Sunday 11 November 2012

SJI: Morden Tower, Newcastle. 24th October 2012

Thanks to all who came out to spend an evening with us and our friends Cerys Atchison, Cinematic Submarine, Nev Clay, and Wrist! at the beautiful and venerable old venue The Morden Tower. We decided to split our contribution so that we ran through the evening like a stick of sour rock.

Links to YouTube Clips where available (thanks SmogDog!)

Set 1: The Organist Entertains
1 - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) [Shelley]
2 - Blue Spanish Eyes [Singleton / Snyder]
3 - As Time Goes By [Hupfeld]

Personnel:
g.w.lang (Organ)


Set 2:
1 - Next [Brel]  Video1  Video 2
2 - That Sick Rose  Video
3 - Thanks A Bunch, Fat Boy

Personnel:
g.w.lang (Accordian, Vocals), Bing Bongo (Vocals)


Set 3:
1 - Gang Of One  Video
2 - What Use Is Love?  Video
3 - Adjunct  Video
4 - Eight For A Fiver  Video

Personnel:
g.w.lang (Guitar, Autoharp, Keyboards, iPad Apps, Vocals), Tony Bennett (Drums), Bing Bongo (Bass, Vocals), Mark Oliver (Guitar, Autoharp, Vocals), Andrea Woodyer (Saxophone, iPad Apps, Vocals).


The previously announced Set 4 could not take place due to time constraints. It would have been a full-band take on That's It, It's Done, It's Over Now.

We had such a fun night, we may well do another some time soon. Watch this space.

The night garnered reviews. The first (with much potty-mouthed swearing) appeared on the noredindian Blog. Mr. Noredindian also posted a different video of our spirited romp through Jacque Brel's Next to the one provided by The SmogDog. Two videos of the same thing from two different angles. Imagine! If that much attention had been shown to President Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, there'd have been lot less fuss afterwards.




This was the second, by Rachel Brown on the KYEO.TV Blog:

Wrist!, St. James Infirmary, Nev Clay, Cinematic Submarine, Cerys Atchison @ Morden Tower, Newcastle (24.10.12) 
Words: Rachel Brown 

This bedroom-sized venue, hidden in the heart of the old town walls, is the stuff of legends, and tonight it provides a fitting backdrop to a blurry night of bizarre delights, brought to us by the self-proclaimed Rolling Stones of Ashington. First up is singer-songwriter Cerys Atchison, a velvet-voiced teenager whose efforts, though somewhat wispy and insubstantial, belie a nascent talent. With St James Infirmary’s first set comes the social club atmosphere which will prevail for the rest of the evening, as their pub-folk cabaret, Thanks A Lot, Fat Boy humour, and Smartprice lager get the crowd in swing. Stealing the show completely are Cinematic Submarine. With their frantic energy, breakneck temp changes, and uniform shorts that make it at times difficult to tell if this is a gig or a particularly manic PE lesson, it’s not unlike bring in the passenger seat of a car hurtling round a mountain road with the wind screaming in your ears. It’s to be hoped that rumours of their demise have been greatly exaggerated. SJI take the stage once more for a slightly more serious, musically-driven set, before the appearance of Nev Clay, who is tonight as charming and sweet-toned as ever, constantly interrupting his own songs with jokes, questions, and running commentary. Finally it’s the turn of the Marc Almond-esque vocals of oddball showman-with-a-capital-S, Wrist! Rattling through a set of tragic-comic ditties, and at one point employing a flipchart as accompaniment, he’s certainly not your average performer, but his mirth and sheer zest for life are infectious, and soon get the crowd in the palm of his hand, where they remain til the end.


Thanks all!