Graeme's gift to his friends

Last Saturday (21^st May) was a day that Denise and I will always remember. Our good friend Graeme celebrated his 60^th birthday and a life in music by inviting family and a large number of friends - among whom, I am very pleased to say, we are included - to a music festival a hotel near his home in Fife.

There were 10 acts, starting at about 1.30 in the afternoon with Graeme’s daughter performing with R&B/Funk/Blues band Lights Out By Nine. Sad to say we arrived too late to see that one-and-only performance, as Siobhan only did this gig as a tribute to her dear old dad, being more interested in the technical aspects of stage work than performing live.

This was quickly followed by Jane Taylor and Friends. Jane is a good friend of Graeme's family, and a - now well established - folk and country recording artist, having appeared at a load of festivals, including Glastonbury. She has two albums under her belt: we have a copy of the very excellent Compass, which we bought when she appeared at one of Graeme’s Live at the Musistadl living room recordings. We arrived too late to see Jane this time, unfortunately, but, having seen her at Graeme’s before, we were not too disappointed. I don’t usually listen to folk or country music, but live music is always worth hearing, and Jane has a wonderful voice that just has to be listened to.

I just have to mention the setup at this point. The “stage” was really a performance area at one end of the hotel’s function room, but it was fully rigged with a professional PA and mixing desk, and had to be changed between acts. This was professionally and rapidly done in about a tenth the time it takes in purpose built venues, using no less gear and cabling. The only thing that remained on stage throughout the event was a drum-kit and one of the guitar amps. I was very impressed that they managed to turn around 10 acts, incorporating 52 musicians according to Graeme’s head-count, between 1.30 and 11.45; and the longest interval was 15 minutes!

We arrived about half way through the set of the next act. As we arrived, we heard this heavy sounding rock band playing, and thought, OK, so it’s not all going to be folk and country – we’ve got a proper rock band on now. Wonder who they are? As we got a drink we could hear, but not see them, and they were hammering out a tight set of rock, punk and indie numbers. The rhythm section was driving the band on, and the lead guitarist really seemed to know their stuff. The band was fronted by a girl singer, but her voice, while very powerful, sounded odd – a little, y’know, right at the top of the high register? Anyway, we got served and finally manoeuvred into a position where we could see the performance area and were faced with … (dan! dan! daaahh!)  a bunch of eleven-year-olds! Our jaws hit the floor, and we looked at each other and just grinned. We’d just seen the future of future of rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s called Loud ‘n’ Proud, a bunch of schoolkids who have been playing together for about 2 years, but who sound as good together as (insert name of a long-established band that isn’t a shambles here). They exuded energy and enthusiasm, tempered with technical excellence and a real stage presence. That little girl fronting the band did everything she should have been doing as the one at the front. She was engaging with the audience, introducing each number with confidence and humour, fading into the back-ground for the soloists’ bits, and generally just owning that stage. If they stay together they are going to be soooo biiigggg!

Next came a folk trio from Devon (they came all the way up for this gig!) called Alan West & Steve Black. Spot the mistake, there? The third guy was the bassist, so he obviously doesn’t count. My bruv Simon (“The Bassist”, a.k.a. “the heart of the band”) should be getting very angry right now. Good act, great songs, and a lot of silly banter and bickering between numbers.

We were told, in our invitations, that the idea of the day was that the guests could come and go, take a break, have a nap and come back later. Is he kidding? We couldn’t tear ourselves away!!

The fifth act (and we are counting) was Dave Arcari. Dave is tall, with very dark short hair and a very dark long narrow beard, going grey at the end. He was wearing a faux cowboy Ramones shirt (black with white detailing and pocket flaps), a pair of black jeans, and a pair of very scruffy black Doc Martin’s. He was holding a very shiny chrome National Steel guitar, but he had a spare black one on a stand behind him. Got the picture? We’re talking monochrome here. Now, describing the man was quite easy, but describing his act is more … problematic. He’s definitely an after-the-watershed act normally, but manfully toned it down for the mixed audience. Imagine a cross between Pete Townsend (windmilling arms, running around the stage), Sid Vicious (crouching over the microphone, rolling his eyes up in his head) and Johnny Cash (the man in black). Now imagine him playing delta-blues slide guitar (remember the National Steel?) in the style described above, covering numbers by Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf numbers et. al., all in double time, in a roaring, growling voice. Close your eyes, though, and there was a lot of control and skill in the guitar playing, especially given his on-stage gyrations. Definitely a … unique act, and a grin a minute.

So the sixth act was a large outfit called Big River. They did Johnny Cash numbers in their own style. Not being a lover of the man (speak it softly), I didn’t know any of the songs apart from one or two. They were very good at what they did, but this was really the only act of the day that didn’t grab me, and that’s not bad, considering how many acts there were, and how many different styles of music there were. Graeme crafted the festival in such a way that there’d be something for everyone, so it’s no surprise that there was something that wasn’t my cup of tea: I was delighted that it turned out just to be the one act.

The seventh act were a very local act called The Complainers from Charlestown, where the hotel was. The name says it all: they did a couple covers of Proclaimers songs, plus a number of anthems and duos (a la Everly Brothers) and were great fun. The drummer was definitely in charge, pulling them up at the start of one number when the keyboard came in on the wrong count. It was all good natured and very enjoyable. Actually, this counting-in error was really the only noticeable blong all day, and the quality of the performances was of the very highest level, professionals and non-professionals alike.

Number eight now (this is starting so read like a Desert Island Discs script), and my highlight of the day, Cousti. Don’t ask me where the name comes from: try looking on the band’s website www.cousti.com. The musical style is definitely Americana Folk-Rock, with close harmonies and nice acoustic and electric guitar riffs (think, Eagles). Oh, I just noticed, “Cousti” is a bit like “acoustic” isn’t it? I wonder if that’s it? Anyway, their website also has some samples from their albums to give you an idea of the sound, which is so polished on stage as to be indistinguishable from a studio set. The nearest British band I can think of is Stackridge, but more American and less whimsical than them, but the sound is quite similar in some ways. I just sank into the rich, velvety, intertwining strings sound and was well away.

Old favourite of ours, singer-songwriter Alex Cornish and his band, was next up. He was one of Jane Taylor’s “& Friends” earlier in the day, so he was having a long wait for a drink. He’s another one who has appeared at the Musistadl on his own and with Jane Taylor, and his album Until The Traffic Stops is one that can, and should, be listened to again and again. He is a highly accomplished acoustic guitarist, and his intricate pick-work adds so much atmosphere and texture to his lyrics. His unique style was very much appreciated by the audience, who wouldn’t let him off without an encore. I like Alex’s music very much, and was glad to hear him live again, this time with his excellent band (he was solo at Graeme’s Living Room Recordings sessions). His new album No Shore is out on June 13^th.

The final spot of the night saw the return of Lights Out By Nine, on their own ticket this time. I’ve seen them elsewhere, providing the entertainment at a corporate Christmas party, on what, it has to be said, was a much larger stage. On that occasion, everybody was up and dancing, including me! This is a very polished band, and a great finale to the day. I love a band with a horn section, just pinning everything down, and pinning back your lug’oles. We were sitting right the front, so didn’t really need the PA to get the full force of the sax, trumpet and trombone. There are LOTS of YouTube clips of this band, some better than others, and they’ve been recording for a few years now, so it’d be easy to find out what they sound like. They really are a good old fashioned jumping, bopping, funkin’ R&B band. I thought at one point they were going to go into a Average White Band number, so you can see why they were a perfect fit to support AWB on tour this year.