Photos by Cibele

The last time I wrote on this blog about a visit to the Jam Café I mentioned how annoying I found the pushing and shoving and debated to myself whether I would make use of the place so often in the future. Last night I was there for the first time since and things were thankfully totally different. I turned up on my own having arranged to meet Gary at some and had to stand in the way while the first band performed. As a last minute change to the advertised lineup, Kane Ashmore opened the gig with his new band Unknown Era (it might have been Unknown Hero, the Nottingham accent is tricky sometimes, even for me and I was born here) featuring Gaz Peacham (formerly of the much missed Breadchasers and manager of The Maze) on guitar. I would have come out on a cold night to see this band alone; I have only seen Kane performing solo before (he also has done a radio session for us when NottinghamLIVE was at the height of its power) and it is always interesting to see another angle from someone you are familiar with. The band is a new venture that started life in December, so I am looking forward to some recorded material coming out. Apparently they are usually a nine piece outfit but were only four strong tonight, which was probably for the best as you can’t fit too many people on the Jam Café stage, not that this stops Captain Dangerous.

By the time the first band had finished, Gary had turned up with Cibele and we managed to commandeer a table, a very rare occurrence. This suited me down to the ground although it did mean that we only had a back view of the stage. This didn’t worry me too much as I was still able to hear the music. It was nice to be able to sit and converse with people rather than standing around getting pushed around and having your feet trodden on. Not that you should talk at a gig of course, but on circumstances like this when the music is loud enough to combat the conversations then it is acceptable.

I’ve seen Ryan Thomas play solo quite a few times over the last few years and there’s no denying his talent. As I was indoors watching another band during his Waterfront Festival set this was the first time I have experienced a full set with his band of experienced hands; a good name would be Ryan Thomas and the Most Ugly Jackals, or something like that, it needs working on but Kim you can have that if you’re reading this. You need knowledge of the local music scene for any of that to make sense. Like Georgie Rose, the switch from solo performer to leading a powerful band seemed like a natural progression that completed the jigsaw and I imagine (although it can be a double edged sword for a Nottingham artist to have this thrust upon them) that Ryan and his band will be lucky enough to break out of Nottingham’s sometimes stifling live music scene and go on to bigger and better things.

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This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative is here.