So to Part 2 of this week’s News Blog.
The first one brought you up to date with all the happenings over the Easter weekend. Part two brings you all the gossip from Acoustic Rotherham 11.
It was one of those events. We had to move from our last Sunday of the month slot because of Easter and May Day Bank Holidays. So the planning for this event took me a little by surprise. Publicity was not at it’s best, then having plumped for the 17th only I could choose the weekend of the London Marathon, a Grand Prix and an FA Cup Semi Final, not necessarily important to musicians, but critical to some who make up our audience, and of course several of the regulars were away enjoying the brilliant sunshine…………………………having sent their apologies.
This I'm sad to say included my Roadies, leaflet hander outs and "David Bailey" photographer, but credit where credit is due, they sent the rest of the family around to help out and keep me in check, so thanks to Heather and her boys, Martin, Danny and Mitchell. Thank you one and all for all your help.
So no prizes for guessing that the turnout for Acoustic Rotherham 11 was not fantastically high. But those who turned out and spurned the sun to sit inside the pub were treated to a veritable feast of acoustic music from across the genre.
Betraying a two week hiatus during which his guitar had not been looked at, let alone played, The Masher fumbled through a set of classic Masher numbers to make sure no one was going to electrocute themselves on the Masher Sound Maker.
We were then treated to the anger of David Paskell who must be one of Sheffield’s most under rated performers and song writer. Dave treated us to a set made up of songs from his recently released EP “Clampetts Creek”. True to form and modest ever, not a mention of the EP during his set while I was in the room!!! But you can listen to a taster of the EP and many of his other songs by heading to his Reverb page HERE His Dylan song on the Acoustic Rotherham player is well worth a listen as well.
Wychwood travelled down the A1 from North Yorkshire to be with us for the afternoon. I think I heard, was it Steve, Debbie or Richard, say that this was the first time they had done a plugged in Gig. If true this was an outstanding first effort, for once the nerves had settled over the first song they went on to produce an outstanding performance of some of my favourite folk tunes. The mixture of instruments, thanks to talented Debbie on Mandolin and banjo, backed by the guitar work of Steve and Richard, with superb harmonies in all the right places made for a truly together and authentic folk sound. No Web Links yet, but I’m sure if you go through Debbie and Richard’s Myspace page you won’t go too far wrong. HERE
And from traditional harmony, to a Master Class in contemporary song writing and modern harmony. To be honest I thought I booked a duo, and discovered it might be trio in the middle last week and on the day was stunned to discover that Garforth and Myers were in fact a quartet. For the entire half an hour that they were on stage I don’t think I saw one person move, simply stunning sound, chilled and mellow. It’s hard to actually categorise the music, if pushed I would say that it reminded me of the House Martins and early Beautiful South, but without the edge, for this was smooth, smooth music and so easy to listen to. The quality of the harmonised voices was just outstanding, and of course typically Dickie did not have his reporter’s notebook with him so he didn’t get her name, but as Hugh said to me “it’s a voice to kill for” and Hugh should know!. They have a four track EP up on Amazon, and there’s a demo package on our Demo page HERE, but for the first even lucky people to Email me HERE you can have a copy of the CD EP for free, and I promise you you’re in for a treat. You can find their Reverbnation page HERE
Fortunately we had a veteran of Acoustic Rotherham to follow, Mr Philip Hartley, yet another master song writer from Sheffield. He provided us with half an hour of his songs old and new in his own imitable style. I think Phil is one of the few, besides myself that is, who can claim to have been to every Acoustic Rotherham. You can find his Reverbnation page player HERE, packed with his songs and of course you can buy his CDs in our CD Shop HERE - the Shop has yet to go through the modernisation so click with care.
Acoustic Rotherham has entertained over one hundred acts over the years, some have lived up to their promise, occasionally theirs been a disappointment or two, in the case of Pocketful o’ Nowt one can say that expectations were surpassed and then some. These three lads come from just down the road from Rawmarsh in Swinton. All I can say is, where have they been hiding? For raw entertainment value these guys were value for money, and when Mike’s brilliantly witty and observed lyrics are added to rock and pop music they had the room in stitches. Mike, the lead singer is far from being understated, while his backing group guitarist and bass sit back and just let him get on with it. I hope that this rare outing for the lads will drag them out to do more sets of this quality. Perhaps no better recommendation for them would be to say that they reminded me very much of the early BA Robinson. Well done lads. And I recommend that you head off to their Reverbnation page and take a listen to their demo tracks HERE I promise you, you will not be disappointed.
Ending the afternoon was another young song writer, Andrew Oxley from Sheffield, but in a different style to either Dave or Phil who had gone before. What’s more, the powerful lyrics and vocals were supported by some guitar work that many of us could only sit back envy. Perhaps the biggest compliment that can be paid to Andy is that it’s hard to put him into any sort of musical box, there was pure rock, Brit rock, Brit pop, blues and a lot more influencing his music, all supported by his classical guitar work. Ceck out more of Andy’s songs on his Myspace page HERE, and you can find his CD EP “For Your Tomorrow” in the Acoustic Rotherham Amazon Store.
Andy was a fitting end to a brilliant afternoon of quality music.
My thanks to all acts that went to make up the event, and it was so good to welcome yet more new comers to The Acoustic Rotherham stable, and make more new friends. We hope that you’ll be able to come back and play for us all again soon.
If you’re looking for the newsy bit then you need to read Part One “Music, Music all Over Easter”. I’d just leave you with a reminder that the Wandering Minstrels are out and about on Friday evening at The George and Dragon, Wentworth for a St George’s Day Eve Special.
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