JIM JONES REVUE + JOE GIDEON & THE SHARK + DAMERELS
@ THE WHITE RABBIT, PLYMOUTH - 22ND OCTOBER 2013
There is nothing better than
walking in to a venue and being hit in the face by a wall of feedback and
booming drums. Tonight's welcome chorus comes courtesy of Plymouth noise
mongers Damerels and what a might
noise it is too. Masters of feedback and the grumbling bass, Damerels warmed
the room up nicely as the crowd arrived, moist from the wesctountry rain
sweeping in from the sea.
Next up on the bill were brother
and sister duo Joe Gideon & The
Shark who I had only heard of rather than actually heard in the past. It is
an absolute pleasure to report that this twosome were a revelation combining
the spoken word elements of Jim Morrison, the quirky cool of Gryff Rhys and the
delivery of We Are Scientists - and that's just Joe Gideon. Joe's sister, the
Shark (Viva to her friends), is a twirling, whirling octopus-cum-mad-scientist
of a musician as she switches expertly between microphones, drums, keyboards
and loop stations all with the precision of a gymnast. There is something spell
binding about their songs and their performance despite their almost complete
lack of audience interplay. A more than pleasant surprise.
Something that wasn't a surprise
was the ferocity, energy and swagger with which the Jim Jones Revue hit the stage. For the uninitiated, the London
5 piece play piano driven rock'n'roll with the sneer of the early Rolling
Stones, the style of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and a stage presence these
shores haven't seen for quite some years. As they sweated, growled and gurned
their way the songs that have brought them popularity, it quickly became
apparent that it wouldn't matter if you didn't know the tunes as the
infectiousness of the performance and the primal rumble of the bass guitar
mixed the lowest of the low notes on the piano forces you to get involved.
After a short break - presumably so that the band could wring the sweat out of
their shirts - the band returned to the stage and preceded to take requests
from the audience and orchestrate a clap/stomp/shout/swear/sing along. It
didn't matter that half the crowd didn't know the early stuff, by the time Jim
Jones was leaning out from the stage we were all eating out of the palm of his
hand as his band of rock'n'roll reprobates teased us, pleased us and generally
did unholy things to their instruments. This is how a rock'n'roll band should
sound live but, more importantly, this is how a live rock'n'roll band should
perform and that is a big part of what makes the Jim Jones Revue so special.
More Information:
Jim Jones Revue - https://www.facebook.com/thejimjonesrevue?fref=ts
Joe Gideon & The Shark - https://www.facebook.com/joegideonandtheshark?ref=ts&fref=ts
Damerels - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Damerels/385038990773?ref=ts&fref=ts
Comments
Post a Comment