A fish out of water

Let's be clear here, the fish out of water was me, not Fish the legendary singer who was clearly in his element in a small pub venue packed to the gunnels with Fish fans.

Fish himself made a comment about everybody being fans and knowing the words to all the songs as well as he did but he failed to spot me in the middle of the crowd clearly clueless.

But cluelessness was not a problem. Fish was absorbing for two and a half hours (including two encores) spinning together a series of songs and stories accompanied by two long-standing friends and colleagues on guitar and piano.

The small venue, the small band and the interaction with the crowd made it more like an evening with Fish than a rock concert. I think many/most people were expecting the later but Fish's good humour and stagecraft soon won everybody over.

I was not expecting to recognise anything, other than Kayleigh (Marillion's big hit from 1985) but the Fish fans were less familiar with his slow solo stuff too and it was the more raucous Marillion songs that closed the show that really got the crowd hopping.

I took bit of a gamble going to see Fish knowing so little of his music, and even less about his life that his stories were about, but it paid off and the long evening never dropped below interesting. That and a couple of beers were more than enough to brighten a dull August (!) evening.

Carpet Crawlers at The Peel

It's a well known fact that 70's music is the best and that prog rock is one of the reasons for this. Sadly most of the bands that played then are either dead, retired or too rich to play these days and so the many tribute bands are the closest that we can get to reliving those glory days.

So when the House of Progression at The Peel announced a show by the Carpet Crawlers it went straight into my diary.

Carpet Crawlers recognise that one of the things that made Genesis legends was the grand performances that they put on, starting with Peter Gabriel's costumes and acting then on to the light shows of Seconds Out, so this is a large part of what they do - even in a small place like The Peel.

Their act is in two parts with the early era first and then a short break and a change of tempo to the Phil Collins era with songs I'd never heard of before.

Part 1 was, as expected, a joyous ramble through the early catalogue with songs like Watcher of the Skies, Supper's Ready (all of it!) and a medley from the Lamb Lies down on Broadway (oddly without Carpet Crawlers).

Part 2 was all new to me but I appreciated the extended instrumental sections that clearly descended from Genesis' progressive origins. I was rather expecting to hear at least one of the classic ballads from Trick of the Tail, i.e. Entangled and Ripples, but all we got from their last great album (my personal prejudice) was Los Endos which, not surprisingly, closed the show.

There is a great deal going for Carpet Crawlers, the show is well planned and delivered and they really do look and sound a lot like Genesis. But that is their problem too because thirty years on the Genesis songs do not stand-up to close examination in the same way that, say, those from Yes and Pink Floyd do.

Random Acts of Blindness at The Peel

The man singing at the front normally features in my blog behind the keyboards in a skeleton suit but that is when he, Tony Dyson, is playing with Hoaxwind but here he is fronting Random Acts of Blindness at The Peel in Kingston.

Alongside him on vocals is his wife, Anna, and his brother on keyboards completes the family and completing the band are a superb lead guitarist, a bass and a drummer.

So the line-up is fairly traditional and so are all the self-written songs. They describe themselves New Old Wave but that means nothing to me so I'll say that they remind me of 70s Van Morrison instead.

The set of around an hour (The Peel has a hard curfew at 11pm) was well balanced and well delivered. Obviously all the songs were new to me but they did the sort of things that you would expect R&B songs to do so the lack of familiarity did not breed contempt.

It was a fun, bouncy, rocking set that more than compensated for having to drink average beer (Adnams) out of coloured plastic glasses. A good night that deserved a bigger audience.

Hoaxwind delight at The Peel

The last time that I saw Hoaxwind at The Peel they were supporting Dumpy's Rusty Nuts so it was nice to be back a few weeks later to see them headline their own show.

I was not interested in the support so having established from the band that they expected to be on stage around 10pm I set off by bus aiming to get there around 9:30 to give me time to socialise. The evening started well when somebody got on the bus wearing a Hoaxwind t-shirt I introduced myself and she explained that she was Tony's (keyboards) wife. We had a good chat about music in general and Hawkwind in particular as we walked through the darker byways of Norbiton to The Peel.

I got a little time to socialise and, sadly, to catch some of the opening act before Hoaxwind took the stage to face a mixed audience of ancient Hawkwind fans and kiddies who had come to see the support.




Not sure if there was anything significant in the decision but the first thing that I noticed was that they lined-up on stage in an almost mirror-image of their previous show. Another new feature was the projected display behind the band and the smoke machine that wheezed briefly before succumbing to some technical illness and dying ingloriously.

I had the presence of mind to make a note of the set list during the concert (I am too used to bands that put a clearly typed list on stage for you to photograph) but as I did not do this last time it is hard to do much of a comparison. Much like Space Ritual, Hoaxwind play a mix of early Hawkwind classics (Brainstorm, Master of the Universe, Orgone Accumulator) and more classics from the Bob Calvert era (Quark Strangeness and Charm, Death Trap and Hassan-i Sabbah).

It was the longer songs that I appreciated most and I was almost embarrassingly happy to hear Assault and Battery along with the previously mentioned Hassan-i Sabbah and Orgone Accumulator.

The songs are all excellent but what Hoaxwind do to them is excellent too. The arrangements are deliberately different from those that we are used to, this is nothing like listening to the LPs, and they make full use of the wide range of talents on display. They also put an effort into their appearance (though I have no idea what the skeleton suit has to do with the Hawkwind legend) and they all clearly relish their role in making the rich mix of sound work.

I made a point of listening to the various instruments individually at different times through the evening and it was clear that they are all accomplished musicians that play well together as a unit.

A Hoaxwind concert gives you good songs played my good musicians who enjoy their work - what more could you want from a night out?

Hoaxwind rock!

Technically it was a Dumpy's Rusty Nuts concert but I was there to see the support act, Hoaxwind, having previously tasted a short set of theirs as part of a three-act Hawkwind tribute concert. This time they had around an hour to demonstrate their prowess to a room full of getting-on-a-bit rockers at The Peel in Kingston, and they did it very well.

Coming the day after a Space Ritual concert it was interesting to note the contrasts and the similarities between then two.

Hoaxwind very much focus on the Bob Calvert era Hawkwind of the late 70s, hence Julian's flying goggles and scarf, whereas Space Ritual now play a lot of their own material and a few early Hawkwind classics.

Both play Master of the Universe and Sonic Attack but Hoaxwind also play tracks like Psychedelic Warlords, Hassan-i Sabbah and Quark, Strangeness and Charm.

The seven men of Hoaxwind line up on stage in almost the same formation as the seven men of Space Ritual with, going left to right, electronics, lead guitar, drums, lead vocals/saxophone, bass and keyboards.

The differences are Space Ritual have one person doing the vocals/saxophone stuff whereas Hoaxwind have two and Space Ritual have two people on electronics to Hoaxwind's one. However, the end result is much the same, a rich and complex sounds that bubbles, squawks, enchants, captivates, engulfs and rocks.

Here we see Hoaxwind's doing their version of Sonic Attack with "Tiny" on guest vocals. And it was their version too as Hoaxwind do not copy the Hawkwind originals they represent them in a way that best suits their line-up and also takes advantage of thirty years of listening to and appreciating the music.

I enjoyed my first short Hoaxwind concert enough to go and see them again and the second time was so much better, thanks to the bigger stage and longer set, that going to see them again is a real no-brainer. That will be on 13 June at the Grey Horse.