In the past 48 hours, I’ve been to two rock concerts (The Reasoning and Porcupine Tree), done one full day at work, attended the Derby Model Railway exhibition, and ridden on ten trains (four Northern Rail 323s, three First Transpennine 185s, one Virgin Voyager, one Central Trains 158, and one Virgin Pendolino, if you’re interested)
I think I can be forgiven for having a quiet night in tonight.
I’ll try and get reviews on the concerts up the next couple of days.
Latest news from Fish, on the lineup for the forthcoming album “Thirteenth Star” and tour.
After much consideration I decided to take Chris Johnson on board as second guitarist to Frank. Chris has been playing in a similar position with ‘Mostly Autumn’ backing up Brian Josh on acoustic and electric guitars as well as keys and vocals. He’s a great all rounder and I have not only seen him with ‘MA’ but also in his own covers band ‘Hazard County’ that’s been playing in the Old White Swan in York on Friday nights, impressing me on both counts. Chris has also written material on the last ‘MA’ album “Heart Full of Sky”, and with his other band ‘The Evernauts’ so his appointment at this juncture in time when we are still in writing mode is fortuitous.
But where does that leave MA?
With Gavin Griffiths out on loan playing drums for ‘MA’ and Heather and Angela working with me as backing vocalists on the “13th Star” and the supporting tour, Chris’s appointment takes us up to 4 out of 7 active members of ‘Mostly Autumn’ in my outfit this year. Obviously the question is raised as to when ‘MA’ go out on tour next year, what do I do for a band? I think we may have come up with the perfect solution
I am planning to go back to mainland Europe in Spring next year after the South American tour and with that in mind I have suggested to Brian Josh that his band come out and work with us on that leg giving him a great window on Europe, me a great support and a working band, the fans a great bill and the promoters something to get their teeth into. Everyone is very positive about this idea and if it comes off I think it will be an exciting and very positive project.
Could well be a tour worth hopping over the channel for. I’ve always thought MA should try to build an audience in places like Germany, which seem to be a more receptive market for proper rock music than fashion-obsessed Britain.
I hope there will still be a window towards the end of December for the traditional Mostly Autumn Christmas shows.
Update: Bryan Josh (whose name Fish seems to have trouble spelling) posted this on the official Mostly Autumn forum
Bryan here. Sorry guys, statements regarding the possibility of me doing a solo album and Mostly Autumn tour matters seem to have leaked out prematurely, an accurate statement is due to be posted very soon regarding future MA plans e.t.c and I can assure you there are many and all will be very positive.
Oops. Bad Fish
Whatever happens next year, the ‘Mostly Fish’ tour is going to be worth seeing. I wonder if we’re going to hear any of Angie’s flute playing enhancing some of Fish’s back catalogue; I sure it would enhance songs like ‘Brother 52′.
Why is a railway modelling forum completely full of Marillion fans?
And why is it that I get accused of living in the 1970s (The blue diesel era?), but just about every band I’ve seen this year is about a decade younger than me? One or two band members weren’t even born when I started going to gigs.
There’s been a lot of discussion about Peter Maxwell Davies’ article about the state of classical music education in Britain. He appears, at least on the surface, to snobbily dismiss most forms of popular music.
Since the possibility of making megabucks out of young people by feeding them the lowest common denominator of “music” has been realised, “music” became an industry, not a profession, where, for the least possible work put in, the maximum profit is extracted for the fat cats, with “music” becoming ever more zombie-like, and the bands ruthlessly exploited.
I do think he raises some valid points, even if he lets his snobbery get the better of him at times. But he does appear to be ignorant of any forms of rock music outside the ‘mainstream’ of Radio 1 and the NME.
One of the most insightful responses comes from commenter RobertPaul
This high/low debate also leads many to consider the electric guitar not a real instrument for expression whereas the same notes played on a violin or cello are magically alchemised into gold.
Anyone that thinks that cannot have witnessed the incredibly beautiful improvisation on “Amazing Grace” from John Petrucci of Dream Theater at Shepherd’s Bush empire in 1999.
He then goes on to highlight exacly what’s wrong with the rock and pop scene in Britain.
Unfortunately the culture of rock/pop criticism leaves no space for the understanding of compositional technique, and therefore the public remains unalerted to their presence. The critics remain far more comfortable discussing lyrics and image in rock and pop oblivious to any serious musical content. This remains invisible.
That for me hits the nail on the head. Yes, popular music has been commodified by the big record companies. But the other big villain is the music press, dominated by the dreaded New Musical Express, which emphasises image and lyrics to such an extent that the acts which get attention are those that put all their efforts into those things at the expense of musical content. So we get lavish praise for poseurs like Franz Ferdinand, whose rudimentary and derivative music will probably be forgotten in five years time, while anything with any more musical depth is marginalised. Witness some of the idiot boiler-plate sneers in the comment threads of this Prog Rock post.
I’ve got a ticket to see Rush, who I missed the last time round. Tickets only went on sale yesterday, and were almost sold out by the afternoon. Don’t know if they’ve pencilled in a second date, but I wasn’t prepared to take the risk that they wouldn’t. A seat up in the gods is still better than missing out altogether.
The subject line comes from a comment from my late grandmother, said when she saw a few seconds of Geddy Lee singing ‘Temples of Syrinx’ on video in the mid 1980s. Surely nobody with hair that long and a voice that high could possibly be a bloke…
I have to say that none of the girl singers I’ve seen this year could be described as ‘plain’.
It’s now Thursday night, and I still haven’t quite come down to earth.
The weekend began with the five and a half hour journey from Cheshire to Bournmouth by Virgin Voyager, followed by a lengthy wait for the coach to the convention site, a holiday centre and caravan park just outside of Ringwood in Dorset.
The whole thing was a big meetup for fans, not just from Britain but from around the world. One of the first people I met was Paul Konstant, who’d come with his family from the US. There was another fan from New Zealand. The weekend was a chance to properly get to know a lot of the people who’s previously been just faces at gigs, and to put faces to names for regulars on the band’s web message boards. So I met up with the likes of Dr Wart Hoover, Paul Ozzy Hodgson, Mike and Eileen Foley, Peter the Great, David Taylor, Rog, Anthony from Holland, and many many more.
Friday was the warm up, consisting of an ‘open mic session’ around an imitation campfire, plus a set by the local band Rushing With Apathy. RWA showed a lot of promise; I wasn’t quite sure about the singer, but the instrumental side was pretty solid; more Rock than Indie. The open mic session was a bit variable, but it still takes some bottle to get up an play in front of some members of the band.
As well as the music (a total of eight live sets over the three days), there were a lot of other events. I took part in the ‘Eggheads’ quiz on Saturday, with four teams of volunteers going head-to-head against a team made up from members of the band. Unfortunately our team didn’t make it past the first round; how can anybody expect to beat Bryan on questions about Mostly Autumn? The question-and-answer session got some illuminating answers, including those for the three questions I submitted. No, they don’t reject the ‘Prog’ tag 
Then there was the charity auction on Sunday, with people bidding £200 for Heather’s worn-out tambourine, bits that had fallen off included!. It raised more than two thousand pounds in total.
Things like this showed the human side of the band; who would have guessed that their nicknames are “Faery Pants”, “Witch Face”, “Bum Face”, “The Crow” and “The Princess of Atlantis”.
And then there was the music itself.
For the main events on Saturday and Sunday the small stage was far too small for all seven of the band to fit, so they ended up using the stage purely as drum riser, with the rest of the band playing on the floor in front. This meant that they played to an audience sitting cross-legged on the floor; very very 1973. I have to say that Angie Gordon misquoted me, I didn’t actually say that’s the first time I had sat cross-legged on the floor at a gig; I’m not quite that old! The front row was made up of small children, which made for a very different atmosphere from a more normal rock gig. I think it’s the first (and probably last) time I’ve ever played air guitar at a gig while lying flat on my back.
First musical event of Saturday was a short solo set from Angela Gordon, just voice and piano. Some beautiful songs, some of which would also appear in Odin Dragonfly’s set later on, and showed what a talented singer and musician she is.
Odin Dragonfly played two short sets on the Saturday and Sunday. They were every bit as good as last time I saw them, with an amazingly rich sound from just two people. Although their album still isn’t out, I found that I remembered most of the songs from York a few weeks before. Saturday’s set finished with the cover of Jethro Tull’s “Witches Promise”, starting with the spectacular flute flourish, then Heather broke a guitar string on the first chord. Oops. At least meant Angie got to play that intro a second time! I can’t wait for the album.
Iain Jennings’ Breathing Space played a lengthy set early evening on Sunday, with a special appearance by former (and Mostly Autumn) drummer Andy Jennings. As with Odin Dragonfly it was more or less the same set as I’d seen performed in York in February, but this time without the terrible equipment problems that had marred that gig, so I got to see what the band is supposed to sound like. Because they were a late addition to the bill, it meant they were also without guitarist Mark Rowen who was on holiday in Canada! Stand-in was a fellow called Alex (don’t remember the surname) who did an admirable job, even though he was leafing through a folder with the chords in it between songs. Bryan Josh took over for the last four songs, MA oldies “Distant Train”, “Hollow”, and “No Promises” and “Believe” on which he’d played on Iain’s album. A strong performance that ought to win them plenty of new fans. And hats off to Livvy and Andy for playing two sets back to back, totally not far short of three hours.
The obvious highlights were the sets by the band themselves finishing off Saturday and Sunday. Saturday saw MA performing their full 2½ hour set. It was much the same setlist that they’ve been playing on the tour so far, drawing heavily from the excellent new Heart Full of Sky interspersed with just enough old favourites to keep the old-timers happy. I haven’t seen them live since the Astoria launch party six weeks ago, and the whole performance was a lot more confident, especially Gavin Griffiths’ performance on drums, now he’s settled in to the role. Don’t know what the mix was like further back, but from the front the backing vocals were very prominent, with good enough separation between Heather’s, Angie’s and Livvy’s voices. Are these more elaborate vocal harmonies a replacement of sorts for Iain Jennings’ cinematic keyboards? I noticed Angie replacing some of Liam’s guitar lines on flute as well, such as the end of “Heroes Never Die”. Did she do this at the Astoria, or did I notice this time around because the flute was higher in the mix?
Sunday’s finale, with Andy Jennings guesting on drums straight after playing for Breathing Space, was an absolute blinder. Whereas Saturday had seen a tight professional set, this time they were on fire, and tore the place apart with incredible energy. Limited rehearsal time meant quite a few songs repeated from the previous day, but we also got plenty of oldies like “The Last Climb”, “Heart Life” and of course, all the jigs. Just after midnight we all sang “Happy Birthday to You” to Livvy, who turned 22 on Monday. Then they closed with a stunning version of “Shrinking Violet”. Sadly they ran out of time, and we didn’t get “Mother Nature”. Could any over-hyped indie band come up with a performance like that?
There was an incredible vibe during the whole weekend. The organisers Sarah-Jane and Jeanette, the convention centre staff, and of course the bands themselves all did a fantastic job. The first Mostly Autumn convention was a huge success, and I hope it will be the first of many.
I’ve uploaded more photos from the weekend here.
Tomorrow morning I’m off to Ringwood in the New Forest for what should be a totally progtastic weekend at the first Mostly Autumn convention.
There’s a lot of music over the three days. Not only will there be two full length Mostly Autumn sets on Saturday and Sunday nights, we’re also getting a set from the wonderful Breathing Space, two sets from Odin Dragonfly, a solo set from Angela Gordon, and the local band Rushing With Apathy.
And then there’s a chance to properly get to know a lot of the people that I’ve just briefly said ‘hi’ to at gigs, or ‘met’ on the two web forums.
The only downside is that I get to spend the best part of five hours on board a Virgin Voyager, all the way from Stockport to Bournemouth.
This, from Mark Rowan of Breathing Space is just depressing.
I need to pre-empt this by saying that it is worthy of note that Breathing Space are what may be called (for want of a better genre) a ‘classic rock band’. We’re a six piece band with 2 keyboard players. Some of the sounds we use are quite complex as you may know, for example Distant Train – we play this to a basic click track (this has always been that way, even when MA performed it), Iain and Ben play numerous different sounds during the song. I myself play the original flute motif on guitar synth, then switch to standard guitar for the build up chords and the closing solos. As a band we nominally play 2 x 45 minute sets.
So, after explaining all this to the promoter, they get a gig at the Mixing Tin in Leeds. Then this happens…
Unfortunately the promoter unbeknown to us until yesterday, booked us along with 7 other bands, each playing 30 minute sets using equipment provided by the headline act. :\
OK if you’re an indie band, (thrash/bang/you’re my wonderwall/thanks goodnight/go home), but not much good when you’ve got Distant Train in the set!!!!
Trying to get something booked in it’s place at a more suitable venue.
Breathing Space are a great live act. They’re good enough that I’ve travelled from Manchester to York to see them, got home at 5am, and still think it was worthwhile. There is something terribly, terribly wrong with the music scene in Britain when a band this talented struggles to get gigs.
Ian Jones had previously stated that the Manchester show, at the Walkabout club in Manchester as ‘a bit of an experiment for the band’. For those not familiar with the place, The Walkabout is a bar and nightclub in the city centre. To my knowledge they’ve never had a live band before; I tend to associate the place with office parties. The event was part of a ‘classic rock night’ featuring two DJ sets as well as Karnataka’s performance. I susoect that organisers are on a bit of a learning curve on running this sort of event, resulting in one of the stranger gigs I’ve been to in recent years.
Not that I can fault Karnataka’s performance, every bit as strong as it was at Crewe the week before. The new material came over especially well, especially the one with drum loops (Lisa commented on my very bad dancing during that one!) From the front, the sound was OK, but nothing like as good as the perfect sound at Crewe Limelight; don’t know how it sounded further back. They missed out the drum solo this time round.
There appeared to be some confusion over how long the band were supposed to play. The band finished playing the usual set closer ‘The Gathering Light’, when Lisa announced they’d been asked to play a bit longer, so they played three or four more songs. But what happened to ‘Out of Reach’? Was there supposed to have been an encore? The moment the band left the stage, the second DJ set started up without a break!
That DJ set, apparently by the former singer of the Inspiral Carpets, was to be honest, pretty dire. What was billed as a ‘classic rock set’ seemed to contain an inordinate amount of rap. Ugh.
Still an enjoyable evening, even though the feel was more that of a pub gig than a rock club.
I’ve been asked very nicely to post a digital version of this flyer on my blog.
As my review of last month’s York gig indicates, they really are worth catching live. I will be seeing them at the MA convention on 25th March (I’ll actually be there all weekend), and most probably at the Gravy Train in Newton-le-Willows (of Vulcan Foundry fame!)