I have quite a difficult task ahead of me. I attended a gig at the Portland Rock Bar last Tuesday and things have militated against me blogging about it ever since [isn’t it daft that Microsoft Spellcheck still doesn’t know the word Blogging! Or Spellcheck even!!!].
Anyway, what happened was…. 2+ days of NO BROADBAND thanks to Virgin Media’s crappy cable internet service, ….1 day dedicated to preparing disco for Blaker’s Park Halloween Party, …another day preparing disco for Friday night retirement party,… 2 days work and 2 days round trip to Devon …. The maths doesn’t fall out quite right but that’s why I’ve forgotten just about everything I’d worked out to say about last Tuesday’s Battle of the Bands at the Portland. So,… dredging stuff the best I can from my defective [I’m 55 and survived the 60s and 70s] memory, here’s my stab at doing it now.
First of all, I have to congratulate the organiser of the gig on getting such a great venue together for live performance. It’s a large back room of a pub that somehow preserves a friendly atmosphere while providing adequate room for a reasonably sized stage and plenty of space to observe from. It allows 2 pool tables to operate unobtrusively in the background and has a good bar with some proper drinks at proper prices. Better than the majority of second-rate or downright shitty dives that pass themselves off as music venues in Brighton {or, in this case Hove, actually}.
It was billed as a battle of the bands so we were issued with cloakroom tickets on entry so that we could vote for our favourites at the end. Although I participated in the game, it really was just a bit of fun as the quality was terrific right across the board and the fare served up by each of the 4 entrants was so completely different that comparison did seem particularly inappropriate on this occasion.
First band up was, in my view, the most original of the evening and an outfit I will be following with some interest in coming months as I believe they are destined for greater things. They go by the entertaining name Jam Richie, which also seems to be the moniker of the frontman, guitarist, songwriter and general all-round entertainer who rather like Frank Zappa stands out front and directs the proceedings. Comparison with The Mothers of Invention is not entirely inappropriate, I think, as their songs are very quirky indeed, vary vastly in style to fit the content, and have a lot of weird humour hidden not so far below the surface. I’d go into lots more detail if my memory served me better so you’re spared that. But, I’ll simply say they deserve your attention next time you get the chance of checking them out. If they’d been the only act on the bill that evening I’d have gone away more than satisfied.
Fuze were the next party to adorn the stage. Now, these were a bunch of cheeky young monkeys of 13-14 years old who were so ‘up-for-it’ as the current idiom has it, that no one in the hall could have ignored them. Once again I reiterate that the promise of a very fruitful future for music in Brighton is a certainty. They were so downright spunky in their attitude and excited and exciting in the performance that they just had to go on to take the joint first place for the competition. Particularly impressive were the Streets/Jamie T style rappy singer and the nifty little guitarist who had a haircut that will keep us all entertained for some time to come.
Rockheart were an amazing find to the previously uninitiated such as myself. They appear as a standard rock three-piece [guitar, bass & drums] but that’s where any ordinariness ends. The frontman has all the charisma and style of a Lou Reed minus the foul temper! He looks fairly inoffensive but once he opens his mouth or sets fingers upon fret, one realises we’re in the presence of a rock phenomenon. As I said nothing standard in the performance here.
Finally we were presented with a fine performance from Last Orders. I reviewed their performance at Blaker’s Park Community Picnic back in June and I remember describing them as in the troubadour style of English Folk Rock. Well they kicked off with a number of songs using the same 2 piece line-up of guitarist/singer and drummer and it was clear that their act had been improved and polished in the intervening period to a much higher standard. But then they introduced their new fiddle player who took the performance into even higher realms. One began to think Fairport Convention, The Strawbs or East of Eden – if you get my drift. I was delighted to see what a transformation the addition of one instrument could make. I’m really looking forward to promised acquisition of bass player and who-knows what then…
As I mentioned The Portland Rock Bar is a lovely venue and deserves to be supported at every opportunity. There’s nothing snotty or cliquey about it – in fact I’d go as to suggest that it’s family and community friendly. I’ll be going along again soon. See you there?
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