Gig Diary November 2012 part 2  

The Staves/Luke Sital Singh @ The Wardrobe, Leeds

Tonight is a birthday treat from Mrs Windbag.

First up is Luke Sital Singh who is a pleasant enough proposition. He has a good singing voice and pleasant songs. He mixes up acoustic and electric guitar on different songs. I'm guessing that he's quite influenced by Jeff Buckley. The best part of the set is the respect shown by the audience. Its good to be at a gig not filled with idle chatterers.

We are all here to see the Staves. I have to confess that although I've read a lot about this act I've not actually knowingly heard a song. I have to say though that they are everything I hoped and more. These are three sisters from Watford with great singing voices. I love the way they sing both individually and in harmony. They come across as pleasant individuals as well. 

I'm now looking forward to hearing their album (another birthday present from Mrs Windbag).

Mark Wynn/Sam Forrest/Michael Ainsley @ The Hop, Wakefield

Tonight features a plethora of Yorkshire singer songwriters put on jointly by On The Ride and the Hop.

First up is local lad Michael Ainsley. Accompanied as ususal by Harry Rhodes. I'm slightly disappointed not to see Michael's full band. Still Harry is playing electric tonight and its a good set. Michael manages to break a string at one point and so Sam Forrest lends him his acoustic.

I've not seen Sam Forrest for a while and at first I'm not impressed and he strums away on an electric guitar on songs that seem a tad undercooked. Ironically he breaks two strings as he plays the first song to capture my attention. He then switches to acoustic before Harry Rhodes lends him his electric. From the moment the acoustic comes out the set improves massively. From then Sam's set is really good. For his last number he pulls out his (now) four stringed electric and it sounds great.

Last up we have Mark Wynn. I've probably mentioned before that he has transformed himself from a pretty standard singer songwriter to a kind of musical spoken word act. Tonight is probably the best I've seen him. He speaks so quickly you don't catch every word but the rhythm and the cadence are so effective. At times he's hillarious with little self aimed monologues and asides. I could see him playing on a comedy bill.

Dan Mangan/Jason Collett @ the Brudenell Social Club, Leeds

We have a Canadian double bill tonight.

First up is Jason Collett, a spindly long haired character from Toronto, with an acoustic guitar. Nothing mind blowing but yet another talented individual with good songs and excellent crowd interaction skills (ie he can spin a good yarn).

The main act is Dan Mangan who is from Vancouver and I've seen a couple of times before. Tonight his band seem a bit louder than on previous occasions. The drummer and lead guitarist also seem a  bit showy. Which in my opinion isn't really required because Dan's songs are good enough to be just kept simple.

Anyway this slight annoyance can't spoil the gig for me. There's just something loveable about Mangan's on stage persona and  in a pretty solid set he has at least two absolutely cracking songs (the one about Robots and a number called 'Basket'). He also leads a master class in how to get the audience to participate without being in the slightest embarrassed.

The Moulettes/Flocks/Colour the Atlas @ Communion @ Oporto, Leeds

Some nights you can go to a gig with the best of intentions but just not be in the mood. I was quite looking forward to tonight because I'd been told by more than one person that the Moulettes were very good. Additionally this was a Communion event which is normally an indicator of good quality.

Anyway we arrived later than normal and were stuck at the back with some noisy geezers doing Avid Merrion impersonations. To be honest Colour the Atlas weren't that exciting anyway. Kind of a bit trip hoppy at times with a singer that was good but not particularly interesting.

Then it only turns out that the annoying geezers mentioned above were in the next band Flocks. Frankly I don't have a lot of time for people talking through live music. When it happens to be one of the other bands I think its just plain disrespectful. Anyway a karma type thing happened and the violinist from one of the earlier bands proceeded to screech through Flocks. Anyway the music is ok but there's something annoying about the drummer (on top of his crap Avid Merrion impersonation).

So onto the Moulettes. We go closer to the front to try and avoid noisy annoying non-playing musicians. Apparently the Moulettes are one person down tonight. Not knowing what they would normally sound like I can't comment on the impact this had on them. I liked them but perhaps all the praise before hand left me a bit underwhelmed.

JonnytheFirth/Crybaby @ Fernandes, Wakefield

Crybaby are the latest vehicle for the talents of JonnytheFirth and Rosie Doonan. Its very early days for the act with the songs pretty sketchy. But there is a lot of promise on show. I was expecting this to be a stripped down version of a Rosie Doonan show with Jonny playing bass and drum. But in actual fact apart from 'Cuckoo' this is a set of new (to me at any rate) material.

Its a bit Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood at times with them both sharing vocals. Some nice close harmonies on the closing song as well. The accompaniment is quite basic but in a good way with rough and ready guitar riffs and bass lines. I'd like to see 'em do a song in a more conversational style between the two of them (like Nancy Sinatra's 'Something Stupid' or even 'Fairytale of New York').

Jonny follows this up with about his millionth one man band show since the time earlier in the year when he announced he was stopping doing one man band shows. You know the drill it was rough and ready and very listenable.

Hope and Social/Spirit of John/Stray @the Doghouse @ Arden Road Social Club, Halifax

I'm not a regular attender of the Doghouse events in Halifax. However it is a bit of an institution and also an inspiration to West Yorkshire diy gig promoters. This is the third different venue that I've attended in Halifax under the Doghouse banner and probably the best. Kind of Halifax's answer to the Brudenell.

First up are Stray who are a local band from Halifax. This is one of the things that the Doghouse is good at. Supporting local talent. These are four young lads (I'm guessing somewhere between 16 and 18) who play rough and ready indie music. I would reckon on Arctic Monkeys been a big inspiration for these guys. The music is basic (even I could probably have played most of the songs on guitar with enough practice - albeit at about 10th of the speed) but tuneful. I was particularly impressed with the drummer and the singer.

Something I found out only recently is that Spirit of John are also a Halifax band. I don't know if this is the reason why Adam, the double bass player, is more vocal than normal tonight. Anyway his interjections are both informative and entertaining. The set itself is a stormer and features three or four new songs on top of 'old favourites' from their album. Kieran O'Malley, the fiddle player, features for the entire set. He tells me afterwards that he heard the new ones for the first time that night. I could see him craning to watch Josh's guitar chords. To his credit the violin playing sounded absolutely spot on in any case.

The other thing about the Doghouse crowd is that they are 'up for it'. When I was young we used to go down the front and 'dance' to bands. This usually involved pogoing or generally flailing about. Now at my advanced age I don't participate in this kind of thing anymore. At the Doghouse though it still goes on. And its the sort of thing that can't help but bring a big smile to your face.

Hope and Social are one of the best live acts in West Yorkshire. So put them in front of one the best audiences in West Yorkshire and you have a match made in heaven. From the start people were bopping away down the front and it seemed to bring the best out in the band. On the whole they weren't as self indulgent as they can be although we had extended versions of 'Marching on Through' and an absolutely amazing 'Red Red Rose' complete with Gary Stewart not only singing 'You can call me Al' but also snippets of 'Diamonds on the soles of her shoes'.

Overall an absolute tour de force by the band; the audience and the Doghouse organisers.

Gig of the year so far!