. He spent a few months in the Capital shedding some baggage and writing and defining his sound before emerging from the woodwork in early 2007. He has been gigging around the country, including supports to Richard Hawley, Boy Kill Boy, Nick Harper and Bert Jansch.

Enough of the background already. Despite being a new line-up JG&TRS are an extremely tight and accomplished set of musicians. Jim appears incredibly young and fragile, sort of a young Mike Scott but his songs have a powerful raw beauty and his powerful voice evokes shades of both Buckleys and also Martin Gretch in the soaring falsetto moments. But it’s not all about Jim. The band are given plenty of opportunity to let rip in frenzied bass riffs, howling guitar solos, and thumping, measured drumming. It’s a live performance that raises the hair on the back of my neck (or it would if I had any) and I can just feel in my bones that I’m probably listening to ‘the next big thing’. Please, let there be an album soon!

To be honest, I was emotional wrung out after JG&TRS and would happily have gone home at that point feeling that I had more than justified the five quid I paid for tonight’s ticket.

No confusion with regard to The Yards. Chris (Helme) is bemused to realise that this is the first Yards gig since December 2007. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the band plough confidently and smoothly through a set list that is pretty much honed to perfection: Cars, On The Inside, Devil, Minus A Million, Small Fires, T.I.T.S, Last High, Get Off My Back, See The Lights, California, and Fireflies. There is a brief excursion off-stage then, for an encore, Chris is back for a solo acoustic number before being joined by the rest of the band for a stonking version of Pure. I’m staggered to find that they’ve played for over an hour, excellent stuff.

Chris is due to release his first solo album, Ashes, on Saturday 10 May at the Little Num Num Club (City Screen Basement) with support from Hayley Gaftarnick, Karl Culley and Jonny Dobbs (with Andy Gaines as DJ).

Thanks go to Cool Cat and Andy Gaines for helping me to get my facts straight before making this posting. Cheers guys