Oh What a Night. Words by John Heath

If life is going smoothly, there are so many things that you take for granted and you tend to forget about them.

 

One thing I forgot to include in last week’s report, because it is going so smoothly, is the work done by the sound engineer, Adam Brown, who travels over from Market Drayton most weeks to perform his magic on the sound desk. He provides clean, crisp sound from the lowest bass to the highest treble which is a joy to listen to. He helps to set up at the start of the evening, and he is there to coil the wires at the end of the night. I wonder if he’ll let me adopt him. Thanks this week, however, goes to Rich Evans for manning the sound desk as Adam is busy with coursework deadlines.

 

As I rolled up to the Navy at 7pm, Nathan Davies and his mate Jobe were outside the club writing a song about a cardboard box and writing it down on a Pizza box. They said that they stayed behind after school and had nothing to do while waiting for the club to open, so they bought a Pizza and subsequently wrote the song on the lid of the box.

 

Time for the sound check and birthday girl Remynie joined the very enthusiastic Olly Flavell, Steve Smith and Mark Langford on stage to get the evening off to a start in a party mood. The audience joined in singing the Happy Birthday song to her. Later on in the evening she paid tribute to Ben who dragged her onto the stage to sing for the first time three years ago, “And look at what a monster I have created!” he quipped.

 

Carol Cartwright got the evening off to its official start followed by Martyn Templeton, the man with the powerful voice and the mobile eyebrows. Martin came into the club about five years ago simply to check out what was going on and has been a regular ever since.

 

Sammi Elston sings her own songs, telling stories of her own experiences. “I break a lot of boy’s hearts,” she told me. This little heartbreaker will be supporting Nell Bryden at the Slade Rooms in Wolverhampton next month.

 

Mark Langford was joined by Steve Smith and Pete Barton to prove he is “So Hard To Handle”.

 

I have been trying to avoid making any reference to the weather, but Sharn and Alan reminded us all that indeed there “Ain’t No Sunshine”. But now it is time for me to be “Leaving On A Jet Plane” to get back to Colombia with its almost constant sunshine and 25⁰C (well, someone has to do it), after having enjoyed three blissful weeks in Newport, with three blissful evenings at the Navy.

 

Why not treat yourself to a bit of bliss at the Navy, Bellman’s Yard, Newport, every Tuesday from about 8pm?

 

A reminder that there will be a Friday night music night at the Navy Club on 7^th June with classic rock from One O’Clock Hogs in aid of Cancer Research to commemorate what would have been Daniel O’Rourke’s 30^th birthday. Tickets are £3 and available from Hey Jude’s in Newport Indoor Market.

 

Words by John Heath
 Photography Matthew Thomas

A message from Tosh

Hi All;

So people have been asking me what I've been upto since Weezel Diesel...

The band that I have been working with called BABAJACK has been nominated for a whopping five categories in the British Blues Awards.

- Best Album (for ROOSTER)
- Best Original Song (Rooster Blues)
- Best Acoustic Act - (Babajack)
- Harmonica Player of the Year (Trevor Steger)
- Instrumentalist of the Year (Becky Tate Percussion)

Babajack are a roots blues duo but I was hired to record drum tracks for their new album and help fill out their sound for bigger festival dates.  We're playing the Grolsh Blues Festival in the outskirts of Dusseldorf, Germany next week.

I would appreciate it if you guys could take a minute to vote for us!
http://www.britishbluesawards.co.uk/vote.htm

Also while you're there, Blues Boy Dan Owen from Shrewsbury has been nominated in 3 categories.  Take a look at the other artists and bands, it's a great way to discover new music!


Not to confuse things - PRE SLEEP MONOLOGUE is still my main band!
Pre Sleep Monologue has been working on some new recordings with producer Adam Fuest, who has worked with The Cure, Big Audio Dynamite, Babyshambles, The Who, Mott The Hoople and a whole wall of gold and platinum albums.  The EP is currently getting final mixing tweaks and then getting mastered for release very shortly.

This month at  Rock n Bowl Festival in Market Drayton on 26 May

What a Great Night. Words by John Heath and Photographs by Lawrence Gale.

Many of the words used in music theory are either Italian or Greek in origin: “alto” from the Italian meaning ‘high’;  “symphony” (in agreement); “Allegro” (dodgy 70s motor car). “Virtuoso” is one of these musical terms that should only be used with caution, and only on the very rare occasions that it is truly applicable.

I think that everyone at the Navy on Tuesday will be in high agreement with me that they witnessed a virtuoso performance by David Sandford. We are all familiar with the fireworks he can generate with his Stratocaster, but few of us, until tonight, have experienced the joy of listening to Dave play acoustic guitar. And in amongst all of his twiddly bits and fancy chord sequences he played THE most poignant love song. One of his own compositions, and seventeen years in the making, this song was personal, heart-wrenching and beautiful. It can’t be easy to open your soul so publicly, but when it happens, it is a truly moving experience.

Undaunted by this surprisingly brilliant start to the evening, Jobe and Robbie jammed some guitar duets while Vinyl Tap were tuning up ready to hit the stage and “Wipe Out” the audience. In Vinyl Tap there is the perfect example of one thing I love so much about ‘music’: it is completely open to people of all ages to enjoy together. Brad and Remynie provided wonderful support for Alex (did I tell you he is 40 soon?) on vocals. Definitely no need to ”Fear The Reaper” here!

I have been out of the country for a year, so it is interesting to see how people have developed as performers during that time. Ollie Flavell was confident while fronting a pick-up group of “old codgers”; and Clare Shaw’s voice was surprisingly strong and clear. She tells me that she stopped smoking some time ago, and she feels that her lung capacity has noticeably improved since then, enabling her to reach and sustain notes that she found difficult in the past.

Then, from somewhere behind a gigantic black guitar came some songs from the 60s played by ten-year-old Jay Harris. He bursts into the Navy and with so much enthusiasm that you can’t help but smile when you see him and feel happy.

And how can you be anything else but happy to see Harry Woolley up on stage. Always good at drawing out the best from those who accompany him on stage to provide new twists and turns on some solid Blues, Harry was in fine form.

Hit ‘n’ Run brought the evening to an end with an improvisation on one of Pippin’s many remarkable riffs, almost telepathically following the ever changing tempos that Andy Conway supplied while Dan Renyard made the bass hum. Voodoo Chile never sounded so good.

Over 50 lucky people enjoyed a splendid night’s entertainment. Be one of the lucky ones, every Tuesday night – come and join us at the Navy, Bellman’s Yard in Newport Shropshire TF10. and if you want to be really lucky, come and help to set up at 7pm.

Open Mic review, May 7^th 2013. Words by John Heath

I have not been able to go to the Navy Open Mic for over a year while living abroad as a tax exile (NOT), so it was with a great deal of anticipation that I made my way down Bellman’s Yard at 7pm on Tuesday night.

Nathan Davies and his friend, Brendon, were already there helping to get the equipment out of the loft and ensure that the people who were eager to play were not kept waiting.

Nathan also did the sound check and even performed his own set later in the evening. It is really good to see that he is coming regularly to the Navy, and getting really involved not just with the Open Mic night, but with his music.

By the time that the sound check was completed, the room was already quite full and waiting to listen to the first of several “scratch bands” who played during the evening. 

First up, Mark ‘Superman’ Langford added his choppy rhythms to accompany Dave “Bluez” who was in superb form tonight. ‘Red House’ was performed with a degree of mellowness that reflects Dave’s new interest in adding a jazzy feel to his guitar playing.

Richard Evans, this week playing a real instrument, exchanged friendly banter with the audience while singing some Irish ballads. I think that Rich has finally gone over to the dark side – folk! (Come on, it was almost May The Fourth be with you, so I should be able to get away with at least one Star Wars reference!)

There are always surprises waiting for you at the Navy. I had become familiar with Rymnie’s splendid singing, keyboard-, drum-, and guitar-playing and this week’s surprise was that she had encouraged Ben Garret to join her on “Beat Box”: imitating the sound of a funky drum kit using only his voice and controlled breathing. This technique is something that will become very useful to the pair of them while they pursue their latest project of performing ‘Metal’ songs with a smooth jazzy feel to them.

The second surprise (for me, at least) was Darcy using a loop machine to build up layers of beat-box rhythms and finally sing with these rhythms as a backing track. Amazing stuff.

And all the way from snow-bound High Offley, the boss himself, Mervyn Wiliams, popped in to give us an enthralling set of rock covers with his band. Bang To Rights had had a really exciting gig at the Hen And Chickens in Bridgnorth over the weekend and they had called into the Navy to get their breath back. With a some new recordings in the pipeline and gigs piling up this classic rock band are kept busy. Long Live Rock!

Many other people contributed to a very successful night of good music, but I missed their performances while either being bitten by a rogue insect, or deep in conversation with one of the many friends that I have made at the Navy through the medium of music.

The Navy: a great Open Mic evening that is now celebrating 10years in it's present location and format. Great "Live" music and good friends and good beer – a combination that repeats itself each week on Tuesday night from about 8pm. Helpers are always welcome to give a hand to bring the equipment down from the loft from 7pm.

See you all next week at The Royal Naval Association Club in Bellmans Yard Newport Shropshire TF10. 

 

Open Mic 30^th April 2013

Words by Fiona Ward

Pictures by Chris Neophytou

 

The news this week that boy band JLS have split has left hundreds of teenagers devastated, but luckily for the young people of Newport, teenagers are welcome to attend and perform at Open Mic, held on Tuesday evenings at Newport’s Navy Club. Open Mic enables them to experience a whole range of different musical styles and genres and provides inspiration for budding musicians who would welcome the opportunity to develop their musical abilities in front of a relaxed audience.

Open Mic regular Carol Cartwright opened the evening, which was again well attended with around 70 people turning up. Carol began her set with The Beatles’ “Here comes the Sun” with some lovely finger plucking of the acoustic guitar, followed by an excellent rendition of “Mad World”, Tears for Fears. Carol finished her set with “I used to be a Sailor”, one of Carol’s regular numbers.

Malcolm Purvis was up next, delivering self-penned compositions with very thoughtful lyrics from his observations on the activities of the world around him, accompanied by strong rhythm guitar and a confident energy throughout his performance. Malcolm has a website www.malcompurvis.moonfruit.com if you would like to listen to his songs “Help me be Kind”, “One More Time” and “South Shore Line”.

Continuing the acoustic rhythm guitar theme was Jordan Clemmer, who has performed at Open Mic before, but we would welcome his appearance again. He played an excellent version of Herman’s Hermits’ “Something tells me I’m into something good” and Andrew Garcia’s “Crazy”.

Robbie Pilgrim (15) and Jobe (14) come to Open Mic every week and can be heard in the background practicing together on guitars, and it was fantastic this week to see them get up on stage and share their talents with the crowd. Robbie and Jobe play really well together and deliver a stunning combination of rhythm and lead guitar instrumentals.  They are a delight to listen to and should perform more often!!

Using a loop pedal, bass guitar and ukulele (all at the same time …) Rich Evans performed “Message to you Rudy” by the Specials. This was followed by “My Little Honda 50” a catchy foot-tapping number that demonstrated Rich’s ability to try different sounds and styles. The home-made instrument, “Amy Winebox” made a welcome return with its’ unique sound as Rich performed Seasick Steve’s “Walking Man” and a slow version of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody”.

The excellent Isis Sky is a fantastic vocalist, with her own unique sound and demonstrated her versatility this week, when technical difficulties caused Isis to have no backing track to sing to. (It must be said that this is an unusual occurrence for Open Mic, as Adam Brown does a fantastic job looking after the sound equipment). Rich Evans stepped in to accompany Isis on guitar as she sang Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. Isis remained true to her own style of vocal which made the performance very much her own.

Open Mic regular Rich T. opened his set with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” which highlighted Rich’s skills on rhythm guitar. This was followed by Neil Sedaka’s “Carol” always a good song to hear, and “Monster Mash”. Rich traded the original words of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” for his own lyrics – a Rich T. trademark.

Nathan Davies excelled himself this week, with the usual laid back style and great rhythm guitar, but demonstrated a different style of vocal to perform “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”, which is a higher pitch than Nathan’s usual vocals. His performance was upbeat and confident.

Following many solo artists, this week, the club saw the only band of the evening take to the stage. “The Nameless” a five piece band, performed a great set, with a strong yet relaxed sound. Their songs included the classic “Black Magic Woman”, Jethro Tull’s “We Used to Know” and finished up with a rousing version of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”.

Darcy Crawford’s a cappella version of “Wayfaring Stranger” was again fantastic and the club fell into complete silence as everyone listened.   Darcy then played acoustic guitar to accompany himself to “Drops of Jupiter” by Train, Jason Mraz’s “Beautiful” and U2’s  ”With or Without You,” Darcy sings from the soul very naturally.

It was nearly the end of the evening when Tommy got up to play a set – confident and positive, he performed upbeat versions of Jason Mraz’s “I’m yours” and “Teardrop” by Massive Attack. His rendition of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” had everyone “Sha-la- la-ing” along with him.

The evening saw a fantastic finale as Tommy and Darcy joined together to perform a wonderful impromptu and un-rehearsed version of Paolo Nutini’s “Last Request”. It is always great when musicians join together spontaneously at Open Mic to provide these unexpected performances.

 

What a great night of live music it had been. Rest assured it will all happen again next week. Same time, same place, just different performers. See you there, Where? The Royal Naval association Club in Bellmans Yard Newport Shropshire TF10.

After a St George’s day with a lot of sunny spells and actually feeling quite warm in Newport, there was, as usual, a warm and friendly atmosphere at Open Mic at Newport’s Royal Naval Association Club, in Bellmans Yard Newport Shropshire.

With over 70 people in attendance, and a high quality of music and variety, the evening was as bright as the day has been.

Adam Brown performed the vital role of MC, as regular Ollie Flavell performed an instrumental number as the sound check. This was accompanied by performers writing their names on the play list, resulting in a full board by 7.50pm!

Carol Cartwright opened the evening’s music with Tracy Chapman’s “Matters of the Heart”. Carol’s mellow tones on this number were then lifted as she sang a lovely rendition of “You’re Still the One”
by Shania Twain in addition to the moving “Last thing on my mind” and “He thinks He’ll Keep Her”.

Running ahead of time, gave Rich Evans opportunity to play a couple of songs, the first using yet another musical “invention” which currently has no name (ideas on Newport Open Mic Facebook page please!) . Rich used this instrument to create a fantastic blues sound to accompany himself to
“Bad to the Bone”. This was followed by the Specials’ “A Message to You Rudy” using a guitar, ukulele and a loop pedal.

The “Noisy Boys” were up next, delivering smooth and polished performances including Steve Miller’s “Abracadabra”, “Aint no Sunshine” and “Black Magic Woman”.  The band are looking for a new name (they can be seen on You Tube as “Katy and the Noisy Boys”) and would be grateful for ideas. Again, suggestions can be made via the Newport Open Mic Facebook page.

Foster the People’s “Pumped up Kicks” was performed by Nathan Davies with an amazingly deep voice and rich tones, and his usual laid back, highly talented guitar skills. This was followed by Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper”.  Nathan started attending Open Mic when he was much younger, and has continued to develop which demonstrates that this venue is ideal for young people to showcase and practice their talents.

The ever popular Vinyl Tap launched into “Wipeout” with an impressive drum introduction from Remynie-Kiah. The band then slowed it down to perform Radiohead’s “Creep” showcasing Alex’s excellent vocal abilities.  Alex then made his debut on keyboards, complimented by Brad’s mastery of lead guitar, Jude’s steady bass and Cathy switching keyboards for tambourine on “Don’t Fear the Reaper” – an excellent set!

Newport Open Mic would like to express sincere thanks to Carol Allan. Carol’s late husband John Allan was guitarist with Vinyl Tap and a staunch supporter of Open Mic. Carol has kindly donated John’s vintage guitar to Open Mic in order to continue his support.

Brad and Dan got up on stage, and the harmonies between both their voices and guitars were a delight to listen to, as they performed “Outside” by Staind and were then joined by Remynie-Kiah on drums to play a rousing rendition of Offspring’s “The Kids aren’t Alright”.   Dan then remained on stage alone to perform an acoustic version of “Hallelujah”

Sharn and Alan performed an acoustic version of  Pixie Lott’s “Mama Do” and then Sharn’s clear strong vocals were highlighted as she sang “Killing me Softly” finishing off with the fantastic “Titanium”. Sharn always delivers a high quality performance, and seemed even more
clear and confident this week.

Open Mic Regular, the very talented Melissa Walford took to the stage to sing songs including “Home town glory”, “All those Days” and “You are the only Exception”. Melissa has fantastic vocal abilities and is growing in confidence each time she performs.

Keeping on with the acoustic theme was Remynie-Kiah performing a very melodic and gentle version of Jessie J’s “Price Tag”, which worked really well and gave a different sound to the song.  This was followed by a fantastic version of James Arthur’s “Impossible” which demonstrated Remynie’s exceptional vocal abilities.

Rich T.  brought some anarchy to the stage next, with his traditional hard edgy sound and stance, finishing off his set with Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK”.

Playing the final set of the night was Open Mic regular Darcy Crawford, who began with the excellent “Wayfaring Stranger”.  Every time Darcy performs this number using a loop pedal it gets better and better. Darcy’s set also included “Use Somebody”, Brad Paisley’s “I’m Still a Guy” and finished up with the ever-popular Proclaimers’ “500 Miles” complete with audience participation.

If you missed the one of the best Open Mic nights in the country this week, come along next Tuesday at 8pm to listen to the growing number of very talented musicians that live in and around Newport Shropshire.