I noticed in the press this week that one of my all-time favourite bands, Del Amitri, have reformed with the original line up and are doing a nationwide tour next year (including Wolverhampton in February, catch them if you can) It seems that although ‘musical differences’ broke up the band some ten years ago, friendship and a love of music (and perhaps money, if you want to take the cynical view) have brought them back together. The band was started by a bunch of school friends in Glasgow in the early eighties and they formed their craft playing Open Mics in pubs and clubs in the area, before finally getting noticed. It made me wonder where some of our young talent will be in ten years’ time, given that a lot of our young performers are still only 15 or 16 years old?

But first up tonight, a newcomer to The Navy, Joe Bayliss from Lapley, near Brewood. I have seen Joe a number of times at the Navigation in Gnosall and it is always a treat. Songs from Brian Houston and Jake Bugg were very well received by an appreciative audience, but a melodic reworking of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ was original and quite superb.

One of our regulars, Melissa Severn aged just 15, has won through to the Open Mic regional finals, to be held in Liverpool on 27^thOctober. If she gets through that, then a spot at the O2 Arena in London awaits! She really is an exceptional talent, singing and playing her own compositions with crystal clear vocals and a terrific stage presence.  Good luck with that Melissa…whatever the outcome I am sure there is a stage career in front of you.

Another first timer followed, 15 year old, Lara Millard from Shifnal.  A couple of strong self-penned compositions, ‘Straight Up’ and ‘You keep me up’ were followed by a nice version of ‘Gethsemane’ from Jesus Christ Superstar. A great debut, Lara, come back anytime.

Next on stage a familiar face who travelled a fair distance to play for us. Trevor Rowley was a regular at the club for many years, but we don’t see him too often now living as he does in Church Stretton. He did just turn up to watch and listen, but with a little bit of persuasion he was enticed onto the stage with borrowed guitar, to give a master class of vintage blues slide guitar. Songs from Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell, were followed by a blues classic made famous by the Rolling Stones but actually written by Howlin’ Wolf, ‘Little Red Rooster’….superb stuff.

Another 15 year old, Nathan Davis, son of old club favourite Martyn was next in the spotlight. He is yet another youngster whose singing, playing and song writing has come on enormously. Self-penned songs, ‘Save Me’ and ‘I’ll always Say’ kept the crowd quiet and it was a nice touch to finish with his late father’s composition, ‘Revolution Song’

Time for something a little bit different, as Olly Flavell who is rapidly becoming a veteran at aged just 16, assembled a very impressive line-up for a Scratch House Band. With Roger Clark on bass, Baz Webster on drums, Ben Garrott on tenor sax and Trevor Rowley on lead guitar, the five piece conjured up images of smoky Soho clubs as they improvised a delightful instrumental set. It is great to see experienced musicians gelling together on stage like this and for me it is always the most interesting part of the evening.

Gaz Attwood and brothers Andy & Tony Collister had been waiting patiently all evening to perform and were rewarded with an extended set to close the proceedings.  This Newport three piece, Gaz and the Tones, were making their first appearance at the club, having formed just a short while ago. With Gaz on lead vocals and 12 string guitar, the solid acoustic rock sound was a treat to behold. Playing all their own material, the five song set was original and very listenable…..think Springsteen meets The Beautiful South to give you some idea.

So another excellent evening of local live music. With guests appearing from far and wide including Brewood, Shifnal and
 Church Stretton, word is getting out that The Navy is the place to be on Tuesday.  There are other good local Open Mics in the area, check out The Bridge on alternate Thursdays, next one on 10^th Oct, and The Navigation in Gnosall, weekly on Thurs.

Many thanks to the unrewarded but willing band of volunteers who set up the equipment and then pack it away at the end of the evening….without you there would be no Open Mic. All for now, keep it live!

A mediocre 0 – 0 draw in the World Cup qualifier against the Ukraine edges England towards next summer’s showpiece in Brazil, Scotland fare better in a last gasp win against Macedonia and the news that Lord Hill is crumbling in Shrewsbury (the statue that is) may be front page news in the national and local press but as ever Newport Open Mic makes centrefold (or thereabouts) in the Newport Advertiser every week. The reason being is that there is always a band of willing folk and talented musician who make it happen on a Tuesday night 50 weeks of the year.

Starting off the night this week was young Jobe Spencer who treated us to a classic instrumental written by one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival, Davey Graham who at the age of 19 wrote Angi. Graham was inspirational to many practitioners of fingerstyle acoustic guitar including Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, John Martyn, Paul Simon and Jimmy Page and pioneered the DADGAD tuning, later widely adopted by acoustic guitarists. Jobe at only 15 did a wonderful interpretation of Angi, a difficult choice and only learned by him in the past week. His friend Robbie Pilgrim then joined him on stage at the Navy Club for an acoustic instrumental jam session. This twosome gel really well together. I have to smile however as I remember Robbie stripped naked and on the scales at the baby clinic 15 years ago (I did check to make sure that he wouldn’t mind me revealing that fact and not sure that he quite made the 50^th centile in those days).

Now a regular at Open Mic, Steve Davis opened his set with a lesser known song by the prog rock band Family.  My Friend the Sun from the 1972 album Bandstand with Roger Chapman’s distinctive vocals was covered beautifully by Steve who then sang one of his own songs, Dusty Road followed by All I Want to Do written by drummer Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys and then Ride On made famous by Irish folksinger Christy Moore. A great set demonstrating Steve’s exceptional vocal range.

Newcomer to Newport Open Mic, Helen Brown from Telford, took us back to the sixties with Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, unbelievably written over 50 years ago and still sounding as good as ever. Meet Me on the Corner, a Lindisfarne classic was next and then a song called Run by Dublin born singer/songwriter Edwina Hayes who now lives in Yorkshire. A lovely gentle voice from Helen accompanying herself on guitar who will no doubt be back at Open Mic very soon completing her set with a classic from Neil Young Heart of Gold.

The talented Ben Garrott was spotted in the corner with his tenor saxophone and was persuaded to make up the Olly Flavell Combo with Jobe on drums and just let the music flow.....purely ad libbing but great stuff from this trio. Olly continued with an excellent bluesy soul set which included Alison Krauss’s When You Say Nothing At All finishing with a new song for him, Adele’s to Make You Feel My Love. A reminder that Olly’s next Open Mic Session at the Bridge Inn in Newport is on Thursday 26^th September starting at 8.30pm.

Always good to see newcomers at Open Mic and the second one of the evening was 15 year old Cameron Forrest from Loggerheads. Up until December last year he had been doing karaoke but since then has taken up the guitar and is now through to the regional finals of Open Mic UK in Manchester on 6^th October for which there have been 12,000 entrants! Covering songs by Jake Bugg, Amy Winehouse, Paolo Nutini, Passenger and Bastille he is a young man of considerable talent and maturity and proud dad from Glasgow is obviously his number one fan.

A scratch band to finish an evening of great music at the Royal Naval Association in Bellman’s Yard with Steve Davis, this time on drums, Andy Wynn on bass and Rory Forster vocals and guitar performing Naive by the Kooks and a great version of U2’s One Love. The highlight of the set however was a song written by Rory 3 years ago called Suicide.

Thanks as always to all those who help on the night and looking forward to the return of our European correspondent so that I can get to bed before 2am on Wednesday mornings.

Plant on Home Turf

Monday night found me in a queue alongside Bev Bevan (drummer from ELO) wearing purple socks and Allison, sporting a baggy Jack Daniels t-shirt, sister of legendary man of rock, back on home ground, Robert Plant.  A coup for the Civic in Wolverhampton (Willenhall Leisure Centre had a dominos fixture) where 3,000 Plant/Zeppelin fans had travelled far and wide for 2 hours of musical magic and a whole lotta love from the 65 year old rocker looking and sounding as good as ever, with his new band The Sensational Space Shifters.

Tuesday night Wolves vs Walsall resulted in a 2-2 draw in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy where no doubt Plant and Bevan, as huge Wolves fans, would be found seated in the new Stan Cullis Stand at Molineux.

Not quite the same attendance at Newport Open Mic perhaps but nonetheless an enthusiastic crowd of music lovers starting with Malcolm Purvis from Leeds who now makes the Navy Club a regular venue to try out his self penned songs. Malcolm first attended Open Mic here just over a year ago and has been inspired by many of the talented performers he has heard over the past 12 months. His first song, Higher and Higher, was about optimism and making the best of everything and at the other end of the spectrum Black Sun took us down the road of pessimism. The Girl on Line 14 was the first song he ever wrote and I remember its first airing last summer about a Polish girl at the checkout with whom he fell in love. Malcolm is off to Chicago in November for 2 weeks and has got some gigs booked over there so he is indeed going Higher and Higher.

Despite a sore throat and swollen glands Olly Flavell was in extra chilled mood and Ronan Keating’s When You Say Nothing at All was especially soulful. He can be heard this Saturday performing at Herofest at Sir Alexander Fleming School in Sutton Hill an all day charity event between 10am and 6pm.

15 year old Nathan Davis is very much at home on the Open Mic stage as his late father, Martyn, was. Coldplay’s Fix You was especially good as was the Bon Iver song Skinny Love. Great to see Angel Day, also 15, joining him on stage and singing Best Day by Taylor Swift with him. Always a good choice of songs from Nathan which very often include his own material as well as some well remembered songs written by his father.

Steve Davis was next up and has made his own the little known David Crosby song Traction in the Rain from the 1971 solo album if I Could Only Remember My Name. Christie Moore’s Ride On suits his vocal range to a tee and this was followed by an ad lib with the title Dusty Road. A Londoner himself his version of Steve Marriott’s and Ronnie Lane’s You Need Loving was outstanding. A fine set enhanced by the use of a chorus pedal was concluded with Tom Petty’s Learning to Fly.

A second time round for Olly and finally a lovely finish to an all acoustic evening when Graham Dabbs got up and treated us to his fine flat picking and melodic vocals with country songs by the Carter Family, Wildwood Flower and US country star Hal Ketchum’s Past The Point of Rescue. Hal can be seen at the Robin at Bilston on 21^st October.  

Another great night at the Navy. Don’t forget full PA and drum kit is provided so just turn up and play or relax and enjoy an evening listening to some great local talent.

Report Jude Paton

Photographs Matthew Thomas