LAST WEEK IN LONDON Good Times and Good Causes By Peter Coulston Hello and welcome to another week in the live lounges of London, all of which were located, once again, no further east than Soho. This is not intentional, despite previous comments about Hackney, but purely artist driven; however, I promise to spend a whole week in the eastern boroughs, including Hackney, some time soon and definitely without my car. So, my first port of call was The Bedford in Balham on Tuesday, where an old favourite was teamed up with some new experiences. Callaghan This lady is described on her MySpace as acoustic/country/folk, but to me it was more Country & Western than Country, certainly with the first number, “Love Me for a While”, which was very Leann Rimes. This girl has the perfect voice and vocal technique for this sort of music but the songs had a little too much Western in them for my taste. Many melody lines sounded very familiar and “Get Me through Tonight” was a dead ringer for a song of a similar name by a certain Mr Kristofferson. She moved to keyboards for the last few songs and this was more to my liking, particularly “The Edge of Love”. If Country & Western is your thing and you would enjoy listening to a performer who really knows how to perform it, Callaghan is for you. Jazmine Ava This lady from Colchester is happy playing country, rock, blues, ska and a bit of Balkan. She has a lovely, earthy voice which is particularly effective on dark, bluesy numbers like “Pixies” and the slightly gospel “Didn’t See it Coming”. With a solid rhythm section and a lead guitarist who understands country rock and blues, the overall sound of the band is professional and well rounded off with Ms Ava’s own guitar work on a Wesley acoustic with a slight bowl back and a beautiful tone. The inclusion of the old classic Louis Prima monkey song from Jungle Book was a lot of fun and very well received. They seem to play a lot around the Colchester area and, if you are from that part of the world you may well have seen her. For my part, I hope that she comes back to London soon as I would like to catch her act again. Al Lewis Al has been one of my favourite performers for some time now, and his set on Tuesday was enjoyable but short. Ably assisted by a young lady on cello, he opened with “One Way Love Affair”, which I believe is available as a single, and featured another new and innovatively melodic song, “Treading Water” before abandoning his cello player so that he could jazz it up a bit with “Sirens”. Al has a few records out, all of which I have reviewed, and gigs regularly around London. I recommend that you check him out as he is certainly one of the most promising artists of his kind on the scene right now. Coppers for Karma This gig was my first visit to Madame Jo Jo’s on Brewer Street in the heart of Soho and it was at the invitation of Crick Crack Cronk Promotions who wanted me to hear the above band. The club itself is in a basement and is modern with lots of red on the walls and the tables, a dance area in front of the stage, good sound and drinks at reasonable prices. The adjoining adult shops, strip clubs and “models” are a bit off putting but the adult cinemas are now closed, in case you were interested. The Soho Review Bar, where I have been to many a good show, is just around the corner in Walkers Court, so the area is not all sleaze. The band are a three piece from London consisting of Richard Howard on vocals and guitar, Andy Hill on bass and Woycech Hjidzik on drums, and they are difficult to classify. At first, I could see some Franz Ferdinand in there along with Balkan, ska, punk and some good old pop rock. What was consistent was the quality of the band and the unusual lyrics. They look good and Mr Howard is an excellent front man with a great vocal range and a good grasp of what to do with a Fender. The lyrics are quirky as in David Byrne or Morrisey and the overall professionalism of the performance earned them an encore. Well done, lads; I’ll be watching you. To the Bones These four guys from Bolton are heavy rock, and that’s about all you can say. The singer screams a lot, they use feedback and managed to knock the drum kit over. Heavy, man. The songs, apart from one, had little or no melody and a large percentage of the audience decided to leave during their set, but seemed to have returned by the time the last band came on stage. This was not the right gig for them, and these were certainly not two bands that they should have been sharing a bill with. I’ll pass on any future gigs. Wild Youth Now there’s nothing wrong with making lots of noise if you do it well, which these guys certainly do. We were all glad that these lads from Wolverhampton found their way off that town’s confusing one way system and picked up the M40 to London because they play good. Not only that, they look good with Ronnie Wood hairstyles and skinny jeans in abundance and a couple of Les Pauls that do the business. The lead singer knows what it’s all about and great songs like “What’s Wrong with Your Head” and “Rainbows” allowed him to show it. I think that their new song, “Delirium”, borrowed the odd hook from “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” but, hopefully, Mr Zimmerman won’t notice. The singer did a very effective, slightly jazzy, solo number and the show left us all glad that we had stayed. Come again, guys it’s not that far. Just stay away from that one way system. David Gibson On Friday night I found myself at the Luminaire on Kilburn High Road as a guest of Gig Aid, an organisation with two objectives; those being, to promote unsigned artists and to make a difference to charitable causes. With the motto “Playing for the Cause”, they were on this occasion raising funds for Crisis, a charity that helps and enables homeless people by influencing policy makers with innovative and integrated solutions. Both objectives would appear to have been achieved in that the artists performing received well deserved exposure from this and other review outlets, and the charity received 100% of the door takings at this very well attended gig. An excellent idea which I intend to be involved with in the future. The music began with David Gibson, a very accomplished singer and guitarist who mentions Texas on his MySpace as a place of origin, among others; though his accent would suggest that his origins are closer to Antrim than Austin. However, the songs were great and, after performing the bluesy “Jazz Tune” on his own, he was joined by a couple of lads on guitar and keyboards who, collectively, gave us excellent ballads like “Be There” which were a bit Coldplay/Snow Patrol for want of a better comparison. David is a better vocalist than the lead singers of both those bands and the songs are just as good. None of the songs that I mentioned are on My Space, but go there anyway. The Belgrave Scandal These guys are a London based threesome in the indie/New Wave mode and are technically extremely competent. “Five O’clock Shadows” was a good rocker and the whole thing tends to grow on you as the set progresses, though I must say that I did not like the frequent rhythm changes in a couple of the songs as they just didn’t seem to work. Having said that, these guys are talented and doing a lot of things right, so check out that song and others on their MySpace. Suddenly Vince There are five of these guys and they make a very good prog./heavy rock noise with well constructed songs, solid guitars and rhythm and a very effective lead singer. There is not a lot more you can say about a very competent band like this, except that the audience loved them enough to demand and receive an encore. “I’m the Leader” was worth remembering and can be found on their My Space, which you should, of course, visit. 7Law This band is the actual reason that I was at this gig tonight in that I was made aware of it and of Gig Aid by Rajko, a singer songwriter who I have reviewed before and who is one third of the band. Now, the last time I reviewed Rajko and some of his friends back in April at the 12 Bar, it was all about acoustic guitars, cellos and folksy songs. Since then he seems to have acquired a Fender, a couple of mates on bass and drums respectively, and they really rock. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the quality and accessibility of the material. I have known Rajko for some time and have always considered his songs and performances to be well above average with a hint of star quality, so nothing’s changed there. I was just surprised at the transformation and what brought it on. Well, apparently this has been going on for ages with these guys and they are now getting back together after a few gap years. The result is a three man sound system with two good singers upfront, impressive songs full of interesting lyrics and power chords, and an overall sound and presentation that cannot be ignored. Encores were on the menu again and there is no doubt that this band could go places. They have not revived their website yet so you have to go to Rajko’s to find out what’s going on; hopefully a lot in the near future. As you will observe, the format of the column has changed and we are now showing all the MySpace addresses at the bottom of the column with links to the names. Hope you like it; I certainly do. All that’s left to say is, stay safe and well and see you somewhere, I hope, next week. Related links: www.myspace.com/callaghanspage www.myspace.com/jazmineava www.myspace.com/allewismusic www.myspace.com/coppersforkarma www.myspace.com/tothebones www.myspace.com/wildyouthmusic www.myspace.com/davidgibsonmusic www.myspace.com/thebelgravescandal www.myspace.com/suddenlyvincemusic www.rajkomusic.com