Special birthday at The Navy! 
Words: Dave Whiteman, pictures: Laurence Gale

So in the end it didn’t really matter…. did it? England creep home with their tail between their legs after another yet another forgettable tournament performance proved that their bark is definitely worse than their bite. And at the risk of mixing my metaphors again, Uruguay’s Luis Suarez proved the exact opposite by showing the both the brilliant and the ugly face of his game. Good luck to all the European teams still in the World Cup, but for me at least it is time to find solace in my other great passion, music.

Tuesdays down at the Navy have been surprisingly well attended, given the diversions on the box, and this week was no exception. It was a little different to usual though as it was a surprise birthday for Newport live music champion, Jude Paton. Whatever is happening in our town whether it is playing, booking live bands or helping to organise Newfest, Jude is involved in everything musical.
But the look on her face was priceless when she realised that the Newport Open Mic had been hijacked this week to provide a wonderful surprise birthday party to say a big thank you to her for all her great work.

With two of her favourite local bands booked and food provided by friends and supporters, the evening was set to be a cracker and that is just how it turned out. 

Dave Blue and Olly Flavell provided the warm up, enlisting Mark Langford on drums with bassman Andy Clark, and the audience reaction to their rock/jazz/blues opener set the stall for a marvellous evening.

Mervyn Williams is one of the founder members of Newport Open Mic and he needed little persuasion to perform with his band Bang to Rights and lift the room temperature with some high octane rock. There is a saying that ‘you cannot please everyone’ but with their energy and enthusiasm as well as a really varied programme, I think they did just that. A great set list included The Eagles and Billy Idol, but it was a brilliant ‘Smoke on the Water’ that really brought the house down and cemented their reputation as a rock solid band.

Just time for the raffle and a quick rendition of Happy Birthday to Jude before top local band, Old’s Cool took to the stage. I have been watching this band for a number of years and they have always been very tight, but I think the relatively new addition of vocalist Steve Simpkins has lifted them to a new level.

Heavily influenced by Thin Lizzy and Gary Moore….their ‘Parisian Walkways’ sends shivers down the spine….they have introduced a harder edge to their blues/rock and it is crowd pleasing stuff. A reworking of an old Zombies hit, ‘She’s not There’ was excellent, but after their version of ‘Hammer to Fall’ by Queen, with Paul Rodgers, the audience simply refused to let them leave the stage. Free’s ‘All Right Now’ had the necessary energy and crowd participation to send everyone home happy.

So a slightly different format to the evening, but judging by the reaction of the 70 or so crowd, the World Cup is already forgotten….until next time!

A big thank you to all who gave their time to make this a most memorable birthday party, the bands, the cake makers, the bar staff and the late night helpers who put away the kit.

Finally a reminder about Newport’s premier music event NEWFEST, which takes place tomorrow at the Rugby Club starting at 11am. Most of the dozen or so entertainers cut their musical teeth at the Newport Open Mic, so come along, give them your support and help raise funds for the chosen charity Green Fields Africa.
 
Till next time, keep it live!

Footie free at The Navy! Words: Dave Whiteman, pictures: Laurence Gale.

So the biggest spectacle in world football kicks off in Brazil with wall to wall media coverage and the usual mix of national pride and inevitable pessimism. A disappointing start for England against Italy, Portugal demolished by Germany and Brazil, shock horror, held to a draw by lowly Mexico. I must admit, I love my football so there will be bags under my eyes for the next month with all the late night viewing. Not everyone is as passionate, however, and with nearly every pub in town showing the World Cup if you don’t like the game, where do you find a football free zone? Die hard music fans head for The Navy in Bellman’s Yard for the usual feast of home grown live music talent, and Tuesday night didn’t disappoint.

The ever dependable Adam Brown gave the thumbs up from the desk, and first up Gaz Giles assembled a great Scratch House band for the sound check. With Dave Sandford, AKA Dave Blue on guitar, an increasingly confident Andy Clarke on bass and the talented Remynie Faith on drums, they rattled through a great set covering songs from Creedence Clearwater Revival and T Rex. They even managed a slow blues jam that sounded suspiciously like ‘Digging my Potatoes’….where is Harry Wooley when you need him?

Whenever I hear an electric 12 string guitar being played, the jangly sound always reminds me of the iconic 60’s band The Byrds. Next up Graham Dabbs didn’t play any of their stuff, but he did give us a master class in understated, economical playing. We don’t see Graham too often but when we do he always manages to give us something different, this time a couple of belters from Tom Paxton and Midlands legend, Raymond Froggatt.

When I was around fifteen, I vividly remember my family screaming at me to ‘give it a rest’ or words to that effect, whilst practicing my guitar at two in the morning. I can only think that young Jobe Spencer has been doing something similar for quite a while now as he has developed into a terrific player. With his stand up hair and downcast gaze, he reminds me of someone like Jeff Buckley but it is his playing style that really grabs your attention. I have been trying for decades to play the Bert Jansch classic ‘Angie’ and he made it look easy. What a talent.

Dave Blue has, like me, been playing for years but he looked across and said ‘Do I have to follow that?’ but follow he did, with a lovely acoustic set. He is normally found bending the strings of his electric Fender Strat and playing bottle neck blues, but his set was much simpler, just lovely picking and soulful voice. Brilliant stuff.

Resident snapper Laurence Gale was then persuaded to put down his camera and pick up a borrowed guitar before treating the enthusiastic audience to a fabulous instrumental Beatles medley. A man of many talents is Laurence!

Just time for a final Scratch House band to finish off the evening. Dave Blue back on his trusty Strat, Jobe Spencer this time on drums, Jude Paton on bass and yours truly on vocals busked through a series of classic rock to send the audience home happy.

No tantrums, no goal line technology, just a real live music treat that required no red cards and no understanding of the offside rule. If you are sick of the World Cup already, head for the Navy club next Tuesday, when we should have classic rockers Bang To Rights on stage around 9pm, ….whoever is on the box!

Finally a reminder about Newport’s premier music event NEWFEST, which takes place at the Rugby Club on Saturday 28^th June. Most of the dozen or so entertainers cut their musical teeth at the Newport Open Mic, so come along, give them your support and help raise funds for the chosen charity Green Fields Africa.
 
Till next time, keep it live!

Flaming June and Festival time is upon us and coming up this weekend is the Isle of White with headliners Biffy Clyro, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Kings of Leon. Download sees Linkin Park, Aerosmith, Avenged Sevenfold and Status Quo – the rock and metal fest with 3 days of axe wielding mayhem, plenty of sweat, beer and leather and a chill out area in the woods if you want to give your ears a rest from those Marshall amps turned up to 11.

The third 1970 Isle of Wight festival in 1970 was a five day marathon with non-stop performances from some of the greatest pop musicians including the Doors, Hawkwind, Joan Baez, Ten Years After, Joni Mitchell, The Who, Free, Chicago and the Moody Blues. And of course Jimi Hendrix also played at the festival just 3 weeks before his untimely death at the age of 27. At the height of the flower-power era, 600,000 music fans came from all over the world to chill out in the fields of the Isle of Wight. Free love, communal living and mind bending substances prevailed as did the wind which blew the sound sideways across the venue so the sound system had to be augmented by Pink Floyd’s PA. 

Glastonbury at the end of June features Arcade Fire, Metallica, Kasabian, Elbow, Dolly Parton and Robert Plant. Some great line-ups this summer and of course not forgetting our very own NEWfest14 on 28th June featuring bands who will be supporting the headliners, the Barflys and who have all played at Newport Open Mic. 

Tuesday's Open Mic at the Navy Club saw some of the great musical talent we have in and around Newport with a crowd of over 70 in attendance. Ben Garrott was MC for the night and in charge of the sound desk and 11 year old Jay Harris started the evening off with "You Can't Always Get What You Want", great vocals, harmonica and guitar playing from this young Mick Jagger lookalike. 
 

Ed Conway and the Unlawful Electric Men who were Paul Crewe, Si Carswell and Jon Thompson made a long overdue appearance promoting their recently released debut album Rope or a Ladder. Not quite folk songs in a Metallica style which Ed promised but a delightful mix of self penned and traditional songs as well as the opener by Welsh band The Alarm called Deeside.

Robbie Pilgrim and Jobe Spencer, looking ever more comfortable on stage together, played some delightful instrumentals. A terrific interpretation of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” preceded a beautiful self penned number by Jobe. Along with Jay Harris these two 16 year olds have grown enormously in confidence on the Open Mic stage. 

Vinyl Tap has been busy rehearsing recently and with Alan Lane on guitar and Remynie on drums they ripped through some classics with Alex, Cath and Jude including “Tainted Love” and the Jam’s “A Town Called Malice”. Our MC kindly commented that the bands combined age was probably greater than the whole of Newport added together! Thank you Ben. 

 Nameless was the next band up with Brendan Quigley on lead guitar, Charles Moore, guitar and vocals, Charles Williams on bass and Andrew Nicholls on drums. These four friends have been playing together for about 10 years and my favourite song from them tonight was Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust”.  

Following their first appearance at Newport Open Mic last week Underneath the Cocktail Bar were back again playing to a packed house. Only 7/9ths of the band were present tonight with saxophonist and keyboard player missing but once again an outstanding set from 6 exceptionally talented musicians in their late teens and early twenties with older “godfather”, John Cooper. The addition of trumpet and trombone in this band is superb and the songs “Treasure” by Bruno Mars and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” were once again outstanding. A couple of acoustic numbers with vocalist Ash Tranter completed a foot stomping set.

Gaz and The Tones appearing at Newport Carnival this weekend and NEWfest at the end of the month, brought the evening to a close with their own self penned songs as well as Cornershop’s “Brimful of Asha”. One of the best night’s of musical entertainment we’ve had in a long while with Dean, all the way from Peterborough, collecting the raffle prize. Not many Open Mic venues in the country could boast what we had tonight. Great music, laughter and friendship all round and happy 93^rd birthday to Prince Philip!

Keeping It Live.

Taking Things For Granted!

 I have recently returned from 4 days in a bothy in the Hebrides. The bothy comprises one room with no electricity or running water, no phone signal, no internet and of course no television. Toilet facilities is a short walk over common grazing land to find a secluded spot from the prying eyes of sheep and cows with a bunch of dock leaves and if you’re really lucky a handful of sheep’s wool from the barbed wire fence. The view from your chosen spot is tremendous, Loch Linnhe where dolphins swim, Ben Nevis and the Isle of Mull. Peace and tranquillity and certainly far from the madding crowd. With no taps to turn or lights to switch on it wasn’t until I got back in the car on the mainland and switched on the engine to embark on the 7 hour drive back to Shropshire and suddenly Planet Rock came across the airwaves that I realised I had not heard any music for several days. I hadn’t missed it really....the sounds on a remote island are those of skylarks and sheep but it was nice to hear Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd on the radio.
 

Tuesday night at Open Mic at the Navy Club was certainly joy to my ears and a crowd of around 50 were treated to an evening of splendid and varied music. Jobe Spencer and Robbie Pilgrim played an electric set and were joined by Ben Garrott on saxophone and Olly Flavell on bass. 

Photographer for the night, Laurence Gale, was persuaded to put his camera to one side and borrowing Olly’s Taylor did a great set which included a Harry Chapin number (his favourite singer songwriter I believe) “Cats in the Cradle”. Olly was up next and with his own distinctive style of dress as well as playing he captivated the audience. Minnie Ripperton’s “Loving You” was my favourite tonight.

It’s been a while since 17 year old Remynie-Kiah has been heard at Open Mic but what a delight to hear her playing keyboard and singing once again. Christine Aguilera’s “Bound to You” was simply haunting and songs by Lady Gaga and Imagine Dragons completed a long awaited comeback from Remynie.

It’s also been a while since we have seen Steve Hammond from Shrewsbury. A great guitarist and together with his assembled scratch band for the evening which was Alex Ash on vocals, Matt Miles on drums and Olly Flavell on bass the band ripped through a soul inspired set of numbers by Stevie Wonder, Wilson Pickett, Curtis Mayfield and Al Green.

A new name on the board and the final band of the evening was Under the Cocktail Bar. Astonishingly this is a 9 piece band although only 8 could make it tonight with Josh Finzi, the keyboard player, missing. The three piece brass section was Ashley Marston on trumpet, Ryan Richards on trombone and Emma Byrne on saxophone, Karl Wilson and John Cooper on guitars, Sean Caldicott on bass and brother Daryl Caldicott on drums with Ash Tranter on vocals. The senior member of Under the Cocktail Bar is John Cooper, fast approaching 60 and all the other band members were between 18 and 21 years old. As a retired IT teacher John has taught them all and he confessed that the highlight of his teaching career was when these talented youngsters asked him to join the band. Never before have we had eight on stage but what an absolute delight and a wonderful end to the evening. Songs by Bruno Mars, Pharrell Williams, Plan B were not only an unusual choice but with the addition of a brass section were simply amazing. “Superstition” (for the second time tonight) and “Chasing Cars” were more familiar to the audience and once again were outstanding. Still a fair few in the audience as the evening drew to a close but they were up on their feet shouting for more. The choice of Maroon 5’s “Shoot for the Stars” by this wonderful collaboration of musicians left us spellbound. What a night of live music, friendship, song and laughter.

Good to be back.

Don't forget it all happens net Tuesday evening from around 8pm.

Keeping it Live.

Words: Jude Paton

Newport Open Mic 27th May 2014                                                                                                    

Another great night of talent was on show at the Royal Navy Club. At first it seemed that it may be a somewhat quiet night however, after a slow start we were thoroughly entertained by some extremely talented musicians.

First up was Jobe Spencer who played some great instrumentals including ‘old pine’ by Ben Howard. He followed this with his own blues and funk compilations which he just plays from the heart.

Next up was me ‘Grahame Weir’ I had not intended to play as I had performed the previous week and was penning this week’s advertiser article, still needs must and I was happy to offer a little something to the nights entertainment. Jobe joined me on stage playing the lead guitar and he was a superb accompaniment. Together we managed to cover some classic songs including ‘Stray Cat Strut’ ‘Feelin Good’ and ‘I don’t like Mondays’. 

Next up was the irrepressible Rich Evans, he gave us some fabulous covers starting with the Elvis classic ‘In the Ghetto’ next he played the Rolling Stones number ‘Wild Horses’  Its great for the Open Mic that talents such as Rich turn up and play. Formerly in several bands including Weazel Diesel and Tap the Keg he now plays many solo gigs in the county and has superb vocal talent. He finished his solo set with an old Herman Hermits song ‘I’m into something good’  and a slow blues number called dying breed. A great set by Rich who would be back later.

Claire Shaw who is an environmental science student was up next. She gave us an enthralling set which included several covers including ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ by Joni Mitchell and the One Direction number ‘What makes you beautiful’ . Claire also sang a couple of her own songs called ‘Heavy Heart’ and ‘Don’t Wanna Be’ a truly talented artist with an engaging manner I am sure we will see more of Claire in the future.

Next was one of the Navy Clubs special scratch performances that make it so exciting. Rich Evans was back on stage this time joined by a plethora of musical talent including Ed Sullivan on Harmonica, Tosh Murase on Drums, Tom Edgley on Bass and Dan Nicholas on Lead electric guitar. These five guys gave us some superb songs including ‘Sweet Home Chicago’ ‘Key to Love’ and ‘Muddy Water Blues’ I also recognised some mash ups and they effortlessly managed to blend in such songs as ‘Shake Rattle and Roll’ and ‘Boom,Boom,Boom’ . A truly mesmerising performance on every level. 

One of our talented regulars Olly Flavell who has gone from strength to strength over the last few years is playing is playing a special gig with Melissa Severn on Saturday June 14^th. The musical event in conjunction with NOVA FM Newport’s local radio station is called ‘The Making’ and will be held at the Royal British Legion. If you are interested in attending, tickets can be purchased from Hey Judes or Nova FM. Tickets cost £3.00 and you will not be disappointed as you are treated to some wonderful live music by these highly talented musicians.

Back to the live music we were treated to Dan, Ed & Rich performing some more impressive songs. Dan was now playing what looked like a National style guitar and Rich was on Bass while Ed played his harmonicas. They gave us a great version of ‘Wagon Wheel’ by Old Crow Medicine show.

Another great night came to end and everyone had been treated to some great live music. Please come down and join in the fun. The Navy Club Open Mic welcomes singers and musicians of all ability and if want to show off your talent in a friendly environment please give us a try. Needless to say even if you can’t perform musically we want you to support us and come down for a great night out.

Keeping It Live....

Words by Grahame Weir.