It's been far too long since I last went and saw a David Ryder Prangley solo show so this was a nice opportunity to hear his current band playing some of the music from his two solo albums.
First on however were late replacements The 53 who took over the opening slot from Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot. The 53 are a male female duo of Guitar and drums, who look like they both might be Bus drivers on The 53 when they aren't playing garage rock.
They opened with what I guess was Never The Twain an urgent blast of garage punk that went almost straight into Cuba, that wasn't the Silos classic, but had the odd Cuban flourish in the guitar. The singer then played some harmonica at the start of You Can Fight that changed the dynamic a bit.
They were soon enough conjuring up the bands own Imaginary World where bands like there's can earn a living from music, rather than trying to feed themselves from the bands Allotment as they paid tribute to their own patch of land, as the two-chord punk blasted at us.
As they sang about having Three Hearts it was becoming clear, they were a limited one trick pony musically, as they songs had started to sound the same, at least the drummer knew how to use her bass drum to give them as full a sound as she could, as the Responsibility they hoped to avoid by being in a band kept chasing them down. So by the time they reached the last three songs they all sort of blurred together, while we considered singing along to I Love You Baby as the chorus was rather easy to join in with. A decent fun opening set.
The room had filled up somewhat by the time Drew Davies came on, to explain his 6 piece band had come all the way from Glasgow to entertain us and play songs from his latest album Holloway Hearts, about his time living in London. At least three members of the band are familiar faces who I may have seen playing in other bands.
They opened with the guitars attacking us on what I guess was There For Me that allowed Drew to start throwing his karate moves while wailing in a David Coverdale style. They were Living The Dream as the keyboards went nice and cheesy against the twin guitar attack.
Codename SoftBoi wasn't about Robyn Hitchcock's musical adventures, rather more about some Cock of the Internet dating world who didn't live up to his boasts, that featured some judiciously placed pelvic thrusts to emphasise the lyrics.
The first cover of the set was Wicked Game, Drew's vocals were almost sexy and sultry enough to pull it off. The Comeback had some wry lines among all the guitar runs and thrills that were battling against the wonderfully cheesy keyboards. You're The Only One was what Drew was claiming, anything really to get you to say yes, this was good fist pumping fun.
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They then did a fairly straight cover of Moonage Daydream that sadly morphed halfway through into To The Edge or whatever it became, it should have gone back into Moonage Daydream but sadly didn't. Drew then told us we were under Heavy Manners, without the need for a heavy weight dub sound system to back up the claim, we had to take his word for it. We got one last karate routine on the closing Holloway Nights that allowed both the guitarists to rave it up a good bit to close a set that may have been a song or two too long, from a band that need a far bigger stage to run around on.
Soon enough it was time for the packed room to welcome David Ryder Prangley and his current solo band featuring Drew Richards from Die So Fluid on guitar, I really ought to know the name of his bassist by now, they were joined by the bands latest drummer as they opened with Hey Stargazer the closing track on Vampire Deluxe, it was slow and thoughtful with David's vocals emphasizing every word.
I guess the next song was Let's Fall Apart Together that was every bit as heart broken as the title suggests, as David played some carefully accented guitar, as the drummer switched between playing with sticks and mallets. Hello has a few chinks of happiness creeping into things as the heartbreak and obsession keep David busy.
Sweet Heartbreaker is as deliciously dark as you'd expect from this super star of heartbreak. Space Station Number Nine has been one of David's solo classics for a good long while, this version was spot on with the drums and tubular bells adding to the sense of flight, as they took us out to that magical place. Forever In Starlight shone brightly with some nice interplay between David and Drew.
There was some real majesty to the version of Black Magic & True Love that cast spells and made sure we knew as ever David was breaking hearts. They played a long groove-based intro into the closing Captain Sugar that had some wonderful flourishes from the drummer as well as is careful use of his tubular bells as this set was over far too quickly.
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