Tony Iommi lead guitarist with Black Sabbath invented lighter gauge strings which were made especially for him by Picato Strings in Wales in 1970. Previously only the heavier gauge strings were available but Tony was unable to “bend” them after he lost the ends of 2 fingers in an industrial accident on his last day at work in a sheet metal factorywhen he was just 17. Thinking that he would never be able to play again Picato came to the rescue and made him the lighter gauge strings. Producers thought he would never get the “full sound” from lighter strings but I reckon he proved them wrong! Picato in Treorchy are still going strong as is Tony Iommi despite being diagnosed in 2012 with the early stages of lymphoma for which he has undergone successful treatment as of January 2013. Never Say Die, Black Sabbath reformed in 2012 and are currently doing a massive sell out tour.

As for Newport Open Mic, now into its second decade, it seems to go from strength to strength and one can never say it’s just the same old faces because every week there are new faces in the audience or up on stage. Thanks to the posse of helpers who arrived at 7pm to help set up we were ready for the telecaster blues jam session which kicked off the evening featuring Dave Blu and friends warming up the audience for Malcolm Purvis, all the way from Leeds for the second week running. Singer/songwriter, Malcolm never fails to please the Newport crowd with a prolific repertoire. His opening number called “The Drifter” was about a man in a foreign town who gets set upon but who has his comeuppance in the end. 5 great songs from Malcolm tonight and I particularly liked “Black Sun” and “God Only Knows”. I would like to think that Newport Open Mic has inspired him with his song writing and he made the nice comment “I have a lot of good feelings about this place”.

Robbie Pilgrim, Olly Flavell and Jobe Spencer formed an interesting trio busking some excellent instrumentals on electric, jazz and acoustic guitars. It’s great to see these three teenagers on stage together. 

10 year old Jay Harris bubbles with enthusiasm about music and life in general and with about 10 members of his family in the audience he well deserved the resounding applause at the end of his 3 song set which comprised Shed 7’s “On Standby”, and back to the 60s with “Wild Thing” and “Twist and Shout” with the audience on backing vocals.

 

Dave Blu’s scratch band was up next featuring guest vocalist Rich Evans with a great version of “Crossroads” and ably accompanied by Steve Davis on drums, Andy Clarke on bass and Olly Flavell on jazz guitar. A great jazzy blues set from the band.

 

Regulars Gaz and the Tones delivered a great solid sound with a lovely 12 string intro to the first of their self penned songs “Surrender”. Recent newcomer to the band and drummer Andy Clegg drives the band along together with the marvelous, seemingly effortless, bass playing of Andy Callister.

Rich Evans invariably brings something different to the Open Mic stage and tonight was no exception with his guitar shaped bouzouki and a set comprising country, folk, skiffle, a sea shanty and for the first time on bouzouki a song actually called “For the First Time” by The Script. Always a varied and most enjoyable set from Rich. 

Steve Davis, now a familiar face at Open Mic, was this week sponsored (in his own words) by Gaz and the Tones but I suspect only because he borrowed Gaz’s 12 string guitar and put through a chorus pedal made it sound amazing with his opener “Old Man” by Neil Young followed by Dave Crosby’s “Traction in the Rain”, “Weather With You” by Crowded House and finally the late great JJ Cale’s “Magnolia” joined by Dave Blu on lead guitar. A terrific set demonstrating an amazing vocal talent and vocal range from Steve.

An audience of around 60 over the course of the evening enjoyed a closing jam from Dave Blu, Andy Clegg, Andy Callister and Olly Flavell with some good old classics including Johnny B Goode and some blues bottleneck from the blues man himself (Dave Blu) on his 1992 DeArmond jazz guitar by Guild which appeared to have a For Sale notice hanging from it.....£275 including case I believe!!

Another great Tuesday night of live music at  the Royal Naval Association in Newport and a reminder that next Tuesday is the acoustic Open Mic session, in other words no drums but another night of live music in excellent company is promised. Keep music live and come along and see and hear for yourselves.

Bands are getting  even younger at The Navy!     Words: Dave Whiteman, Pictures: Laurence Gale

Dedicate….. what does it that word really mean? I was thinking this on Tuesday evening whilst packing up after another great night of live music at the Newport Open Mic. Obviously we know the dictionary definition don’t we? At least I thought I did until I resolved to look it up and check. Dedicate (verb) ‘to devote time and energy to a particular cause’, to commit, to pledge, to give to sacrifice….. and it occurred to me that all these people who help to set up, play themselves, collect raffle money and break down the kit at the end of the night are all ‘dedicated’ to our particular cause….bringing live music to the town. And don’t forget the audience. They MUST be dedicated to leave a nice warm house on a very wet and windy January evening to support the Open Mic with such amazing regularity!

Around sixty did just that on Tuesday evening and as usual, the performers didn’t disappoint. All the way from Leeds, Malcolm Purvis brings his self penned songs of love and angst to the Navy every time he is working in the area. A new song, ‘Chance’ reminded me very much of Al Stewart and was quite superb.

Start ‘em young we say, and the next act, Newport band The Revenue are one of the youngest we have seen. This five piece had a combined age of about 60 years, but don’t let their youth fool you. ‘I Bet She Looks Good on the Dance Floor’ and the Oasis classic ‘Don’t look Back in Anger’ rocked the house….very hard to believe this was their very first live performance.

At 16 years old Nathan Davis who followed, is almost a veteran! Revolution Song is one of his favourites, but you could hear a pin drop when he played ‘Cannonball’ by Damian Rice…great stuff.

Steve Hammond from Shrewsbury had heard about the Newport Open Mic on the music grapevine and turned up with his guitar looking for collaborators. “I don’t sing or play acoustic guitar” he told me; he was looking for a few musicians to join him on stage to rock though a bit of classic rock. Step forward Richie Evans (unusually on bass) Olly Flavell on guitar, yours truly on vocals and Pete Barton on drums, to form the first Scratch House band of the evening. Steve proved to be no slouch, with great solos throughout a short tight set. On top of that he won a bottle of wine in the raffle, making his journey doubly worthwhile!

I am running out of superlatives for next act, Gaz & the Tones. Looking around the room I saw experienced musicians nodding their heads to the solid tight beat, and all agreed that they have improved enormously over the last few months. New songs ‘Resigned’ and ‘Maybe it’s Me?’ sandwiched more familiar numbers….surely a recording contract beckons for these likeable young lads?

I have been involved in the Open Mic for many years and can truthfully say that the one performer who has surprised the most over that time is Richard Thomas. Years ago, he would get the audience on board with ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ but he is much more adventurous now……Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ anyone….sung entirely in German?!!  He never fails to bring something interesting to the table, nice one Rich.

Olly Flavell had already enjoyed his time on stage with the Scratch House Band, so didn’t expect to play again. He has been busy writing new material and after a little arm twisting he showcased one of his new songs, ‘By Your Side’. More familiar covers from Ronan Keating and LMFAO completed a super set for this very talented young man.

Another Rich, this time Rich Evans, was last act on stage to bring proceedings to a close. A melancholy start, Paul Weller’s ‘You do Something to Me’ was faultlessly delivered, but his next song ‘Is This the Way to Amarillo’ complete with bar staff contribution, ignited the room with everyone joining in the chorus and handclaps.

So there we are….dedicated. No one gets paid and it can be quite challenging at times, but we can truly say that we have a ‘dedicated’ bunch of talented performers …..not forgetting our amazing regular audience.

Back the same time next Tues for more local live music, and please note that the last Tuesday of this  month, the 28^th will once again be an acoustic evening. This doesn’t mean bands are not allowed, just that  there will be no drum kit or electric guitars, so try an unplugged evening for a very nice change! Once again, many thanks to all the volunteers who make the whole thing possible.  Until next time……..keep it live!

The New Year Starts In Fine Style

Words: Dave Whiteman, Pictures Matt Thomas (to follow).

Quite hard to believe, but only three weeks after our Christmas party we now find ourselves in the middle of dreary January. It’s official….the first month is also the worst month of the year, at least according to the Daily Mail. Having spent up over Christmas, lack of cash and short dark days coupled with miserable weather, lead lots of couples to take it out on their partner, arguing on average for over eight minutes per day. Lots of these disagreements will probably be over ownership of the TV remote, but I have a simple solution to save all those relationships out there……..forget those New Year’s Resolutions, ditch the 5-2 diet and get yourselves down to the Navy for a post-Christmas remedial dose of live music!

More than sixty people decided not to argue and welcomed first act of 2014 to the Navy stage, local duo Knockout. It's always nice to see something a little different, and with Phil Jervis on bass, Martin Woodhall introduced us to classic rock played on overdriven, distorted ukulele...a very interesting start to the evening!

Good to see Trench based Richochet back at the club. Guitarist Sand Kumar and bassist Scott Thompson recruited resident drummer Andy Conway to hammer through a set of self-penned songs, which included ‘King for the Day’ and ‘Underage, Underpaid’. A great version of Green Days ‘King for the Day’ finished a nice set. How do you describe their music? Thrash, Punk or a mixture of both? Either way, very enjoyable, welcome back lads.

We always try to get Jay Harris a fairly early slot….at just ten years old he needs his sleep! Watched and supported by his parents, Jay delighted the audience with songs from Tom Odell and former Haircut 100 front man, Nik Heyward.  This was the first time I have heard Jay playing guitar and harmonica together, no easy task, but he did it in his own laid back accomplished style. One for the future!

 Nathan Davis has matured enormously over the last year; his many appearances at the club have given him a lot more confidence and stage presence. A nice change of direction with his material included a favourite of mine, ‘Altogether Now’ from Liverpool band The Farm.
We started off with something a little different and next act Thom James, carried on the trend. With just his Gibson guitar for company he rattled through ‘River Deep Mountain High’ and then gave us a song I have never heard played at the club before….Kate Bush’s ‘Wuthering Heights’….entertaining stuff. 

Speaking of entertainers, our next performer is exactly that. He has polished his act over the years playing many gigs around Shropshire, but I am pleased to say he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Richie Evans is a one man band with his homemade Guitar/Banjo appropriately named Amy Winebox and his drum machine….an old bio hazard rubbish bin, and he delighted the audience with sing-alongs such as ‘Galway Girl’ and ‘Ho Hey’ the popular Lumineers song from last year.

Dave Blue had the difficult task of following, but he came up to the mark with his assembled ‘Scratch House’ band of Olly Flavell and Andy Clark, on guitar and bass with the busy Andy Conway on drums. Just like the advert, he does exactly what it says on the tin……Black Country Blues, including a couple of self-penned songs…..great stuff.

Gaz & the Tones played a great set at the Christmas party and they have been busy writing new material since. ‘Resigned’ ‘Changes’ and ‘Maybe it’s Me’ were showcased, and I am sure will become as ‘hummable’ as their previous offerings. Have to say how much tighter the band now seems with the rock solid rhythm of Andy Clegg on drums. 

Just time for guitar/ vocalist Pippin Henderson, bassist Rob McDonald and busy drummer Andy Conway to bring the first Open Mic of 2014 to a close with a high octane and high volume offering.  Their hard rock medley, which segued between Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, a bit of improvisation and back to Led Zep to finish, may not have been light on the ears, but it was perfectly executed and sent the crowd home happy. 

Post-Christmas events are sometimes quite cold and flat, and often have low attendances, so Tuesday’s large crowd was a pleasant surprise. Many town centre establishments would be quite delighted to have an audience of this size on a Saturday night, let alone a cold wet weekday, so we must be doing something right at The Navy! Our continued thanks to all the live music supporters in the town; let’s try to make 2014 even better than last year. Till next time, 

Happy New Year and keep it live!!