What
had threatened to be a rather unfortunate gig clash – and indeed, earlier in the
evening, a medical emergency-induced double blowout – turned into a quite
splendid raucous 2 gig night out in the ‘don! I’d long penned local blue-collar
rock faves Raze*Rebuild’s 2019 debut into my Spring Dance Card, tonight’s show at
The Regent serving as both Shuffle warm-up and a celebratory performance for
Regent (and former Castle) landlady Audrey’s birthday; however, acoustic
folk/punk guitar basher and gig regular Gaz Brookfield then announced an impromptu
solo performance at The Beehive – for the same night! To make matters worse,
said gig was going to be part-recorded for a mob singalong to feature on his
new album! Bugger! Heavy of heart, I decided to stick to my initial plan and go
see Raze, but call at The Beehive first – where Raze frontman Si Hall was
pulling a double shift of his own tonight, doing an acoustic solo support slot for
Gaz – and tender my apologies to the man, maybe catch some of his set before
legging it up the hill to The Regent if timings were favourable. You never know…!
But
then the medical emergency; earlier in the week I’d been prescribed
Beta-blockers to start to address a long-standing (and hereditary) atrial
fibrillation issue, but I’d reacted badly to them, suffering with shortness of
breath. In fact, after my leisurely cycle commute home Friday evening, I was
gasping like a guppy fish on dry land, and in need of medical advice. Thus, I
was frustratingly sat in an out-of-hours Doc’s surgery at 8.15, calming my
breathing down but increasing my blood pressure at possibly missing out on
tonight’s shenanigans! An all-clear (and chuck the damn Beta-blockers away!)
from the doc later, I drove swiftly up the hill, hitting a well-attended
Beehive to catch the last 3 numbers of Si’s set. “Kat I’m Sorry” sounded as
impassioned as ever, Si warming up his larynx for later, an acoustic “Back To The
Fall” nonetheless went well (“I wasn’t sure how that would go!” confessed Si),
and “Sand In The Petrol” (“a sad slow one to end on a high note!”) rounded off
a fine and well observed, if slightly reined-in set, Si thanking all and sundry
for being so attentive!
I
passed on my apologies to a magnanimous and understanding Gaz, also informing
him of Logan’s mention of him on our recent “Dinosaur To Junior” appearance on
Steve Lamacq’s Radio 6 show. Si advised Raze were due on about 10, which
happily gave me about ½ hour of the Brookfield, so I stuck around, chilling
outside with Ady then popping in for Gaz’ set at 9.30. A fun newie to start, featuring
some wordy interplay about writing new songs, ironically enough, then we were
straight into the likes of “Diabetes Blues”, “Gunner Haines” and “Under The
Table”, to a loud reception from the raucous crowd, who to Gaz’ obvious delight,
sang along to pretty much everything. No fool Gaz; he’d clearly thought this
through and picked a set of well-known, roof-raising singalong bangers to
really warm the crowd’s collective larynx in advance of the mob singalong. In
good fooling too, the man; “Haines” was introduced with a quip of, “a song
about a dead soldier – keeping it light!”, “So Very Rock And Roll” was, in Gaz’
words, “what its’ really like to be a professional musician – “professional
musician”, hah! Both of those words are a lie!”, and a punky “I’ve Paid My
Money” allegedly had it’s first 2 verses, “written by pricks!”
“Maps”,
oddly enough, was a stand-out, things getting weird as the audience kept
calling out the title, so by the later “Be The Bigger Man”, the audience were
in clear party spirits.
(Me
too – by this time I’d excused myself at 10, but a swift wander up The Regent
revealed things running very late, openers Flour Babies having just started
their set! Thus buoyed, I popped back down The Beehive for the rest of Gaz!)
So
I was happily there for the recording; a couple of runs through “Great Minds
Drink Alike”, Gaz performing it off-mic in the middle of the crowd, with
everyone giving it their roof-raising lustiest best voices. So it seems that,
along with a few dozen other loud punters, I’m on the next Gaz Brookfield
album. Great stuff! Gaz broke out the Whitney Houston cover after that, which
was a fortuitous time to head up the hill, where Raze*Rebuild were plugging in
and getting ready for launch at 11. Good timing!
Due
to my medical issues earlier, I was strictly instructed not to dance, but I nonetheless
took my usual front row spot for Raze’s opener “Burden Of Youth”, being joined
by Ady and also old mates Avril and Ingrid, out on a girly night and clearly,
erm, well-refreshed…! “Burden” was a rampaging opener setting the stall out for
the set, Si clearly saving his roar for this one, and an almost jolly “Face For
Radio” followed, a few folks dancing along and myself obeying doctors orders,
contenting myself with a gentle sway… Damn shame, as this was pretty much a
totally incendiary set – in fact, I’m sure that if you looked up the word “incendiary”
in the Oxford English Dictionary of Rock, there’d be a pic of Si in full flow,
lionesque roar and bulging neck veins, backed up by Matt intricately picking
the riffery, Paj head bobbing in time to the bass, and Jamie pounding furiously
away at the back. Another clear masterclass in what makes “live” rock’n’roll
such an inclusive, visceral experience; again, by no means note-perfect or
technically spot-on, but raw-boned, raggedy-arsed, sweaty and hellishly
awesome. The rampant “New Leaf” got me a namecheck, “Sand In The Petrol” was
honest and impassioned (for the second time tonight!) and “Troubled Minds” was
a brilliant punky blast.
“This
has gone way better than I thought!” gasped Si at the encore; “set the bar low
and you can’t fail to be impressed!” as they launched into closer “Back To The
Fall”. Another great, rocking set from the Raze; they’re well warmed up for The
Shuffle, I’d say, and hopefully I’ll have my dancing shorts back on then and
will be able to do them justice…
Chats
with friends and the Raze boys afterwards – I think they appreciated my
mentioning them on Lamacq’s show, which was nice – then a wander back to the
car via The Beehive for a quick word with Gaz; and an almost London-late 12.45
home time… good thing it’s Friday night! So, another slap in the face for anyone
who says nothing happens in Swindon; this was a great double-header out in the ‘don!
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