Welsome to the Games for May all day festival. It was meant to be held in Queens Wood in Muswell Hill, but that got moved to The Wheelbarrow in Camden, formerly Tommy Flynns. Now I had a full day of other stuff to do and so got to The Wheelbarrow just after 7pm and having missed all sorts of other bands was sad to walk in just as Mike Absalom was performing his last poem of the night. Damn!
For anyone who has seen any of the articles on John Peel's record collection might know Mike's name for having the honour of having the album that Peel numbered 001 in his filing system. It's the wonderfully titled 'Save The Last Gherkin For Me' (available at www.mikeabsalom.com) that came out in 1968 and here he was this grey-haired old man with a wicked smile and a beard to rival Uncle Albert from Fools and Horses. I really wished I had heard his set, but at least I got to meet him and he was a real gent and I am glad to have bought a copy of that CD from him. He know lives in the middle of a peat bog in Ireland so if you notice he is playing anywhere near you make a better effort to see him than I did.
The first act I saw Fully was STERLING ROSWELL who is of course still better known as Rosco from Spacemen 3 and also one of the organisers of Games In May. He sat down to play guitar and sing a few songs, opening with a cover of Golden Hair, the old Syd Barrett tune and I thank Pat Fish for pointing that fact out, as my Syd Knowledge isn't that good.... Anyway, Sterling played a nice version of it in a folky style. The next song was I think called I Believe and was another cool sounding tune. He then did about three more lightly frazzled slightly Psychedelic tunes that were almost right for a rainy Monday in London.
Next On where BLACK DOG HAT who I have to say I didn't remember I had seen before until they said who they were at the end of the set! Which is kind of explained as they seemed to be the band that failed to grab that much of the audience's attention even though they opened with a song I put down as Pretty Green Everything - almost certainly wrongly it was an ok sub Oasis style Britpop tune that didn't go anywhere interesting. Before My Eyes was probably the best song they played as it just about stuck in my head thanks to some good vocals and nice strummed guitar. Just For The Hell Of It failed to get anywhere near abandoned enough to justify the title in the same way as electric came over more semi acoustic than fully plugged in.
Next on was VICTORIA MAJOR who was the first act that made me move forward to hear her properly. She was solo on acoustic guitar and astonishing for how she plays and strums her guitar, wringing all sorts of noises out of it while singing some fabulously complicated songs. They had the feel of being mere sketches of the potential they will have with a full band.
Just hearing her sing and play, I could envisage brass and or woodwind turning To Live Or To Learn into a sort of Henry Cow meets the Tindersticks and re-imagines the Unthanks: a truly great sounding thing as she sang all her own songs including the astonishing The Life. The new untitled song to an old lover that was about what happens when you haven't spoken in so long. It had enough heartbreak in it to make you wonder what could have happened to her to bring out a song like this. The loss and longing seems to be a theme also on her last song, Since You Left, that featured some great guitar twangs and noises that she worked really hard to bring out. Hopefully someone will get Victoria into a studio to bring out the best in her songs.
I popped out into the alley for a little chat and by the time I came back in KUMI was well into her set. She was playing a keyboard and singing into 2 microphones, doing some dancey electronica that was okay but not particularly memorable. Of the three songs I heard the best was Your Favourite Toy: it was pretty decent and she certainly seemed to be enjoying herself but after Victoria Major she struggled.
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Next on was the always well turned out GEORGE FRAKES who I last saw at the Betseey Trotwood some time ago hanging out with Benjamin Folke Thomas and friends. This time he was solo with his electric guitar and while he may have the look of a young Dave Kusworth/Nikki Sudden, he doesn't seem to share the Keef fixation and instead we got some Guitar Fireworks to accompany some very cool tunes. I need to hear more of them so I at least can have a guess at what any of them are called, but either way it was a great set and I also want to see him performing these songs with a full band.
Next up was my old friend PAT FISH AKA the Jazz Butcher who is currently preparing to record a new album that may or may not feature former members of both The Conspiracy and The Sikorskis from Hell but we'll have to wait and see on that.
He opened with the old Henry Cow classic Blue Flower which was sounding as great as ever and I hope to hear Mazzy Star also play it at the end of May! Pat then did Animals which sounds as good as ever, as does his great version of Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers: a song that really ought to come with a steam punk remix sometime soon.
He went on with the dancefloor filler that is Quality People who (of course) live in Quality towns, who may or may not be the subjects of the next song which is one of Pat's odes to alcohol. DRINK yes we all wanted to share with pat the Whiskey Vodka and Special Brew and drinking until we can't see...
He wrapped up his set with a great version of Shirley Maclaine and it seems like Pat still has a thing for Shirley and why ever not. He went off and was quickly back on for an encore that was a great version of Southern Mark Smith which is still one of my favourite Jazz Butcher tunes and sounded great. A cool end to a good short set.
The final act on was TWO BUGS & A ROACH who are a sort of super group featuring Sterling Roswell on Guitar and vocal, George Frakes on Guitar and vocals and Fabio and Claudio of The Lysergics on bass and Keyboards and a drummer I didn't recognise but who I'm told is a well known session drummer. I hope I got that line up, but either way they made a hell of a sonic garage band noise with an opening instrumental that was mind expanding and blowing and may or may not have been a Pink Floyd cover. Whatever, it was trippy as hell and laid the groundwork for them to play a monumental version of See Emily Play that was fizzing in fuzz and feedback and sounded glorious and idiotic, to nick a line from an album title.
They then closed the night with one more freak out instrumental that saw some great soloing from George Frakes getting everything and more out of his guitar while The Lysergics and Rosco amped up the droning intensity to make sure we all stumbled out of the Wheelbarrow with the drones repeating in our heads for a good few hours afterwards. A great night out that it was hard to believe was a free gig with a bucket to throw your smash in.
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