I enjoyed playing the Houdini Box gig at the Listening Room last night. First there was the close and friendly atmosphere (it has to be friendly when it’s so many people in such a small space); then there was the way the simple unamplified setup (with the exception of the bass) let the songs come over and show that they don’t rely on the earlier ‘wall of sound’ of the violin/oboe days or the distorted guitar beloved of Lyns to carry power to the audience. Sam perched on a table picking his 12-string, Ross clacked away on a tabletop, a chair and various kitchen containers, and I applied a chorus to the bass which gave it a nice fat Jaco Pastorius sound. We could do more like this.
I picked up a couple of CDs, which I haven’t heard yet. One was by the
Sawmill Buddhas, which Jim touted as ‘brings dead pets back to life,
cures baldness and erectile disfunction’; the other by Graeme Mearns,
whom I’ve seen only occasionally since he was a regular at the old
Edinburgh Songwriters’ Showcase. A spiky, even aggressive, performer
with great guitar skill and projection, he’s now rehearsing with Nobody
Jones as The Jones Brothers, which should be a killer combination.
Two gigs coming up this week at BeanScenes – Stirling on Wednesday and a return to Glasgow West End on Thursday.