Great mixture once again at The Navy  Words: Dave Whiteman, 
Pictures: Laurence Gale

Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on. I saw those words this week, on a Facebook post and it bugged me where I had seen them before. Was it a poem? A quotation? Neither as it turns out…. it is of course from the Celine Dion Titanic theme, ‘My Heart Will Go On’.  This in turn reminded me of an episode from Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights a few years ago, when the staff recommended using song lyrics as a way of picking up girls. All went well until unlucky in love Les tried the line ‘Everywhere you go take the weather with you’……..it didn’t quite work somehow.

‘Look at the night, and it don’t seem so lonely, we fill it up with only two’ is a lyric probably more recognisable than some and certainly more romantic. It is of course from Neil Diamond, ‘Sweet Caroline’ and was the first choice of returning crooner Eddie Maiden, who performed for the first time last week. This week a few of the younger musicians, Olly Flavell on guitar and Remynie Faith on drums provided the fuller sound required for belting out this crowd pleaser, and it was once again a great performance. 

Remynie then stayed on stage, and managed once again to stun the audience into silence with her lovely voice. I have said before and happy to repeat, that she is one of our most talented young performers and never afraid to take a chance. Recruiting Vinyl Tap vocalist Alex Ash, they took on one of the most difficult songs imaginable, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from the musical ‘Les Miserable’. Without rehearsal and without song sheets, their a-capella version was listened to in complete silence and the applause at the end brought the house down. Magical.

Olly Flavell played a solo set this week and highlighted a few of his newer self- penned compositions. He is turning into a performer of some substance, fusing gentle melodies with jazzy influence to produce a very listenable style. A very busy Olly then remained on stage, this time on bass to perform with the Scratch House Band. Steve Hammond, brilliant guitarist from Shrewsbury choose this week’s set and came up with an interesting mix of Tina Turner and Robert Palmer, with Remynie Faith once again recruited on drums.

And guess who was behind the drum kit for our second band of the evening? Yes, you’ve guessed it Miss Faith once again this time with her regular group, Vinyl Tap. A blistering start had guitarist Alan Lane warming up his fret board with ‘Wipeout’ by The Surfaris, before rattling through an extended set that included Elton John, The Zombies and Radiohead. Plenty of variety from this five piece…..my favourite though, a great version of ‘Wicked game’ by Chris Isaac, with super vocals from Alex.

Two newcomers next on stage, Tom Miles, a student from London joined Harriet Sutton-Green for a couple of songs, from Imagine Dragons and Of Monsters & Men. I don’t know if these two play together regularly, but if not they certainly should do. Tom’s driving guitar and Harriet’s fabulous vocals made for a great mix and was very well received by the audience. 
Harriet then remained on stage to be joined by local lad Dylan Evans, who is also studying in London, to perform a song called ‘A Break and a Stop’ from a musical he is currently writing. I am making the assumption that Dylan must be studying music or certainly something in the performing arts, because his follow up, also self- penned, ‘You’re Not 19 Forever’ could have come straight from the West End.

It’s a real shame that, due to a full board, this crowd of youngsters had to play quite late in the evening, just as some of the audience were drifting off home. They brought a breath of fresh air to the Open Mic with their enthusiasm and undoubted talent and I would welcome them back any time. Another of their group, Joe Rose, brought a great evening to a close with yet more singer song-writing quality. ‘When Your Mind’s Made Up’ and ‘I Miss You, I Do’ …..both excellent compositions.

Many thanks to all who stayed behind to pack up the kit and very special thanks to newcomer Jonathan Newton, who did his first shift behind the mixing desk and gave a super balanced sound to all the performers. Well done mate! Till next time, keep it live!