Tuesday, November 24, 2009

‘Tis the season to be kicking

Coal has been hard at work with the talented mister Artur Pereira to bring the plugged-in set back alive and kicking for our 23 December gig (at Zula Bar in Long Street). For a few months it has been set aside to simmer while we worked on the softer subtleties and rearrangements of our recent acoustic set.

Dressed in his shiny armour, Art has stepped in to help us out for these two shows. In just a few short weeks, he has added a whole new dimension to our sound with his wealth of experience, ideas and tricky rhythms. He also keeps us entertained with anecdotes about all the notorious/impressive bands for which he has tickled the snare. (Now that just sounds dirty.) We are, however, still looking for a permanent replacement, so please send any intrepid drummers who might be keen our way.

The acoustic gig at the Waiting Room was a roaring success in terms of keeping the rain at bay, forcing us to come out from behind the flashy lights and loud distortion to make ourselves more vulnerable, and teaching us much about writing and performing a ‘different’, moodier kind of set.

For the show, Vera whipped out her Renaissance lute (okay, more like gingerly lifted her out of the velvet case and cradled her - the lady is older than all of us!) for a reinterpretation of Mister Fox, which she and Cathy sang with some really beautiful goose-bump inducing harmonies. Helen taught Nick Cave a trick or two with her rendition of Henry Lee and our friends Simon and Adam from The Sleepers kindly joined us with some vocals and guitar to add more depth and drama to Ghost, The Ruse, Tractor and Stroke. Thanks, gents! We are already plotting to do more performances of this nature as we really enjoyed the ‘bones laid bare’ feel and intimate atmosphere of an acoustic performance.

To keep my ideas pot bubbling, my MP3 player has serenaded me of late with Radiohead’s In Raindows, Mogwai’s The Hawk is Howling and some other bits and bobs of Tool, Incubus and PJ Harvey. But at home there have been strains of a more folky ilk, with Simon and Chris and I working on some of Simon’s Tape hiss and Sparkle songs to get them ready for a performance in the new year sometime. *sings really high harmony*

The end of year madness is upon us all, so keep taking those vitamins and going to see local live music, and we’ll wave to you from the stage on the 23rd!
Linky Xx