“We’d
like to thank Covid 19 for our second headline show of the year!” deadpanned Si
at the start of their set tonight, this (very!) short notice replacement gig
being due to tonight’s intended headliners at The Tuppenny’s regular Thursday
night Music Club testing positive for the dreaded ‘rona. Thankfully no-one was
really ill from it (hence Si feeling able to make the above comment!), but this
gave me a local gig on an otherwise quiet Thursday, catching up with the
brothers Hall, former mainstays of Raze*Rebuild, one of my favourite bands of
recent times, and now ploughing a more acoustic version of said band’s blend of
Springsteen-esque heartland Americana and Mould-esque hooky popcore sonic
assault. A combination of family commitments and lack of funds meant I missed
their recent “My Dad’s” Festival set, but having caught them last month at The
Beehive (gig 1,233) I knew Si and Matt were in fine form. So here we go!
Parked
in a free sidestreet spot after finding my now-preferred free-after-6 car park
was full, and wandered around to the ‘Tupp just after 8, chatting with Matt
about our kids (!). Local mainstay Jim Blair, who’d also thrown his hat in the
ring as a late replacement tonight, was just finishing sound-checking, and,
along with Hip Route bass partner John, started their duet set shortly
afterwards. Jim, a flared trousered, barefoot rocker with the soul and husky,
grizzled voice of a Mississippi Delta bluesman, and his baseball-capped cohort
John laid down some down and dirty old school swampy blues, slightly affected
by speaker issues (promoter and soundman Ed Dyer remarking someone had thrown a
glass of whisky over it!) but with Jim’s highly proficient and intricate
fretwork a feature, particularly after switching to a lap steel for the set’s
denouement. The slow burn to noisy crescendo of “Find My Way” and closer, a
growling rendition of the old standard “Come Together” were highlights of a good
set. Still not to my usual tastes, but my narrow-minded ears are still suitably
educated to recognise talent. And these boys have that…
An
entertaining between-sets discourse with Ed (or should I say, “Teddy”?!) before
I had a pre-gig chat with Si about his recent hand issues – the new guitar
helps, but he needs to educate his muscle memory into playing softer and
gripping less hard! As we mentioned before, you can take the boy out of the
punk band, I guess, but…! Further evidence of that, as Si and Matt kicked in at
9.40 with a smooth “Rhythm And Rhyme”, came from his one foot back, forward
leaning stance to deliver his somewhat reined-in yet no less authoritative
vocals. Following an early, melancholy “Slow Burn”, the toilet-circuit road
movie soundtrack “Face For Radio” was introduced as “a Raze*Rebuild song,” some
wag down the front (OK, me…) commenting that it was on their Coasters EP, Si
then quipping, “we changed our name [to Raze*Rebuild] as we got requests for
“Yakity Yak”!”
I’ve
always said one sign of a great song is the performer’s ability to deliver it
“live” in radically different ways; that being the case, Si and Matt write
great songs. Full stop. The formerly galloping rocker “Troubled Minds” turned
into a deliciously austere self-examination, while the multiple tumbling hooks
of a later “Back To The Fall”, my favourite Raze number, would sound great in
any setting, and even a slight middle-8 miscue from Matt (causing Si to come
back with the subsequent amended hook of, “Matthew Hall, Matthew Hall…”!)
didn’t detract from its excellence for me. In between, newie “Keep Distracted”
lamented a partner’s absence abroad, and the atmospheric “You’re The Chalk” saw
Si give his voice full beans (possibly a little too many!); then the galloping
hoedown closer “Audiobook” again reflected a journey from youthful punk rock indignation
to middle (r)age cynicism (and featuring the brilliant line, “can I smash the
system while seated – and in comfortable shoes?”), rounding off another fine
set.
Quick
chat with the boys afterwards (Si reckoning they were just “OK” tonight, but
what does he know – he never watches his own gigs!) and a lengthier discourse
with Ed about the importance of continuing to attend events in these troubled
and financially pressured times, before I threw a fiver in the tip jar and
headed home. As I mentioned, I’m glad the scheduled performer is alright, but
even happier for their absence tonight, and another chance to catch up with,
and be entertained by, this talented duo!
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