Darvel Music Festival

Daily Record | Mike Ritchie | Robert Stuart

They're a hardy breed, the Tones Army. Even in the outposts of rural Ayrshire loyal footsoldiers had stationed themselves to see the Britpop surviving Bluetones.

Having mysteriously cancelled gigs abroad, the Tones disguised their disappointment by delivering a zesty set.

Classics nestled alongside recent offerings, but it was 1998 anthem If which took the fledgling Darvel Music Festival to its highest crescendo yet.

Paul English
Daily Record
Friday October 6 2006

Review by Mike Ritchie - americana-uk.

The power of Darvel. Four times as many people turned out to see the Deadstrings for this show than their Glasgow gig earlier this summer but, no doubt, the following they are deservedly building up played a part as well as the persuasive charms of the 5th Darvel Music Festival organisers, Neil and Sheila McKenna. The Detroit band have been working hard for the past five years at their particular brand of country blues with its obvious and well documented debts to The Stones, The Band, Gram Parsons while a little bit of U2’s Angel of Harlem feel definitely oozed through. It was a tight performance and a fine way to round off the night.

Although there were no particular highlights, and that's not a criticism, they have a steady flow of songs to promote a party atmosphere. I felt we should have been playing pool, leaning on a bar and watching a saloon door swinging open and shut while they performed, as happens (I've just discovered) in their latest video release Sacred Heart from their second CD "Starving Winter Report."

Their slower tracks are meatier and sleazier and these appealed more to me but the party atmosphere generated by the up tempo offerings seemed to generate most reaction. Their style of music can stick to your ribs, it's the familiarity, I suppose. It doesn't push many new boundaries but that’s not to say their live performance isn't without appeal. With songs like Sacred Heart, Get Up Jake and All Over Now from "Starving..." they pull together a lot that's worth listening to, even if you close your eyes and think that the Glimmer Twins had wandered in and beat Gram to the mic.

Support act James Apollo, originally from Arkansas but now living in New York, was a hard one to follow with his layers of roots rock, country crooning, pounding bass lines and echoing vocals. Alamo, from his current release "Good Grief" drove forward good style while Libertyville was an intriguing mix of calypso plus anything that seemingly took his fancy - it was a memorable track from a guy who is worth catching live with his excellent band.

Review by Robert Stuart

Hi All,

Well, the Darvel festival just seems to get better each year. Well done to the organisers. This year they had 'splashed the cash' on a much better PA system and mixing desk.

The first band was called Set in Stone. They kinda reminded me of Cado Belle a wee bit. The musicianship was fine, but the girl singer, who was probably not used to a PA that powerful, needs a wee bit more 'mike technique' as a lot of what she was singing came across as pretty distorted because she was too close to the mike, or it was a much more sensitive mike than she was used to.

The 2nd band were the Five Aces [used to be the Boogaloo Investigators]. They were great. Retro threads, retro equipment [Selmer valve amps!] a singer who looked like David Tennant had imported him from 1964 all came together to match the early 60's pre-Brit Blues boom stuff they did. As my wife commented, they were the kind of band who would have had my mother up on the floor and twisting away all night [God, I wish she could have been there].

Then it was time for the reason we had travelled from far and wide ... The Hamish Stuart Band, and as ever, boy was it worth the trip. Once again, the guys were excellent!

I did notice a couple of things on Saturday. I don't know whether it was a cold or if 4 gigs in a week was a heavier-than-usual workload, but Hamish's voice did have a 'dead spot' in it. At the start of the night he did a lot of stuff in his 'normal' range versus what I have described before as his 'cracked falsetto'. When he went to the higher registers or full falsetto he was his usual brilliant self. The problem was the 'crossover' between normal and falsetto. Those present probably heard a slight 'gargle' when he switched between the two, especially in the early part of the night. Having spent several years in my bedroom with my vinyl copy of Soul Searching, trying vainly to get a sound like Hamish's voice I appreciate what a fantastic 'instrument' the man possesses. Yes, I know I should have got out more as a teenager.

However this did not detract from the night at all. In fact, it made it even better, because what I witnessed was a real old pro navigating his way around these songs in a different manner. It was a vocal master class in my opinion.
If I got this wrong then Hamish will probably put my lights out next time I see him!!!!!

However, once he got warmed up and loose, all was right with the world again. H has the best non-black soul voice ever. That is what makes Hamish so unique. Yes ... a white man can sing soul, because on stage he is inhabited by the spirits of Donny, Ray et al.

I also felt Adam Phillips was not as fluid as he normally is. He was still fantastic, but he is normally absolutely bloody amazing. It may have been a wee bit cold on stage, as I saw him shake his left hand a few times, and that's normally a sign that a guitarist is cold, and can't get his fret hand moving quite as he would like.

The new bass player, Nick Cohen, is another in the long line of fantastically languid and funky bass players Hamish seems to be able to come up with. Methinks there is some serious stem cell research or cloning going on in the Stuart basement. Have you ever seen Nick and Steve P. in the same room at the same time ... I thought not!

Yanto [Ian Thomas] was Yanto. Soild as a brick shit-house, and built like one as well. Graham Harvey never ceases to amaze me. He goes into that 'rolling eyes' trance of his and the sounds just fly from his soul to the keys. Remarkable! And what can you say about Bosco ... everybody loves a Brazilian! He adds great texture and a groove to the whole sound, although he really does have to let up on the rodent abuse. I guess he has the percussionist’s equivalent of Michael Palin's 'Mouse Organ' from the very first series of Monty Python. Either way, I think it's barely legal what he's doing to the rat in the box, and he could get deported if he doesn't watch himself. Bosco ... you have been warned!

I need to make note of a surprise inclusion in the set when Hamish did Cloudy. This rivalled his version of Song for You from Darvel last year. Just soul singing at its very, very best.

As best I can remember it, the set list was:

Makin' it Up
Atlantic Avenue
Unspoken Love
Queen of my Soul
Cloudy
Wonderwoman? (Stevie Wonder track)
Circle Game
Just for the Thrill
Where did the time go [the one from 'A Night on the Town]
Person to Person
Lift the Sandwiches [Pick up the Pieces]

Did I miss any?

Thanks again Hamish and team for a great evening. Thanks to the organisers, and finally, have a great birthday party in Ullapool on Sunday.

Cheers,

Robert Stuart