Post-Apocalyptic art rock in Bulverhythe

‘The Post-Apocalyptic Romance’ could be a slightly wordy name for a knowing rock band back in the day. It is in fact the name of Daniel Hartlaub’s art n’ music show held at Electro Studios Project Space. Over the weekend Daniel, originally from Frankfurt, showcased his drawn digital art at this happening art space in the hipper end of St Leonards. 

On Saturday night a selection of Hastings and St Leonards’ finest musical minds and players came together to both celebrate Daniel’s exhibition and to interact with it. Hartlaub had drawn an incredible series of images reflecting both the inner and outer recesses of his mind. Their exterioreality, I had assumed, largely came from the specifics of the artist’s lived experience in Germany. In fact his work takes you on an alterior journey that summons up several European capitals from a different, colder, wartime where power politics and different lived realities intersected. 

Daniel’s work took on a faster and more immediate meaning on Saturday night when it was projected on to two industrial-looking rusty metal doors in the main Electro Studios’ exhibition/workspace. International musician and avant composer Anthony Moore fed improvised treatments into his synth and then modulated the results, Keith Rodway’s electric bass tones punctuated proceedings, and Amanda Thompson’s keyboards and an electric violinist added further range to the ethereal sound n’ vision show. We were being driven at a furious pace through urban brutalism and romantic paranoia while Daniel’s signature image - a glass-eyed Kafkaesque figure - periodically emerged from the shadows. A swastika fleetingly appeared. Other arresting images arrived, and then departed just as quickly. 

This was a wonderful ending to an evening show that had actually begun with dance-meisters Simon and The Pope. I must confess that a different cultural event had prevented me from seeing this poptastic duo, and in fact most of Necessary Animals’ set. I can vouch for their shared entertainment value though from having attended some of their previous gigs. Necessary Animals feature yer man Keith, and art pop heavyweight Amanda Thompson from The Big Believe. I’m told that the Necessaries kicked off with the single they recently recorded for Hartlaub’s film of his graphic novel. I arrived to hear a slice of what i think was a track from their third ‘official’ album of original material, ‘Animalia’. This record is a regular feature in my MP3 headspace. It’s one that successfully utilises N. Animals’ celebrated art schtick while Amanda’s song sensibility prevents too much avant excess. I’d missed spoken poet Lucy Brennan Shiel guesting with her take on WB Yeats’ biggest hit. I did though catch another cut from the ‘Animalia’, the hit single ‘Driving Out of Town’ on which Amanda’s vocal craft and the band’s edgy urgency unite in a potent statement of post-Covid alienation and the spirit of what Tom Rush powerfully celebrates as “the urge for going.”

Two Necessaries

Daniel projects himself

Sonic violin

There then followed ‘17:17’, when for that time period Anthony Moore and an electric violinist held the audience in rapt attention for a transcendent, largely improvisational, drone-like trip in which Daniel’s hung images and the semi-darkness of the studio space combined to enhance sounds reminiscent of Bowie and Eno’s Neukolln’, Vangellis, and, in my warped mind, the violin solo from the Moore-produced album ‘Angel Station’, in a slow-burn wig-out. What is that cool electric fiddle player’s name? I definitely want to book him for the memoir readings I’m now planning to do at The Electro.

Hats off, and there were a lot of them on the men on the night, to Daniel Hartlaub and his musical collaborators. Let’s hope that The Electro puts on a lot more of these mixed media shows in Bulverhythe bohemia.

A phenomenal Daniel Hartlaub image dubbed 'post-apocalyptic safe room' by my oldest friend

Ummagumma live at The Piper St Leonard’s

The Necessary Animals sonically rocked The Piper in St Leonard’s last night. Shame that there were only a few old farts like me and a handful of trilby wearers present to enjoy the blast. Upstairs at the re-imagined Norman Arms is an interesting experience. You could almost think you were at a happening decades ago, what with the day’s psychedelic wig-out residing under the title Ummagumma.

The N.Animals had teamed up with The Big Believe for the night, creating a crowded stage but a totally in-synch sound. They lived up to the psych billing, treating us to an inspired take on The Floyd’s 'Lucifer Sam' and a reworking of a Zappa Hot Rats’ cut that I’m choosing to call 'Sin of Mr Green Genes' and which included the innovative admonition to ‘eat up your greens.’ 'How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat..'. eh ...your greens.

Earlier a psych-surf band (The Somnians maybe?) had wigged out for just a little too long. Preceding them had been a Glasgow Govan ‘60s style troubadour with the musical vibe of Davie Graham, the attitude of Alex Harvey, and a hairdo that looked like he’d lost a bet down at the barbers. I think he was called CK Smith.

After the Necessary Animals had completed an impressive set that included a few takes from their excellent eponymous debut LP, we split, before the skinniest young guitar-slingers imaginable had had time to storm the stage.

What we’d witnessed of Ummagumma’s music was fine. The problem was that this apparent showcase of local talent didn’t do anything to promote or even explain WTF was going on. I wasn’t aware of anyone’s name, no one was announced, and no one had brought any info, merch or anything with them. I don’t think I’d have been the only one interested in an Ummagumma t-shirt or a CD by The Necessaries.

There was an air among what passed for organisation at this event of we’re too cool for school. This was a shame as what was needed was a square to take the mike and explain a little. You don’t have to be Harvey Goldsmith or a proto-capitalist bread-head, just encourage people to talk about the acts by giving them a bit of a big-up (and maybe get them to sell a t-shirt)

Anyway, thanks and love to all (especially Keith of The Necessaries).

'V' performed by Jonny Magnanti at the St. Leonard Pub

Jonny Magnanti is the first actor to interpret Tony Harrison’s still controversial poem,‘V’. Like Tony Harrison, Jonny Magnanti had a working class upbringing in Leeds. In his familiarity with the Leeds dialect, its cadences, and the reality of what for some at least is everyday speech, Magnanti took us right to Harrison’s parents’ municipal graveyard, daubed with swastikas and profanity and littered with discarded cans of Harp larger. For nearly an hour in three separate performances this week, thirty-odd people in the St Leonard pub in London Road were drawn-in to Harrison’s (or was it Magnanti’s?) private world where a painful internal dialogue took centre stage.

Years before he wrote this poem in 1985, Harrison had sometimes used vernacular language in his poems so that people like his parents would not be alienated from them. Returning to Leeds for the first time in years, this middle aged man was seared by his visit to his parents’ desecrated grave and by the poverty and desperation of a city wilfully run down like the surrounding pits where the bitter confrontation of the Miners’ Strike raged. However the vernacular in ‘V’ came largely from the skinhead, the ‘yobbo’ that Harrison’s poem says he (or Magnanti) could have been, had not education taken them both to a different creative and material dimension. When speaking in the poet narrator’s voice, Magnanti delivered powerful and highly evocative poetry of a different kind, where the damp stone of the graves was suffused with images of coal’s prehistoric geology and an eternity of unity as all bodies secrete together in an undifferentiated carbonic mass. The skin dismisses this part of Harrison’s delivery, contemptuous of this elitist ‘c***’. 

It’s probably debatable whether Harrison or Magnanti ‘but for the grace of God’ would, minus an advanced education, have become Nazi skinheads. In the mid-80s I remember unemployed northerners on the edge of, or fully absorbed in, the black economy down south. They were angry but very unlikely recruits to that particular form of working class politics. The dramatic effect, however, of the polarity that Harrison writes, and Magnanti so powerfully vocalises, is mining a rich seam indeed.

The strike of course hangs heavy over the poem and this performance, as it does any recollection of the 1980s. Fetch Theatre, who produced the performance, include brief audio interludes that politically and musically soundtrack the decade. Margaret Thatcher’s voice, and its dogmatic and propagandist interpretation of what the strike was about, still cuts to the quick in its absolutist sense of what she believed, or wanted, to be at stake. A warmer voice of a striking miner paradoxically becalms with its moving assertion of the social dimension to what some saw as just an economic issue.

Harrison wasn’t expressing the ‘V’ for ‘Versus’ sentiment that united many young Leeds men with their football team, and much else in their culture, against whoever they were ‘losing to’ that week. Harrison’s ‘true’ voice says that the reference to Leeds football club, ‘United’, that had been spray-painted on his parents’ grave could perhaps be left there. While having no religious faith himself, he says that it could be a sentiment of hope that they would, someday, be together again. More broadly, the poet expresses in ‘V’ the wish that his nation could be united; not divided down the middle in what is presented as a wilful exercise in class politics.

Magnanti gives expression to Harrison’s guilt upon making one of his rare homecomings; not privileged but having escaped from the miserable powerlessness that the poem argues spawns such ‘yobbos’. The occupants of these tombs – butcher, baker and publican - would have wanted such vandals punished, Harrison’s non-skin voice observes. His own Dad, elderly and isolated, had felt increasingly alienated too, not recognising the city he grew up in and uncomfortable at the presence of ‘coloureds’ (his father’s most ‘liberal’ term) whose culture he didn’t understand and whose shops obliged him to walk ever further for a tin of baked beans. Leeds was, according to ‘V’, ‘beef, bread and beer’ and that is what was being played out, positively and negatively, among the tombstones. There is much humanity and realism in Harrison’s poem and in Magnanti’s telling of it, including language and sentiment that can still be shocking, but now perhaps for an otherwise very sympathetic audience.

Jonny Magnanti in 'V' - a portrait by Peter Mould www.stagesnaps.com

I don’t think the poem’s telling is intended to evoke some guilt in the audience. However Magnanti’s delivery and the audio soundbites combined to trigger in me sharp memories of the class-conscious politics of the time. I felt a familiar conflict between total sympathy for miners resisting deliberate and spiteful socio-economic engineering and contempt for those whose cynical political calculations helped lead them to defeat. Thatcher’s self-serving ‘enemies of democracy’ rhetoric aimed at working class industrial action did have a ring of truth for some, like me, on the compromising, trimming, centre-left. The poet detected where the Labour leadership was heading; two references to the Leeds MP who led the Labour Party when Harrison was a much younger man, Hugh Gaitskell, and his ‘smooth’ appeal to what the ‘other side’ wanted to hear, were signposts of what was beginning to happen when ‘V’ was written.

If this performance of ‘V’ still makes people uncomfortable, for the contemporary resonances of its subject matter, for its explanation of where social resentment can come from, and because of the disconnect that perhaps many of us feel from those at the sharp end, then it only proves the poem’s abiding power and particularly this performance of it. 

Jonny Magnanti said to me afterwards that the Leeds LitFest have not only thrilled him by inviting him to perform ‘V’ there, but have asked him to sit on a discussion panel about it with Tony Harrison. ‘You couldn’t make it up,’ he said. You couldn’t make up the language and concerns of ‘V’ up either. Rooted in the real and poetically connecting to other possibilities: not ‘Versus’ but ‘United’.

The Circle of Trust - Hastings Friendship Group’s second CD launched at Relax

“Will the Circle be Unbroken?” was the song of solidarity that folkies from another time and another place used to sing. This Hastings musical circle remains tight, thanks to the efforts of Councillors Trevor Webb and Nigel Sinden and many supporting performers. 

“The Circle of Trust” is the name of Hastings Friendship Group’s second CD. (The first, "One Hastings Many Voices", was released earlier this year, and was reviewed on this blog). Showcasing a lot of local talent, "The Circle of Trust" has just been released and is dedicated to Maria Grazia, a sadly departed singer and songwriter who performed at HFG events. The new CD is raising money for Sudanese charities under “The Circle of Trust” moniker. Maria gets a heartfelt tribute at the close of the CD: “Goodnight Maria” is one of the best things I have heard Paul Crimin do. It’s his own song too.

The launch event was at the excellent (if a little pricey) "Relax" restaurant and bar at Marine Parade, on St Leonard's seafront on Sunday October 23. Listening to the CD, and reflecting on the live performances of many of those featuring on the album, there are some whose star inevitably shines brighter than others. There are also those who came across much better at the launch gig than on the CD, and vice versa. The most important thing about the CD though, aside from the good cause and giving a different platform to local artists, is that all the performers are playing original material that was either written by, or for them.

The CD’s producer (and writer of several of its songs) Nelson King (who also produced the first HFG CD) closed the evening. (I had to make my excuses before Nelson hit the stage, sadly). He and Wendy White’s number, “Follow Me” is a good cut on the CD, well produced by Nelson, albeit ending abruptly. His entirely self-penned song, “I Don’t Believe a Thing,” is also a strong feature on the disc.

Preceding him was a young woman who is fairly new to HFG events, Georgia Faye Steele. Georgia played electric piano and belted, and I mean belted, out some classics. Note to the organisers: this woman can sing…loud. Turn down the PA (a bit), or get her on earlier to wake up the bar (and the neighbourhood).

Her own song “Something New Just For Now” came across much more authentically than covering the folk (and very male) song, “House of the Rising Sun” (best known by The Animals), or, even more bizarrely, singing the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. Georgia is probably going places though.

Nick Warren is no stranger to HFG gigs. Unfortunately for him he had the graveyard slot as the closing acts beckoned. Nick had to make it fairly snappy at the end and barely got time for a well- deserved round of applause. Nick sings his own songs (as far as I can tell) and plays acoustic guitar with feeling. “Riptide” especially stood out. “Be My Baby One More Time” is the self-penned song he plays on the CD.

Tania Pieri was accompanied by Juliette on electric piano and backing vocals. Juliette told me afterwards that she hadn’t performed in public for 30 years. This gig was one of Tania’s first too. They did an excellent gospel cover, and another number had some tantalising lyrics including one that went along the lines of “it’s a good day, put away the pills” (unless my hearing problem is worse than I realise).

Tania’s own composition “Fire and Light” come across well live. On the CD Tania’s strength, like some other HFG performers, doesn’t register in the same way. However, live on a Sunday afternoon at Relax she and Juliette were probably the best act.

Katie Wren is just 16. She performed confidently and her own song, “Fairy Tales”, comes over well on CD too. (She also covered Train’s “Hey Soul Sister”, which has a riff that to my ears sounds a lot like Tracey Chapman’s song “Fast Car”.

It was a shame that Craig Devlin wasn’t there on the Sunday. His “Carry You Home” opens the CD and is one of its strongest cuts. Trevor told me before I had had a chance to check the CD out that Craig is the most authentically rock artist HFG currently have on their roster. He has an earthy, lived in voice to be sure. Yet another HFG person who either is or should be destined for greater things.

Mike Guy’s “Little Town Blues” is sadly under-produced on the CD, or just recorded at a lower volume than the rest of the tracks. It’s a shame because it grows on you, well it has on me. I had originally taken the lyrics for a non-ironic channeling of John Major appropriating George Orwell’s famous misty-eyed vision of England. "Little Town Blues" is in fact based on the lyrics of the "Dorset Gypsy Poet", Raymond A Wills. The clever and evocative lyrics work well with Mike's gently affecting tune. Mike also sung "Mr Bobby" by Manu Chao (a Bob Marley tribute) and his own, localised, take on Route 66, "A259".

Dave Williams’ “Dare I Believe” CD contribution is both professionally performed and produced. Live, Dave (see pic below) has matured as a performer. No longer, on this showing at least, tackling the rock behemoths. Aside from the above song given to him by Payen Bingley, he covered lower key numbers that suited his range and style.

Pete Williams (no relative, see pic below) performed a blinding version of the Nelson King song "The River". This was great live and is equally great on CD. No small feat. It has that feel of an old folk/acoustic rock classic, as if it was a huge hit back in the day. Pete teamed up with his old musical sparring partner in Harry's Brother, Steve Avery, for a version of "The Weight" that (for me) was the best performance of the night. It was also the third best version of the song that I have ever heard (after The Band and the Staple Singers, naturally).

Sadly, Tom Cole was finishing his self-penned, and very catchy, CD contribution, “Long Way Home”, when I arrived. His voice is sounding more mid-Atlantic these days (as almost every English singer invariably does).

Tom Cole with Flashboy in the foreground (and Trevor and Nigel in the background)

John Busbridge’s “Summer of 67” is certainly a whole lot better than the better known “Summer of 69”, and evokes that fabled time nicely. After the first summer we had Devaluation and, during the second, British troops went into Northern Ireland. “Sgt Pepper” versus “The Ballad of John n’ Yoko”. False dichotomy I know, and I digress. John’s tune is reminiscent of Robin Sarstead's “Where Do You Go to My Lovely” fused with Dylan's “My Back Pages”. Musically appropriate I guess. He also covered "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". I hadn't realised it was originally performed by Dr Hook. To my mind it shall forever be Marianne Faithful's song. "At the age of 37, she realised she would never drive through Paris, in an open car, with the warm wind in her hair.." Oh yes.

On the CD, Maman Jay performs a number under the “Kids from 7 Streets” title. The 7 Streets project was launched by Trevor to bring help to homeless children. The song has a moving intro by one of Maman Jay’s grandchilden. It was written and, unlike all the other tracks, was produced by Abye Abdullah. Trevor tells me that Abye, like Maman Jay, originates from one of the French Indian Ocean islands.

Exclusive to the CD, Indian Dave is no Indian but he does a nice line in ethereal flute playing. Jazzi B (Jasmine Bollen) makes a solid contribution with  “Life”, a song written by Nelson King. Dan Wahnon tells us of trying to make it up in the smoke ("Hard Road Home") in a surprising foray into new wave circa 1977 (with Dan Duke providing electric guitar accompaniment). Oksana Kirjuskina is an HFG regular. Her impressive larynx does a nice turn on “Your Smile”, a song familiar to HFG regulars.

A word for the performers who didn’t make it to the CD this time and who played early on at the gig. Flashboy, otherwise known as Andy Ives, had the difficult task of singing while Kevin Sloan held his Tablet aloft as a lyric sheet. Flashboy's numbers included a cover of "Wasteland" (which I think is the song originally performed by 10 Years).

Kevin then sung good covers of a couple of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, "Fortunate Son" and "Bad Moon Rising".

The Circle remains unbroken. Here’s to Trevor, Nigel and all the HFG crew. Buy the CD at Relax, Gecko’s and other reputable outlets.

HFG: Playing live for Hastings and Sudan

Hastings Friendship Group’s 61^st gig for charitable causes was the usual semi-chaotic mix of highs and occasional lows. Held, as is often the case, at the friendly Gecko Bar in St Leonard’s, it showcased local musicians of varying abilities but who all share one overriding passion: to perform to their best for those much less fortunate than themselves.

To get the gripe over with early: the best performer of the night, saved ‘til last, was Eddy Odel. A man who over 20 years ago had his sax playing career cut short by not one but two car crashes within 12 months, plays acoustic guitar and sings country-style ballads in an exquisite manner. The trouble was I couldn’t hear Eddy’s delicate song style for the sound of two people sitting just a few feet away from him jabbering loudly. I or someone even closer to them should have politely intervened. We didn’t and eventually Eddy lost his rag. He instantly regretted it, but miraculously managed to carry on unaffected, barely missing a beat (as it were).

A performer who was perhaps better suited to the bar vibe, Oksana from Latvia, has her own way of drowning out the revelers. She belts out power ballads aided by a synthesised backing track care of a plug-in laptop. Cllr Trevor Webb, principal HFG organiser, was keen to explain to me that Oksana can play keyboards and that they are trying to hook her up with local musicians. Perhaps she should bring a portable keyboard next time. 

Oksana (pictured right) told me that she had written the song she performed in English, “When You Go Home”. While she is a better singer in her native Latvian, this was a well-crafted ballad that showed off her undoubted vocal skills and comfortable use of English. The second number, performed in Latvian and roughly translating as “After the Rain”, was, paradoxically, less interesting. It sounded a lot like 1980s EuroVision (which, if that’s your bag, may be a very good thing). 

Mike, ‘Taffman’, Guy often plays in the Ghostfinger duo with Patrick McGerr. Tonight he was performing solo, but was no less appealing for it. Beginning with an excellent cover of the wonderful “Angel from Montgomery”, by one of the world’s finest song writers and performers, John Prine, Mike is no slouch at writing and performing his own material either. “Sussex Hoedown” is a lively referencing of county life, as is “A259”, a touching reinterpretation of the more familiar "Route 66". Mike is available for hire. Check him out via http://fandalism.com/taffmanmike

He is also one of the performers due to be included on the forthcoming CD, “One Hastings Many Voices – Volume 1”, dedicated to the memory of the much-missed Hastings Council leader, Jeremy Birch. Hastings Friendship Group (HFG) is currently recording a number of its regular musicians for the release of the CD this April. In fact Volume 2 is already being planned, conceived as a fundraiser for two Sudanese charities, Together for Sudan and Children of Sudan. Tonight’s gig raised money to kick-start a recording that will draw on a more international cast of performers but who, like those on Vol 1, are mostly based in and around Hastings and St Leonard's.

Another contributor to Vol 1 will be Dan Wahnon (pictured below right). Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, Dan worked hard, alternating between reinterpretations of old and newer covers, including Skunk Anansie’s “Weak (As I Am)”. 

Andy Ives (AKA Flashboy), also included on the CD, was playing only his third ever gig, Trevor told me. With his laptop in tow this was akin to karaoke, but with a difference. Who else in the world would juxtapose Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” (sung ala Johnny Cash) with Neil Diamond’s “Love On The Rocks”? “Hurt” was the more rehearsed and is the easier of the two to sing, though no walk in the park. It came across well, even though the backing tape threatened to overwhelm the performance at one point.

Jim and Eric (see pic below, centre), so named for the evening only, were more like old stagers. Jim Westlake (from local band 'Bad Whisky') played blues harp accompaniment to Eric Harmer's vocals and acoustic guitar. Their covers were mostly of blues/rock classics and they performed them well. Surprisingly, he and Jim chose to end their set with an affecting cover of “Clocks”. Eric freely admitted afterwards that this is the only Coldplay song he can stand.

Paul Crimin is an unpredictable musician. Some covers he performs, as he would probably admit, fall flat. However his take on the Passengers’ “Let Her Go” was heartfelt and it showed. He closed with Chris Isaak’s "Wicked Game". It is not easy to sing in Isaak's distinctive style, but Paul succeeded.

Another good HFG gig. It was (mostly) live, and helps both local musicians and those in need beyond these shores. Credit to local councillors Trevor Webb and Nigel Sinden for all the good work that HFG does.

Faith and Good Vibes in St Leonard's

Councillor Trevor Webb, a veritable musical impresario in his spare time, runs the Hastings Friendship Group (HFG). He delights in giving a platform to local musical talent. Especially, he says, if they’re young, old, or female (or maybe two of the three, but you don’t have to be any of these things).

The latest HFG benefit gig was held on Wednesday night at Gecko’s, the St Leonard’s seafront bar and eatery. The cause this time was the Hastings Inter-Faith Forum (HIF). HIF brings together the diverse traditions of the area in dialogue and mutual support, and its head was present to thank people for their backing (otherwise known as throwing money into a bucket).

Trevor’s line-up this week included singer and guitarist Joanna Turner who, after a nervous start, soon found her feet and impressed with her vocal delivery. She showcased some of her own songs as well as a few pop/RnB covers. 

Joanna was followed by Dave Williams. Dave was likewise armed with just an acoustic guitar and, also like Joanne, hasn’t played that many gigs before. Dave told me beforehand that his live performances are normally confined to Church. He bravely opted to tackle some rock classics. These included The Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. (As Dave played I kept wondering which Labour leadership candidate would be the most appropriate target for Pete Townsend’s lyrical attack on would-be political bosses masquerading as those who would deliver radical change).

For my money Dave’s best moment was saved ‘til last when he brought out his ukulele and sung Sting’s ‘Fields of Gold’.

Tony Peek performed only his own songs, including ‘Bottle Alley’, a number that formed part of a Hastings musical that once toured the country. The song movingly references a renowned Hastings street to tell of past and present suffering. Tony was at his best when his barbed lyrics focused on such social observations. By contrast, I found some of his overtly political lyrics a bit jarring. Tony has a very distinct, and appealing, singing style. It reminded me a little of a solo Syd Barrett minus the astral subject matter.

Michael Stoggewl’s wife told me that her husband has been drumming for many years, but that his musical partner on the night, Eric Harmer, hadn’t sung in public before. Eric, who is retired, clarified that in fact he had played in public three times already! For me Eric and Michael were the best performers of the evening. Unassuming but effective. Eric’s almost scratchy sounding acoustic guitar gelled with Mike knocking out the rhythm on an amplified empty wooden speaker cabinet. 

Opening up with ‘Riders on the Storm’, if you can pull it off, is always a good move. ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It?’ (the Small Faces’ song of that name, I think) concluded their set. As he took the stage, Eric observed that a few drinks were needed in preparation. Well, it didn’t show, other than perhaps to encourage a pleasingly relaxed vibe. Paul Crimin then treated us to some early Beatles’ LP tracks, including ‘No Reply’ and ‘This Boy’. And very good he was too.

I had to depart to the wilds of Crowhurst before Vincent Turner, the headline act, took the stage. I understand he went down well, despite being a little nervous. Apologies to Vincent. My loss not yours. 

(This is a shot of Vincent performing in a different local venue)

Gecko rock in St Leonard's Hastings

Hastings and St Leonard's in East Sussex have a thriving music scene, and that's due in part to events like last night's Hastings Friendship Group gig. Held at Gecko’s, St Leonard’s in aid of Cancer Research, this was the latest in a series of charitable showcases for local acts.

Gecko’s Bar and Bistro is a regular venue for HFG events. It’s a nice place, seafront-facing and spacious. The beer is a bit pricey by St Leonard’s standards, but the food menu looked competitive. Full marks to Gecko’s for providing a platform for local musical and artistic talent (Paintings fill the main wall).

Tom Cole kicked the night off with a few nods to the Canada Day theme that Trevor Webb, the principal HFG organiser, was encouraging. His sensitive vocal and guitar style is well-suited to Neil Young’s ‘Heart of Gold’ and Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Early Mornin’ Rain’ and ‘Steel Rail Blues’. His own tunes, including ‘Ramblin’ Man’, are pretty good too. However when Tom re-interprets the old gospel and blues standard ‘In My Time of Dyin’ his performance is lifted to another level. If the makers of True Detective were putting that broodingly atmospheric, deep south, swampy TV drama series together now, they could easily include Tom on the soundtrack. His version of ‘In My Time of Dyin’ would sit proudly alongside the contributions of the Handsome Family et al.

Tom was followed by Eddy Odel. As it was privately observed on the night, “Eddy is good and he knows it.” He did exquisite versions of Hank Williams’ ‘Lovesick Blues’ and other vintage country and folk blues numbers. Eddy’s version of ‘Mr Bojangles’ brought tears to my eyes.

Wendy White and Nelson King are The Goo Goos, named presumably after the one-time American candy bar rather than “good government guys”. I’m told that Wendy has sung with Stone the Crows. She doesn’t look old enough to have performed with the legendary 1970s act. Maybe she gets mixed up with the (much older) Stone the Crows’ lead singer Maggie Bell who is still touring. Wendy has a similarly earthy, almost ballsy, white blues voice. That, and her and Nelson’s fast and furious electric mandolin playing, were used to great effect on a cover of the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want'. 

However we went from the sublime to the ridiculous when, being reminded of the loose Canada Day theme to the night’s proceedings, the duo covered Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of 69’. Don’t get me wrong, The Goo Goos did it very well. However ‘Summer of ‘69’ is one of the most appallingly bad songs ever written. It carries as much conviction and emotional substance as a Lynx deodorant ad. Mr Adams has always been a highly antiseptic performer anyway, representing everything that rock n’ roll should not be about. Despite that musical low, The Goo Goos were undoubtedly in fine form on the night. Their reinterpretation of the Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ rocked, and Wendy’s vocals on ‘Whole Lotta Love’ were impressive. 

Guitarists Peter Williams and Steve Avery had only played a couple of numbers when I had to leave. I’ve heard Pete and Paul Crimin (who played later) on one other occasion and like their vocal and guitar styles. From what I heard last night, Pete and Steve complimented each other nicely. Mike Guy was also scheduled to appear. Perhaps there was a further nod to other great Canadian songsmiths. After all, four-fifths of The Band were Canadian, and there is always Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and…. Justin Bieber.

I look forward to the other HFG gigs lined up throughout July and August.