Folk is great, beer is good…

As a teenager I was a regular at the Railway Folk Club in Portsmouth, so news of a Folk Club in Bonn made me curious. Had they changed? Had I changed? No and yes. The air of excited expectancy, caused by no-one, including the MC, knowing what will come is still there – but I no longer turn up with a guitar to get in for free.

The bus to Grauerheindorf jettisoned me at what seemed to be the end of the Universe – except that, contrary to Douglas Adams description, there there was no restaurant. What there was though after intensive examination of the area which took 3 minutes, was a welcoming pub “Gaststätte zum Schutzenhaus” and a welcoming smile from MC/Host of the Bonn Folk Club John Harrison. John has those comforting Folk Club trademarks – a check shirt and a shaggy beard. The latter is usually a sign of someone who will sing acapella songs about whales (the mammal, not the Country) with a finger in an ear for vocal self-tuning during the performance.

Come 7.30 and it’s quite full in the backroom where we are watching Barry Roshto open the show at the piano. There are a couple of songs culled of all things from a wild west paperback about dying out on the prairie and being a wild cowboy. Sung with an enthusiasm only slightly slowed by Barry’s struggling with the words through wearing the wrong spectacles – a problem I wouldn’t have understood as a teenage Folk Club goer but in my ‘dotage’ can now sympathize with. By the time Barry has finished his set I’ve already got a new life slogan – “God is Great, Beer is Good, People are Crazy”. A big Country hit for Billy Currington that is said to sum up the American lifestyle but seems to fit Germany too (although maybe a tweak to “Wine is Good” is necessary?

The duo ‘Petite Fleur’ from Beuel gave us some pleasant Judds style melodies but I was in need of real FOLK music. Thankfully John Harrison came to my rescue and his checked shirt and beard didn’t disappoint. “The man who waters down the workers beer” is a standard I remember from my old Folk Club days. John has a song or two of his own up his checked sleeve too. ‘Zeppelina’ is perhaps the first ever folk song about Rhine in Flammen and it’s impact on Rhinepark Ducks. Oddball, typical folk club, I like it!

By now seats are being brought in from the main bar by as we begin a bit of traditional Irish Folk via a German gentleman clutching his uilleann pipes. An Irish form of bagpipe though thankfully smaller (not sure if the room could accommodate a Bagpipe in full flow!) Watching him get sound out of his instrument was as much fun as hearing the beautiful sound itself.

John Harrison is back onstage, this time with Blues Harp player Paolo. A bit of WC Handy and Bessie Smith to take us down to the Delta. Magic music that I’m pleased to say is still appreciated. Only this week Louisiana Red recieved an award for his Delta Blues CD “Back to the Black Bayou”. Both John and Paolo, like Louisiana Red in Bonn last year, seem to enjoy playing as much as I enjoy hearing them play –  for me an integral part of what folk music clubs are all about.

Which brings me to what for me is THE best element of Folk Clubs. Like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates it’s only when you open the box that you discover whats inside. Since John ‘opened’ this particular musical box at 7.30pm we’d had Country & Western, Cajun, Irish Pipes, Wild West and Delta Blues. Casting my mind back to 7pm though I remembered a young guy walking in with guitar case in hand. John hadn’t expected him and asked “Do you want to play for us this evening”. Now here he was onstage – a part of duo ‘Mike and the Doctor’. Twenty minutes and a couple of slightly rude but very funny songs later and wild applause makes it clear these guys would be welcome regulars.

Yep, you never know what you’re gonna get – but you can be sure it will be fun finding out.
Admission is currently free – (which means I don’t have to bring my guitar!) so check it out.
I love Folk Clubs – maybe you will too?!

MORE FOLK CLUB PICTURES

The Bonn Folk Club meets 1st Friday each month (Next meet: 4 June)
Where: Gaststätte Zum Schützenhaus, Estermannstr. 109, 53117 Bonn
For more information visit the FOLK CLUB BLOG

Oli The Kid Hits Town!

He’s not American, he’s not black, and he’s not old.  Despite these Blues ‘handicaps’ Oli Brown came out onto the Harmonie stage ‘guns blazing’ and quickly shot down all those critics who claim a young, white Englishman can’t play the Blues.

My first sight of 20 year old Norfolk born Oli Brown on Wednesday was a fitting one.  He was leaving the hall after sound-checking.  Hung over each shoulder was a guitar and he was holding them steady like they were in the holsters of a western gunslinger.  A musical Billy the Kid.  Okay,  Billy never wore a belt-buckle with the Batman logo emblazoned on it (as far as I know!) but when it comes to the ‘killer touch’ Oli’s Vanquish signature guitar should have more notches than Billy’s Colt.

Also very un-Tombstone like – Oli thanked me politely for the souvenir Bonn fruit gums I presented him with.  Graham, Oli’s Manager and father, said any food was especially welcome.  This was the first date of a short German Tour and they’d travelled over via Dunkirk and had been up since 3am – Motorway jams however meant they still barely had time to set up and soundcheck in Bonn.  Dinner was on hold until after the show.

Inside the hall there are a number of confused people.  I hadn’t seen seats and bistro tables in front of the Harmonie stage since Louisiana Red was here last year.  Many of the audience today had never seen them here before full stop.  Maybe the Harmonie Management put in the seating out of politeness and the expectancy of a higher than usual female contingent for a Blues show (there are never this many women at Walter Trout!) more likely, this being a Wednesday, they were being conservative about the turn-out. I remember rebellious Thin Lizzy fans throwing seats aside at a Portsmouth concert many years ago.  Here too the audience is rebelling.  Well, sort of…  I see a middle aged (ex-Thin Lizzy fan?) heading up the stairs of the hitherto closed off balcony.  When after five minutes he still hasn’t been forcibly removed, others throw caution to the wind and join him.

When ‘Oli the Kid’ fires off the first notes of  ‘Evil Soul’ at the crack of 8pm the seats are pleasantly full both downstairs and up, but without the swaying mass of heads there seems a lack of atmosphere.  Despite large marketing banners each side of it, the stage seems a bit empty too.  Oli has a mike in the wall corner, drummer Simon Dring is at the back, and bassman Roger Innis is in the other front corner so stage centre is oddly empty, as if  the vocalist had failed to turn up.  As it turns out, the vocalist is most definitely there as Oli Brown proves he is more than just a guitarslinger.  In the course of the show he also manages to not only cover every inch of the stage but also most of the auditorium when he goes on a Buddy Guy style walkabout with guitar in hand.

I’d wanted to see Oli with his own band since last years appearance with the RUF Blues Caravan Tour.  No offence to the Caravan musicians who are superb, but a musician should be judged on their own band.   So I was a bit disappointed to find Bassist Freddy Hollis has just left the trio.  In his place for the European dates is – you guessed – Blues Caravan bassist Roger Innis.  This is a man I would like near me at a nuclear catastrophe.  Innis exudes calmness onstage.  “End of the World? Bummer eh? Stay cool!” would probably be his pre catastrophe advice.  He even remained calm when I mistook him for an American (he’s a Brit) and did I mention he is also a fine bass player who does what all bass players should – keeps the beat rather than beat it to death – which can also be said of young drummer Simon Dring.  Both men keep things simple, allowing Mr Brown to take his signature Vanquish electric (a British Firm I might add) where he wants it to go – whether thats deep into his soul or deep into the audience.

Oli Brown’s music is a curious mixture of boyish charm and enthusiasm with the musical sound of a seasoned veteran.  This is quite amazing when you consider that the first gig Oli did was in March 2007.  This coming June will see The Oli Brown Band playing at the revered Glastonbury Festival – yes, that’s little more than three years of gigging.  Can anyone really be THAT good THAT quickly?  Mike Vernon thinks so.  Mike produced such illustrious names as Eric Clapton’s Bluesbreakers, Freddie King, Peter Green and David Bowie in the 1960’s/70’s until retiring.He was so impressed by Oli Brown’s music that he ended that retirement to produce the new CD ‘Heads I win, Tails You Lose’.  Vernon believes Oli is a part of the future for Blues Music.

Signing autographs after his super show Oli Brown is polite to a degree that you have to admire.  He not only asks who to sign to, he thinks about a few words to add and even asks exactly how names are spelt.  He even showed calm when, asking how to spell a tricky name, he got the answer “with an ypsilon” (Y).  He seems to have a genuine interest in what people say to him.  Ah, I’ve been looking for a word to sum up Oli Brown.  Genuine seems to fit perfectly.  Give him a haircut and any mother would be glad to have their daughter bring him home (whoops, sorry Oli, I promised no hair jokes!).

This boy is going to be enormous – in the words of a song from his new CD “No Diggity!”

The Brew – Strong Stuff

When the mighty Joe Bonamassa pulled the plug on Rockpalast last year it was good news for British trio ‚The Brew’ who subsequently had their entire set broadcast across the Nation.  They made a lot of fans who in turn made for a  crowded but enthusiastic crowd at the Harmonie on Wednesday.

A witty Festival organizer in Holland once referred to ‘The Brew’ as “The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit”.  Maybe that was just a little bit ‘über enthusiastic’ but it’s a pointer to both the band’s identity and it’s driving force so let me introduce this ‘Holy Trinity’:

The Father is Manager Tim Smith and The Son  is his son drummer Kurtis.  ‘The Holy Spirit’ is literally the spirit of the band – guitar virtuoso Jason Barwick.  That Kurtis and Jason are barely out of their teens is something you couldn’t tell from hearing the band on CD though since both have talent beyond their tender years in shovelfuls on their respective instruments.

If you read my report from that previously related to fateful show with Joe Bonamassa in Cologne last year you’ll know that I had lots of praise but also a few reservations about the band;  so one year and one new CD later how do they fare?

A mini tour of Cologne last year explains how the enthusiastic fan next to me has already seen them seven times.  He’s also had Jason sign his guitar – a true mark that someone is a guitar hero and some indication of just how highly rated this youngster is.  I’d seen it before but still it was a jolt to my senses to see Jason Barwick come onstage with the air of a keen to please schoolboy – and weave his guitar magic.  The sound is loud but, in contrast to last weekends at times ear shattering tone that had Crossroads fans running for earplugs, it’s not TOO loud.  In fact it’s perfect for Rock n Roll.

The sound was good last time in Cologne though.  What has changed since then is certainly the songs themselves.  Previous album ‘The Joker’ had a to my ears rather burdensome ‘Prog Rock’ sound out of the early 70’s.  It said “We have a great guitarist in our band, and a hard hitting drummer.  Close your eyes and we could be Led Zep”.    Well, this time around I could close my eyes and they were ‘The Brew’ which was a big step forward in my book.  Except that closing your eyes when ‘The Brew’ are onstage would be to miss half the show.  Had  Barwick’s parents known he would be bounding around the stage with such energy I’m sure they would have christened him ‘Tigger’ instead of Jason.  I came back from last year in Cologne very pleased with a shot of the lad caught leaping in mid-air.  Pleased until I checked the Internet that is and discovered everyone and their dog has a shot like it – even the posters show a grainy black and white airborn guitarist.

Here we come to my major concern about the band last time.  Pete Townsend’s mid-air leap, Jimi’s behind the back guitar, Jimmy’s violin bow, Stevie Ray’s initials on the guitar,  Tommy Aldridge with his bare handed drum solo…  They don’t set fire to the drum cymbal anymore “It caused some problems” was all Jason would admit later.  The point is, they don’t need all this theatre.  They have some excellent material now with catchy rockers like opener

“Every gig has a neighbour”, the CD title track “A million dead stars” and the moving “Kam”.  I’ll even forgive the continued use of a violin bow though on the strength of it’s use on “A smile to lift the doubt”.

A huge leap forward was also noticeable in the vocals from Barwick.  He reminds me physically of a young Gary Moore but the young GM had a singing style to frighten horses with (think ‘Murder in the Skies’ or ‘Fanatical Fascists’).  This was about the sixth straight gig in a row so I hope he uses it sparingly, but that voice is another reason to be cheerful for the future of The Brew and indeed for Rock music.  A thundering version of ‘Voodoo Child’ brought thunderous applause and no one would have condemned them for not coming back for a further encore even though it was only 10:15.  Return they did though  even if the previous number was un-toppable they continued because quite clearly they love playing rock n roll together.

The tour schedule looks pretty daunting with this Harmonie show coming in the middle of ten shows in succession.  There’s a long haul through Poland where the bands last CD was a chart success and not even room until September for the UK or the USA.  If these guys keep improving they will need to invent the 500 week year to keep up with demand.  I just hope the springs in Jasons heels can hold out.

Dana Fuchs

Now in it’s 7^th year at The Harmonie WDR’s Crossroads Festival is always a great place to discover rising talent.  This year was no exception as I caught Blues Rocker Dana Fuchs and Country Roots Rocker Cory Chisel onstage.

WDR introduced its Crossroads Festival into Rockpalast in 2000 but it’s become something of an institution at the Harmonie in Endenich since it moved there in 2003.  It’s where I discovered Novastar – big in Belgium but relative unknowns outside.  Where I first heard  Karl Lagerfeld darlings ‘Moke’ and finally got to hear Eric Sardinas play his killer slide guitar riffs.

This year’s highlight was earmarked early on.  Dana Fuchs made her name in the Bluesrock world in 2007 co-starring in the Golden Globe winning ‘Across The Universe’ – a film centred around the late sixties and the Beatles back-catalogue.  It put her name out there in the States as guitarist and co-writer Jon Diamond told me later.  But ‘Out there’ was The States and it’s only now with the release of her acclaimed ‘Live from NYC’ that Europe is discovering the power of DF’s vocals.

As always at Crossroads gigs there are two acts on the bill and as always the audience passes time arguing over who should be on last.  It would certainly be unfair to dismiss the evenings other act as a ‘support slot’.  Cory Chisel was listed as one of the Bands to Watch in ‘Rolling Stone’ in 2009 – so let battle commence, and may the best man/woman win…

As it turns out Cory Chisel and his band Wandering Sons are first up.  Chisel came to music via Baptist preachers in Wisconsin and admits that ‘The gospel of Johnny Cash’ was also a major influence.  Actually Cory Chisel himself has been a musical influence too as a fan wrote to his forum: “There’s a kid who works at grocery store I frequent… He got into playing music because Cory came to his elementary school class and inspired him. P.S. That same kid couldn’t come to Cory’s show the other night because he was playing one of his own”.
Cory Chisel puts Johnny Cash and his own Gospel past to good use in producing a distinctive Country Roots Rock style that tips its hat very strongly to Tom Waits too – and he includes a fine rendition of Waits’ ‘Rosie’ as an encore to tonights show.

Chisel also owes a debt to Dylan’s musical influence and admits that maybe you can sing almost any lyric in a Dylan way and it sounds profound.  When he actually does a ‘Dylanesque’ number afterwards I am left wondering if indeed he did make it up on the spot -  it was good, and sounded deep and meaningful in that “What was THAT all about?” way of all Dylan’s best material.  It’s an easy going set that is enjoyable without quite catching fire as  Chisel sips red wine between numbers (what would his Preacher Father make of that?) but I suspect the CD is more rewarding.  The band have an easy charm about them but when I find myself thinking more about their hats than their music then I realise I’m not being grabbed by the sound the people under those hats are making.  Nice band, probably a very good CD but…

Dana Fuchs also has her roots in a Baptist Gospel Choir but in her case other family members played Rock music in their New Jersey garage and it shows.  She moved to New York and in a City not short of useful musicians established herself as a regular act in major Clubs.  Then came the ‘Across The Universe’ film and fame, Stateside at least.  Finally interest is happening in Europe, thanks to a live CD, so hearing Dana Fuchs live would seem a good bet and here I am at the Harmonie.

Dana Fuchs is also very popular with cameramen (yes, ‘men’ is definitely the correct term here!).  There’s a row of WDR Video cameras, then a row of photographers and, somewhere behind all these heads are the audience – although if they are able to see anything I’m none too sure since every time DF strikes a Rockmusic pose she seems to be engulfed in seconds by Rockpalast camcorders.  These people must end up with one shoulder six inches deeper than the other with those monsters in tow!  Whilst I have to shoot between the bodies I can at least hear the music at all times.  Last time I saw someone pose so gracefully with long flowing hair onstage it was David Coverdale so I would like to have seen more for longer.

It’s an evening of great rock numbers done proud by a powerful vocal that got Fuchs a part playing Joplin in the off-Broadway ‘Love-Janis’ Musical and rightly so.  ‘Almost Home’ is an anthem about driving – a much loved topic for American songwriters it has a tinge of sadness and longing about it.  This air of sadness floats delicately in the air around many of the songs Dana Fuchs sings and she jokingly admits to it even as she introduces “My love song” which is titled ‘Misery’…

I’ve recently been reading ‘Last Man Down’ by Richard Picciotto.  It’s the harrowing story of what happened on 9/11 in New York as lived by one of its senior Fire Chiefs.  When Dana announces ‘Moment Away’ as her homage to fellow New Yorkers on that awful day it is particularly moving to hear the song tonight.  A woman who recalled kissing her husband goodbye never to see him again.  A song that could easily seem schmalzy but Fuchs carries it off beautifully like it was a star track from Springsteens 9/11 opus ‘The Rising’.  A clue to how Dana Fuchs findes her soul in the song comes later when she dedicates ‘Songbird’ “To my sister who took her own life”.   The family that taught her Rock music in the garage also taught her to dig deep emotionally and that’s what makes Dana Fuchs music so compelling.   That emotion also purs out in the pure rock numbers and created an incendiary finish with ‘Helter Skelter’ and ‘Whole Lotta Love’.

Dana Fuchs is still signing autographs and chatting to fans long after the show is over.  I mention reading ‘Last Man Down’ and she is genuinely moved that fate has me reading it right now since“It’s really ages since I last sung it”   I suggest to Dana that maybe it’s Kismet which has me reading it this very week of her show and I’m thinking that maybe Kismet had her discovered for her role in ‘Across the Universe’ where she met Joe Cocker, who now has her down as support act for his Museumsplatz show this year.  Or maybe someone up there is looking after Dana Fuchs – thats how you start thinking after an avening of gospel inspired Rock I suppose.  Thank the Lord for Music, for Blues and for Dana Fuchs.

Elli/MiaoMio CD’s and Parties

Bonn’s own all girl band MiaoMio and Cologne’s Elli both had new discs to sell and both offered a ‘CD Release Party’. Visions of making smalltalk with a plate of cocktail sausages in one hand and a champagne flute in the other made me curious, so I shaved, showered and hit the big City twice this month.

Long time readers of my concert reports here on English-network might remember my enthusiastic review of a young lady who supported Anne Haigis at the Harmonie a couple of years ago. Since then Anika Auweiler’s career has been steadily building momentum. Her first CD the largely acoustic ‘Lauf’ (‘Run’) appeared recently with top local musician Jens Filser more than ably supporting on guitar, but whilst ‘Lauf’ is a very agreeable folk/pop mix it’s The Indie Pop band MiaoMio fronted by Anika which is receiving a lot of attention and praise at present and which recently presented it’s first ever CD Release at Kult41 on the Hochstaden Ring in Bonn.

Cult41 is a bunker of a building close to the main Railway line and a main road intersection in Bonn Centre. I get off of the tram and it immediately starts raining. When I greet Anika in the aptly termed ‘winter-garden’ my hair is dripping rain on the floor and the leaking roof is dripping rain on my head. My hopes of a canape or even a small thimble of Bollinger also drip away, but as I’d promised my stomach something special this evening I help myself to a licorice black cat from the dish on the bar, order a ‘Bio Kölsch’, head inside’ and take up position beside the concrete stage, or below it to be precise since it is raised several feet above floor level (no danger of fans rushing Robbie Williams onstage here)

MiaoMio

To put it politely, IndiePop isn’t quite my area of musical expertise ( impolitely, I have NO IDEA quite what IndiePop is) Support band Kassette were bright and poppy with a somewhat whacky presentation that made them charming. Anika and band quietly took the stage and then put in a smoothe and solid performance for the evening. Since their first show at Klangstation two years ago they have grown in confidence, stage presence and musicianship, and with Anika’s voice and songs they have a head start on a good many wannabe successful bands. Add a bit of the promised ‘band coaching’ to the lot of talent they already possess and watch them fly up the IndiePop chart – although I’m not sure if there is one.

It’s clearly going to be a busy rest of year for Anika, Sarah Brasack (keyboards), Eva Marxen (Bass) and Sarah Tauscher (drums) – but having seen them a couple of times now, spoken to them and most importantly, heard their first CD, I think this could be the start of something big for the girls and hopefully for Bonn’s young music scene too. Not long after forming, the band secured a prestigious place on the live stage at the UN Biodiversity Conference in Bonn. This year they won out against fierce competition from 70 bands in the NRW wide ‘popupNRW’ band competition to be selected for advice and coaching in the music business. Just as importantly, their success guarantees them slots at some major festivals and concerts in the NRW area.

My verdict on the CD ‘MiaoMio: Intelligent songs concealed behind a pop backing. They require engaging brain and ears together but are well worth the effort. For ultimate tingling of the spine though try Anika’s solo ‘Lauf’ CD.

Final note on the evening – dress down for the next CD Presentation event, which is…

Elisabeth Erl, better known to the music Biz as Elli and best known as the winner in 2003 of DSDS (Deutschland Sucht Den Superstar). Elli’s CD Release Party is at the MTC Club near Cologne South Station, but being next to a railway station is where the similarities with Kult41 end. For a start it was SUNNY this time and students were sitting outside of pubs and clubs the length of Zülpicherstrasse. Inside MTC though there were still no canapes or champagne flutes to be found – in fact it was difficult to find anything in the pitch darkness. Do students have special optical abilities now that I didn’t have when I was propping up bars at Portsmouth Polytechnic? I recognize Elli herself in the gloom purely because of the trademark ‘pork-pie’ hat on her head. Said hat was actually stolen during a concert recently but returned to the local television station who duly filmed its eponymous return to Elli’s head the next day.

So Elli quite clearly has a bit of media spin already on her side – not least due to her appearances with Dieter Bohlen. The new CD ‘Human’ though is a result of time spent in America and away from Bohlen. Lyrics are all in English and it is clearly a very commercial platter. “The first CD that’s really me all the way through” as Elli describes it – although the booklet credits assign the music and lyrics to others with the rather mysterious additional assignation each time of ‘Elisabeth ‘Elli Erl – Manuscript’.

Both support acts are worth a mention: ‘AlexAmsterdam‘ were a quirky keyboard/guitar duo who actually came from Düsseldorf (The name ‘AlexAmsterdam’ sounded good explained their guitarist – who surprisingly is actually named Alex) later. Still more interesting was the set by Adrienne – a feisty girl with acoustic guitar and thoughtful lyrics from Los Angeles who’s band ‘The Rescues’ have made several musical appearances on episodes of ‘Greys Anatomy’. Also notable in an odd way was that it was the men (from AlexAmsterdam) who had the long hair, and the women (both Elli and Adrienne) who had short hair and tattooed arms.

And so to Elli’s performance itself. Things got off to a jerky start musically with Adi the guitarist – Elli later admitted to changing the set order without telling the poor man. When soon after a broken guitar string caused delays, her showmanship talents came to the fore and she had the audience singing acappella for a couple of minutes. In fact the most memorable aspects of the evenings show for me were the excellent power Pop songs from the new ‘Human’ CD, in particular ‘Shadows’ , but most of all Elli’s control of the audience. Anyone talks whilst she sings and she calls out ‘Schnauze!’ (’shut up’, as she explained to Adrienne who wondered what she was saying). These were fans of course and all was spoken and taken in good humour.

My verdict on the CD ‘Human’: Great vocals and well crafted pop/rock songs. maybe a bit too ‘hit formula’ structered for my taste but then I’m not the target audience. A very listenable./enjoyable disc.

On the crowded midnight train back to Bonn I found myself thinking that my very first CD Release shows were total contrasts to one another, with two up and coming acts that could each do with a mix of the others talents to add to their own. The songwriting and band atmosphere of MiaMiao and the showmanship/commercial appeal of Elli duly sprinkled onto both bands, leave to simmer and add a glass of champagne – on second thoughts, strike the champagne, it’s a myth along with the cocktail sausages on sticks. This might be called Indie/Pop but really it’s Rock n Roll.

MiaoMio

Elli