Boy oh boy, things have changed round these parts over the last two summers. When W&H were last at the Skibbereen showgrounds for the 2008 Cork X Southwest event, it was enormously laid back. The organisers were all smiles, you got your passes at the gate and could wander round wherever you wanted. This time, it's all security checks, queueing at designated windows to collect tickets and (boo!) the ace mobile cinema's nowhere to be seen.
This isn't intended to sound like sour grapes. The local area has put a lot of effort into getting the Cork X Southwest Festival onto the wider Rock'n'Roll map and they've succeeded. Now into its' fourth year, it can boast a line-up that's the most diverse, internationally-renowned one as yet and by our reckoning, the crowd has swelled to almost double the amount of people we can recall from the 2008 event. Throw in a tastily eclectic display of catering, four tents full of sonic goodies to cherry pick from and you've got a great afternoon on your hands.
As with all festival situations, it's a 'so many bands, so little time' dilemma, but our first choice is an inspired one. Rocking the De Barra's Sitting Room tent, TRAMPSTERDAM are an unfeasibly youthful quartet from Clonakilty and while this writer would usually give a very wide berth to anything described as “comedy funk”, these guys are actually great fun. The verbal sparring between co-frontmen Arty and Sam is frequently hilarious and they even get away with a song called, er, 'Sexy Love Baby Making Machine'. Their last tune regally takes the piss out of Gangsta Rap and even provokes a mini stage invasion. Not bad for three o'clock in the afternoon.
Over in the Little Big Tent, I'm expecting great things from Glasgow's TREMBLING BELLS. They have released two albums on Honest Jon of 'Mali Music' fame's label, have stacked up plaudits galore and even the great Joe Boyd himself has been heard to refer to them as “my kind of band.” Sadly, they struggle to live up to the rep. Lavinia Blackwell does have a potentially great voice and gives it her best Sandy Denny on the epic folk-rocking set opener, but from there on they can't decide whether they want to be an acid-testing Psych-pop outfit or raise the ghost of Renaissance. Eclecticism's cool, sure, but deciding on some sort of direction's a help too, and right now Trembling Bells can't seem to find one for toffee.
Back over in the De Barra's sitting room, we're hoping for something a little pithier from THE AMBIENCE AFFAIR. This Dublin-based duo have released two EPS, 'Fragile Things' and the new 'Patterns' and recently had one of their tunes used in an episode of 'CSI: New York'. For a duo, they have quite an ambitious sound, with singer/ guitarist Jamie Clarke combining nagging riffs with loops and samples he painstakingly creates to play off. Marc Gallagher, meanwhile, is one of the most undemonstrative drummers I've ever seen, but his ritual percussion patterns (reminiscent of the early Cure on 'Lost At The Start') are just the ticket. The initial intensity of the set fizzles out a little, but tracks like 'Devil in the Detail' suggests they are worth sticking around for.
JOEL PLASKETT, however, displays the afternoon's true star quality. Even divorced from his usual backing unit The Emergency, this enviably fresh-faced Nova Scotian singer/songwriter exudes class and confidence and he turns both on in style during his half hour in the Little Big Tent. With admirable support from Ana Egge (mandolin/ vocals) and second guitarist Chris Pennell, they treat us to the best moments from his LP 'Three', such as 'Undercover Lover' and the effortlessly melodic 'Rollin', Rollin', Rollin', while 'Rewind, Rewind, Rewind' provides an unexpected, Casio-tastic electro-pop diversion and 'All The Way Down The Line' ticks the romantic ballad box with ease. By the time the closing 'Wishful Thinking' drops an irresistible shot of rhythm & blues into our whiskey he's more than sealed the deal. Consider me converted to the cause.
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Perennial Cork stalwarts THE FRANK & WALTERS give us the chance for a shufti at the festival's Blue Tent main stage. They prefer sensible shirts and slacks to the day-glo orange tops and multi-colour flares that marked their spell in the sun as darlings of the Indie press in the early '90s, but they seem content with their lot. Besides, their songs still fizz with an impressive vitality and it's heartening to hear their bittersweet new single 'The Parson' more than holding its' own against expected old favourites like 'Fashion Crisis Hits New York' and an ultra-bouncy 'After All.' Keyboard player Cian has brought a little more scope and depth to their sound and it's a testament to their staying power that almost-ballads like 'Honestly' and the steely set-closer 'It's Time We Said Goodnight' are just as rapturously received as the hits. They're twenty years young, but there's life in these Lee-siders yet.
W&H have had a soft spot for Albuquerque's THE HANDSOME FAMILY for years and the chance to see them up close and personal in De Barra's Sitting Room sounds like a blissful plan. Unfortunately, Mr & Mrs. Sparks have other ideas. What should be a triumphant homecoming for them (they have made regular trips to West Cork for years) ends with them trotting out a lazy and lacklustre 'greatest hits' set, with Rennie consistently looking bored as she plunks her banjo and Brett taking the piss out of his guitar playing and ad-libbing lyrics through a predictable set featuring the likes of 'Weightless Again', 'So Much Wine' and a horribly loose 'When The Helicopter Comes'. A nicely spooky '24 Hour Store' is one of the few to survive intact in the murk, but by then one guy has actually gone to sleep. “Is he OK?” Rennie enquires. “We have been known to kill people before.” Sadly, with a set like this it's not hard to see how that result could be achieved.
It turns out to be an even greater pity we decide to stick the Handsomes out when we head back over to a packed Little Big Tent for a fun-filled finale from THE CEILI ALLSTARS. This great, Trad-crossover outfit featuring talented musicians from the likes of Stanley Super 800 and David Hope & The Henchmen are guaranteed to make any festival go with a bang and their irresistible mash-up of jigs, reels and fiery ballads turns out to be the perfect way to bring down the curtain on W&H's Cork X Southwest 2010. We head out into the night in search of beer, flapjacks, the (ultra-clean) toilets and finally the free car park. Goodnight Skibbereen. It's been a blast once again.
Cork X Southwest online
Trembling Bells on Myspace
The Ambience Affair on Myspace
Joel Plaskett online
Ceili Allstars on Myspace
Frank & Walters online
The Handsome Family on Myspace
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