Skip to main content

A family affair

An impromptu booking led M and I to a different kind of Saturday night in Cardiff. M had given me Kitty, Daisy and Lewis' selftitled 1st LP (I'll discount the 'A-Z' compilation as an album proper, as it only has 1 song of theirs) as a birthday present, and luckily I checked my email to find an invitation from Spillers to get our glad ragged selves down to Clwb Ifor Bach for Sat 30th August, as the band were indeed in town. Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are 3 siblings playing their own mix of old rock n roll, r'n'b, country and blues (plus parents for guitar/double bass onstage). I found a brief summary article on Wikipedia here.



M thought there would be 6 people there, I thought it would be busier than than, and happily I was right! DJ Johnny Dodgem provided a very suitable set prior to the live set, but what support was meant to be there, wasn't, so we had a bit of a wait for K D and L to arrive onstage. But no matter. Obviously, most of the set was taken from their album, I think pretty much the whole thing got an airing. Songs not on the album: Blue Moon over Kentucky. new single Hold Me Tight (think I wrote that down right), Say You'll Be Mine, and a great 2nd to last song, I'll call it The Trombone Song as it involved a short trombone solo from Kitty, but have no idea of the title! Interestingly, all 3 siblings swap instruments with relative ease, and the stage was full of assorted instruments.



Whilst it was obvious that the band are well reviewed, most of the crowd were rather more enthusiastic than just interested, especially 2 guys dressed as Buddy Holly! And everyone had a good old boogie. Maybe a slight concern, only 2 of the album tracks are self-composed (although if I remember rightly, Kitty wrote Hold Me Tight), and whilst my young ears may find their set fairly fresh and interesting, it isn't altogether original.

My other gripe? If Kitty, Daisy and Lewis are so popular (with good credit, and I hope this continues), why aren't The Sugars as well received?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pigeon Funk

Notes on a very random purchase. Earlier today I acquired Venetian Snares 'Rossz Csillag Alatt Sz ü letett ' purely on the basis of the language and artwork. Its certainly something different - and most definitely not pop. After a bit of searching: Venetial Snares is, according to Wikipedia, the performing name of Aaron Funk, who seems to specialise in experimental tracks in odd time signatures. Article here . The sleeve notes for this album (whose title is Hungarian for 'Born under a bad star') poses the question: what if, for just a day, we could both be pigeons? Interessant. Apparently this concept (a day in the life of a Hungarian pigeon) is non-typical of Venetian Snares sound, but one could ask, does Mr Funk do 'typical'? On first listening, the sound of this CD mixes classical/traditional Hungarian sounds and breakbeats. but aside from that? Definitely a 'listen for yourself' artist; try the website , fan site or myspace .

Hidden Witness

Moving house completed - for now - and we are back in the Vale of Evesham. The wonders of Facebook unearthed a live gig and St Richard's Hospice fundraiser by slow-burning band Hidden Witness so off we went for an evening out in Worcester. I honestly can't remember the last time either of us did that.... cue pleasant surprise at our venue for the evening, Keystones Cafe Bar . Quite open and spacious in terms of standing room, reasonably large stage and a bar ensconced in the remaining medieval walls - much more atmosphere than many other small bars... A busy few weeks meant I hadn't had time to check out Hidden Witness' SoundCloud page so I had fresh ears and no expectation. The support band, The Miffs , were ok, with a few engaging covers, but sadly (for my ears) nothing memorable.  After a short break -  in which the background music made me feel both young and old simultaneously - Dan, Chris, Neil and Dan took the stage for an interesting set. A few ...

Mini update

I have finally sorted out my site links to reflect some new/renewed interests and my current location. We have something of a National Arts Centre bonanza shortly: I had already booked to see Angela Hewitt on 16th Feb but found a good ticket offer on LivingSocial.com to see Radu Lupu this coming Wednesday, 26th. In addition to all that, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross (his recent book, Listen To This , is excellent, as well as his previous tome, The Rest Is Noise ) is giving a talk there on 13th February. This is all followed in March by a complete about turn to the Bronson Centre to see Finnish band Apocalyptica . They have been somewhere on my radar for a while but I was spurred on to book tickets after a bout of nostalgia. M and I were regular visitors to Wolverhampton UK to see various bands at Civic Hall/Wulfrun Hall; a few months ago a mutual friend posted on that there Facebook thing about seeing said Apocalyptica at Wulfrun Hall. Nostalgia for the venue and renewed intere...