The good, the bad and the lyre (Open Mic #7)

When nothing goes to plan, though everything turns out right, you know the night has gone as it should.  Terry from Hemel Hempstead, now living in Huddersfield, knows the score; he arrived for this special duo and bands night with an experimental outfit he called The Good, The Bad and the Bastard.  I wasn’t sure which one of them was the bastard, but having acquired the drummer from My Mate Dave (Russell) they knocked out some Left! Right! Left! Right! and finished with an improvised set on lyre and bass guitar.

The lyre is a six string instrument stretching back to Greek classical antiquity and was often used to accompany story telling.  Fast forward to the present and it was being fed through high end reverb and hit with small sticks to create an ambient tone.  This was another first for my night and the whole point of these gatherings – expect the unexpected.

The featured act this month being The Chokes (above), a recently formed duo of local lads Dan Gallo and Tom Swales.  They play loud, uncompromising and passionate punk rock in a down to earth style.  Lad’s Army fills the bar with the stop-start-stop-start of lead guitar and drums as Dan sweats and rocks with an outstanding performance more fitting of a festival main stage than our humble proceedings in humble town.  Half way through the set the hot summer night gets too much and Tom throws off his shirt as Dan is dripping with sweat at a pace and volume which may have lost a few people who don’t like their music this loud, but gained plenty of new fans in the process.  Let me tell you now, here is the new punk rock and music has a future.   

This night was also graced by the return of the band My Mate Dave from Leeds, playing a mix of their own songs and covers.  Amy the lead singer has a powerful voice and presence and the drummer is second to none.  If any of you pub owners are reading this blog I thoroughly recommend these guys.

My mate Greg also came down to perform with his mate Lance, performing as Wing and Prayer, a name I rather like.  And we also got a wonderful introduction to the night from local choir Singing for Fun, organised by Louise from the newly opened Holmfirth music shop Hot Banana, as well as some superb punk folk tinged tunes from her partner in crime Steven Whiplash (pictured left).

It was also good to put real faces to the names of hardworking Wakefield duo Peculiar Blue as I’d heard so many good things about this pair from my travels around the Northern open mic scene.  They didn’t disappoint and played some wonderful original songs including We All Go Down Together and How Could You Leave.

There was poetry from Jim, Petra and Victoria leading us nicely into a random finish and a bit of a jam that combined kaossilator, lyre and spoken word – a collision of ancient and modern technologies that probably didn't sound as good as we thought it might at the time, but that’s what it’s all about after all and if you don’t try these things you’ll never know.  On this theme the next open mic will be on 29 August 2013 and will be an all acoustic affair downstairs at Cellar 88 – music without the aid of a PA. So please bring instruments and performances to suit.

A kaoss end to a chaotic night:

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The pride and vinyl of Holmfirth (Open Mic #6)

These are complicated nights with many and varied goings on.  You bring together a random collection of people from all walks of life and provide a space in which they express themselves - there are bound to be differences of opinion and massive contrasts, a light and beautifully sung ballad contrasts with an insightful account of growing up with drugs, a comedy piece about a man from Essex contrasts with dark repetitive electronica, or a piece of classical music played over an iPod backing track.  

Don’t expect to like or agree with everything you hear - this is not a gig, where you have paid for something you know you’re going to get.  And neither is this the sanitized  televised meanderings of Britain’s Got Talent, it is much more real than that.  On these nights you don’t know what to expect and you might be happily surprised or deeply upset, or even disappointed.

My aim is to create an event that none of us will forget in a hurry, that will come back to you in years from now and bite you in the bum and say ‘hey, remember that guy you saw playing harmonica and shaking his eggs he was brilliant’ or ‘what about that awful rendition of Ferry Cross the Mersey that went on for half an hour’ but you remember those things, you remember the contrasts.  And if you really, really don’t like something it doesn't matter, because it only lasts a fleeting moment, all of us get fifteen minutes of anti-fame.

Holmfirth is a competitive place and since starting this night two other open mics have been launched in the town.  This is good news for musicians and performers because it means there are more places to play and they are all very different nights.  I started my night because I wanted to create an anything goes kind of place, something different from the mainly folk and acoustic nights that had become the norm.  I wanted to create a space where all kinds of music and performance would be welcome from hip hop through to rock, from country through to beat boxing, from bands through to solo artists.  Half way through this experiment and I think I have largely succeeded in this aim but there is more work to be done.  There are gaping holes in the spectrum of music that has been provided and an over representation of other forms, and I'm coming to understand better the pride and prejudice of this town (that’s where the story really lies).

On my sixth open mic we had classical music, blues, comedy, spoken word, folk, electronica and pop music.  All of this was flavored with the blue remembered songs and the forgotten melodies of another random collection of vinyl.  We finished the open mic slots at quarter to twelve and even the late finish didn't mean everyone got to play.  So big thanks to the brilliant Scott Wainwright, Greg Paul, Heather, James Munroe, Terry, Linda and Andy, the poets Stuart Clark, Petra, Victoria and multi-talented Tim Taylor, Jamie Philokyprou and Iona. Also thanks to Ben Thomas (aka L'Étranger)  for assisting with the vinyl play, the lovely audience and all the staff at Cellar 88 for putting up with the mayhem.

The next Open Mic is 25 July at Cellar 88.