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OOTB 332 – 3 March 2009

Out Of the Bedroom  332

Review 03/03/09

Willie (Furious), Eddie (machar granite), Ross Neilson, Nicky Carder, Mark, Mia, Tommy, Gerry, Jim Bryce, Dave Robertson, CBQ, The Victorians and Mayhew.

Willie (Furious)

Willie starts the evening with a lively performance. His energetic, bouncy rhythms definitely kept the audience engaged and stopped all background chatter immediately. He has a great voice, full of passion and charisma. He uses some lovely dynamic changes, some great pauses and a nice rallentando to end his first song. Willie’s imagery stayed with me this evening, “army inside you with the rainbows shining through” He is “always on the move” using a harmonica to create a nice contrast to his rocky style. He definitely keeps “making impressions” on everyone watching.

P.S I like the colour of his guitar strap.

Eddie (machar granite)

I always look forward to Eddie’s performances and he definitely didn’t disappoint.

He opens with a great guitar riff and some good imagery.

“Watching from the windows as the world rolls by”

His words and melodies seem to flow from him. I drift away to his voice as his Scottish accent shines through beautifully.

A guy that keeps pigeons is the theme of Eddie’s next song. His finger picked guitar works brilliantly with his lyrics. “Circled overhead and in formation”, his sound is full but not too busy, and his voice is used gently to great effect. He puts “ words in our mouths so we have something new to say”.

Eddie’s themes give his song substance and meaning so when his flowing storyline subtly changes into a bold new guitar riff, it lifts the audience to the very end of song and keeps us watching while he slowly fades away.

Ross Neilson

Ross is a familiar face now at out of the bedroom and it is really great to hear some of his new songs.

His country sound is a good contrast to the previous performers. “I know you so well, I know you can’t tell”. His music has a Bob Dylan feel. He used a good bit of diminution in his intro and outro, which helped round his song off nicely.

His guitar rhythm works nicely with the vocal sequence and the held note in the voice is particularly effective as it gleams through the guitar riff.

“Shattered dreams don’t seem real” His conversation style vocals are quite complacent and help show off his softer side. A very good performance.

Nicky Carder (written by Calum Carlyle)

Nicky breaks the 1st commandment by doing a cover (though you’d never know it, she makes it her own completely)

I always smile when Nicky sings “everyone is watching me, I should have so much more to say”. We all know that feeling but the irony is that Nicky’s style is captivating, no wonder everyone is watching.

She finishes with another firm favourite, “ in hiding”. Tonight, she’s very much in control on her songs. This has been my favourite version of “in hiding” so far.

Mark

Mark is a breath of fresh air. He shifts the genre so dramatically, that if there was any sort of boredom out there, it has been completely eradicated.

Boogie has just been given a completely new meaning. If this guy can’t make everyone smile, no one can. His humorous tone and lyrics really steal the show. His self-created backing tracks boom in the background as he and everyone else in the room sway and nod to the music.

“We’ll both get older and we’ll both get fatter”.  His amusing lyrics and brilliant use of “oooh”, mean that I’ll most definitely go home singing his awesomely catchy but cheesy, in the best possible way, songs.

Mark’s “L.O.V.E” song takes the average mainstream love song and turns it completely inside out. “ I don’t know if I should move to the bedroom or the door”.

His melancholic vocal tone is well balanced with the happy sounding constructed backing track and really enhances the humour aspect of his performance as well as his writing skills. There is a musical style sound in his music but he makes it realistic, creating a musical for everyday life. As the synth solo bellows out, he has time to grab a glass of water before finishing his very entertaining set.

Mia

Mia starts off her set with an extremely rhythmic guitar riff, which entwines with her individual and bold voice. She captures a touch of soul in her music. This is another nice contrast to the previous performers. Mia has such a full sound, her words are crammed with content and interesting phrases and yet she still maintains a happy feel as well as a great drive and a constant rhythm.

“I’ll stand outside your window and do my best to shine”.

She works her way around her chords and stretches her voice showing off her control. She lifts her chords up the fret board towards the end and paints out some intriguing, but yet focused, scat singing before ending her song, as she fades out she leaves her impression firmly with us.

Tommy

Tommy open with a good beat, his folky style is very apparent as he speeds up the strumming. He adds in a bit of harmonica and keeps everyone nodding along.

Tommy has a distinctive husky voice full of character and a lovely undertone that shines through. He keeps a tambourine under his foot, which helps fill the sound and carries the song along nicely. He slides his way around the guitar, including some a cappella pauses, which really highlight the tone of his voice. These pauses also really enhance the returning guitar theme. His Scottish accent edges every word and sounds out amongst the workings of the fret board. “ I can’t touch this flame”

Tommy had a very good slot this evening. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gerry

Gerry confidently makes his way onto the stage with the noise of his fan club beating down around him.

Hammer-ons form a simple but effective guitar accompaniment, which work well with his powerful but controlled voice. He shows off his style with leaps in the melody.

“She can read my mind”

A subtle vibrato flows through his voice as he produces some well-written and very catchy melodies and yet maintains a confident but still relaxed feel.

“People come and go” “how can something that feels so right, feel so wrong at the same time”

Gerry uses some pretty heart-felt lyrics along with some great held notes, which are sung amongst well-constructed guitar playing. He continues to show an impressive sustain in his voice. He also makes some good changes in the tempo of the songs to keep them interesting and to maintain the attention from the audience, not that he needed too, his audience were listening intently to every word.

Gerry ends his slot with a very memorable chorus that I particularly enjoyed.

“Until my legs won’t carry me no more”

A great performance from Gerry.

Jim Bryce

This man needs no introduction. He was well anticipated and has not disappointed.

“He took up his fish slice and fried her in crumbs”.

Jim makes some weird mouth noises and combines them with even stranger lyrics to compose a very atmospheric and entertaining song.

“He sliced his brains to the bone and had them with pasta for his tea”

This particular song had a haunting feel to it, reminded me of an Addams family song or something. Jim has great animation in his voice as he tells his dark story amongst an individual use of finger picked chords.

Jim’s next piece is a contrasting song with some beautiful sounding piano and vocal melodies. He keeps his voice animated and turns his songs into something which sounds like a signature song for a character in a musical. This man seems to be very good at acting as he easily manages to grasp the glances of everyone in the room.

“I can’t shut my eyes for seeing pictures in my head”

He uses accents to punch out his words, he also makes use of dynamic contrasts and uses a nice bit of repetition.

Jim’s final song “moon and water song” starts with a penny whistle. He effectively bends the notes and displays a beautiful tune with acciaturas and long notes which are immediately followed by some melancholic but convincing a cappella singing. These nice sequences fill in the spaces and captivate the audience without the need for an accompaniment.

Jim’s songs combine humour and also a deeper and more serious under tone, they are brilliantly constructed and are received in admiration by every musician in the room. A very talented performing indeed.

Dave Robertson

I can tell that Dave listened to the same kind of music as I did when I was younger, It was nice to know that at least one person recognised the Soil cover I played earlier.

Dave has a very impressive vocal range. His voice includes a great deal of edge, which keeps his notes very bold even when he is singing in the higher register.

This guy is definitely into rock, his angsty, passion filled voice booms out and engages the crowd. He most definitely is not “invisible”.

Dave’s bold opening guitar riff jumps about in dynamic and rhythm. He really highlights his voice in the softer and more exposed areas before he explodes back in volume.

His great rhythm and accents drive his songs, which are full of power, his controlled screaming fades in and out as his songs develop.

Dave is becoming very confident and I particularly enjoy his unique balance of metal melody lines on an acoustic guitar.

CBQ

CBQ’s gentle sound is yet another good change in the atmosphere. I think there has been some higher force organising the programme tonight, as every act seems to have made an impact. CBQ’s soft sound floats around the room and into the distance after every phrase creating a very mellow and relaxing feel.

“I’ll see you around, don’t worry about the money”.

“I wave to the car as you drove off”.

His deep thoughts linger in everyone’s minds as he sings them out nicely.

“Don’t answer the call”

CBQ maintains a subtle but consistent drive throughout his songs as vibrato creep through his voice.

“When I come into the room, one thing that strikes me is the time”

“Play dead when you feel nothing at all”

He definitely makes up for his gentle voice by turning out deep and passionate lyrics that leaves everyone lost in thought.

The Victorians

The Victorians steal the show before they even touch the stage. Their magnificent stage present captures everyone and draws them in even if they don’t want to be drawn in. I’d like to see someone try and avoid making eye contact with them, the Victorians would probably storm out and drag who ever the culprit was and bring them onto the stage for the rest of their slot. As well as having great stage presence and a really nice jacket, the Victorians managed to construct the official out of the bedroom theme song.

“You’re going to find me at out of the bedroom, the Tron on a Tuesday at out of the bedroom”

As for their songs, as well as being ridiculously entertaining, they were very well formed and very well performed. The second vocal part was a nice subtle addition that really brought the best out of their music.

Lovely gentle voices peer out of humorous, well-spoken sentences, in beautiful harmonies.

“ I still put our affair in the past tense!”

The Victorians stamp away to the bouncy guitar rhythm.

“Don’t mind me I’m just passing through to somewhere more civilised, a little more me, a little less you”.

There was conversation happening mid song and la la la counter melodies in the background that not many people could pull off quite so well. This cabaret style duo had the best audience interaction I’ve ever seen and probably the most entertaining performance I’ve seen yet at out of the bedroom.

Thoroughly recommend them to anyone as there is only so much a silly little review can cram in, especially as a lasting impression is guaranteed.

Mayhew

Mayhew had a hard act to follow but they did so beautifully.

An ambient sound breaks out as harmonics and bass notes drive their song into existence. The cello seeps through, capturing a dark and beautiful sound that truly captivates the audience. My hand was glued to the paper as I scribbled down everything I could hear until the vocals came in. I had to put down my pen, this distinctive and beautiful voice flows amongst the guitar and cello perfectly. Words can’t describe such a full and beautiful sound and how much of an impact this particular combination of folk, classical and ambient rock melodies can have.

The music continues to lift and entwine with the words, constantly driven by the counter melodies of the guitar and cello, while the echoing voice carries effortlessly. The mixture of folk and classical guitars is very distinctive and takes the sound to the limit without it sounding too busy. I particularly love how consistent the beat was despite having no percussionist. The instruments take it in turn to lead the music, keeping it full and varied.

“torrents came out of nowhere”

The imagery becomes its own as it appears gently in the words.

“Frozen fragments” “tonight we hide, from view” “we’re standing in shallow water, the warnings came down in torrents”

Mayhew’s performance was one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen.

A band that everyone needs to see.

Review by Nicky Carder

Compere – Calum Carlyle

Sound by Daniel, Malcolm and David!

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