Note to self...

You need to blog more you lazy git!

Matt Schofield @ The Robin

Support and other Ramblings.
Last year the discovery of the year for me were Schofields support act and local guys “The Grey Goose Blues Band”.  I was blown away with their modern twist on classic blues whilst retaining the truth and the depth of feeling contained within their own material.  TGBB were by far the best band on the night leaving the song “Sycamore Tree” embedded in my head for many months,  so this year the support band have a very high standard to reach..    
 
Well this would have been the case if there had been a support act.  Support advertised, but not in attendance, so all of us that turned up when the doors opened at 19:30 were left waiting an hour and half before we had any stage action. To get us through this support less period we had Geoff Achinson in abundance powering through the P.A , so it’s not all bad.  For those of you who have never heard of Geoff Achinson he’s an Australian blues/funk genius who manages to get fantastic sounds out of his old guitar without the need for effects pedals.. Just watching him bend and twist the guitar neck to get these amazing sounds is itself worth the ticket price.  Geoff’s   back at the Robin wed 12^th Oct.  Come on down and join the fun.. you won’t be disappointed..
http://www.geoffachison.com/

Matt Schofield
This is only Matts second visit to the Robin..  Last time the crowd was minimalistic, but it looks like the word is spreading and the crowd is pretty good for a midweek gig and all looking forward to hearing tracks from the impending CD due for official release next month.

Matt kicks off with “Don’t know what I’d do if I wasn’t loving you” which is one of the tracks on the new CD and I have to confess the only one that I made a note of..  A brave move maybe, but it does set the scene for the night. Traditional and standard blues rhythms in-filled with some ass kicking riffs of pure brilliance.  

However, there are a few bum notes hidden in there too, but this is probably due to a quite nasty finger injury from the night before when he sliced his finger open on a downswing..  Matt took great delight explaining to tonight’s audience in graphic detail about how it happened, about his blood splattered guitar and how cool it must have looked.. But tonight he’s going to be a man about it and carry on as best he can.

At least half of tonight’s set comes from the impending CD and I have to admit that I’m not really inspired by what I’ve heard tonight, but this is often the case when hearing material for the first time.  For me the songs tend to be too long with little content.. guitar riffs when they happen are sublime, awe inspiring and captivating.. this is what he is good at and he’s a joy to watch during these moments, but for me they really didn’t happen anywhere near enough which tended to leave the songs feeling empty and flat.
I also got the feeling that not enough time was spent practicing the new material before going on the road.  There were far too many prolonged pauses with Matt often looking quite lost as he tries to remember the intro to the new material..  Hopefully he will get this in the bag before the end of the tour.

In my last Schofield review I commented that there was something missing that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.. I now know what it is.. When he plays the guitar, throws a riff out for the audience to ponder over or just loses himself in the moment, its full of feeling that just carries you along, whether you want to be carried or not.  However when he sings it’s not there..  no emotion at all.  It’s not that he has a bad voice it’s just that he doesn’t let himself go the same as he does with the guitar, which is a shame.

In conclusion:  I made the comment last time that I came away singing TGGBs “Sycamore Tree” ... Well I’m afraid nothing’s really changed other than this time I left with it playing on my phone. 
http://www.mattschofield.net/

The week ahead.

Well I've finally got over last weeks fiasco and am ready to embrace the week ahead..

This week I'll be shooting "Girls with guitars" which is every mans dream followed by another female shoot for GB Promotions on the weekend... In short this week is going to be full of beautiful women so for the most part I will be smiling..

No more weeks like last week please.

Well that was a terrible week on the gig front.. Mix-up Saxons management end meant no pass for the wolves gig.. Tommy Castro gig cancelled because he needed a few days break and passes for tomorrows Magnum gig revoked!!   Such is the life of a gig tog..

This I can live with. but the real kick in the balls is finding out that some retarded tosser that doesn't know one end of the camera from the other and consistently produces blurred images will be shooting at both Saxons and Magnum's gigs...  To say I'm ever so slightly pissed off with things at the moment is an understatement..

Roll on next week..  it has to get better!  doesn't it?

John Waite - Rough & Tumble Review

Right before we start its confession time. I never liked John Waite! I always found his music to be dull, boring, bland etc. the list of negative verbose diarrheic from my POV is endless, but I’m in a pretty good mood so I wont bore you with it. Other than to add that if I had my way his 1982 single “Missing You” would be made illegal and any radio station found guilty of playing it would be nuked!!

By now I suspect that several of you may be wondering why the hell I’m reviewing a CD by someone that I obviously dislike so much? The answer is quite simple. I was kidnapped by aliens and forced to go to go to his gig at the Robin last year and I’m not ashamed to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it. But in my defence It was quite obvious that here was an artist going through a period of change and finally starting to find his own groove, so when the option to review the “Rough and Tumble” CD came up I jumped at it.

For this cd we have a new writing partnership of Waite and Kyle Cook for most of the tracks and it shows.. In the promo pack we get Waite says that “it’s not what people would expect from me, it’s a step to the left” and for most part he really isn’t kidding.

By the 3rd note of the title track “Rough and Tumble” you’re tapping your feet. It has a great hook that just pulls you along and by the 2nd chorus you’re singing along and the air guitar makes an appearance… damn this is good this is what I wanted to hear.

My hopes for the rest of the cd are soaring and then dashed in an instant.. “Shadows of Love”.. what is this shit?.. noooo 80s regression.. this has to be the worst track on the cd.. it encompasses everything you don’t want to hear in a rock song.. “you go your way, I’ll go mine, but you’re still my girl”.. wtf is this crap? THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO HEAR.. god I thought “Missing You” was bad!! Tip.. might be an idea to skip this track if you’re feeing a little suicidal.. you’ve been warned.

After the above glitch the cd starts to sort it out again.. “Its Evil’s” got a funky kind of groove going on and although the air guitar stays in its case for most part its still enjoyable fare as are most of the 12 tracks. There’s also a cracking cover of Turners “Sweet Rhode Island Red” which gets me up and dancing round the room again with plenty opportunity to once again practice the air guitar.

Now in the promo pack it says that all 12 tracks are single contenders, but I’m not sure. On the whole it’s a damn good cd and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to it over the last week or so but there are 4 tracks that really stand out for me. We have a reworked “Mr Wonderful”, which was originally released on his debut solo album “Ignition”. Then there’s “Rough and Tumble”, “Further The Sky” and the absolutely beautiful last track “Hanging Tree”… yep I said beautiful!! This single track makes you forget the not so good stuff and makes the journey worth while.

For me this CD is a massive improvement on anything that Waite has released before and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s a shame it has taken him so long to get there but I for one hope that Waite continues down this path of enlightenment.