Photo by A Quick Flash
Quite often I am asked by musicians (mainly) who see me at a gig, particularly their gig, if I am going to write about it on my blog. I think they assume I'm some sort of weird Adrian Mole figure who feels the need to document every detail of his life in a daily write up, including breakfasts, my dog, comedy programmes, my ongoing battle between being a workaholic and laziness, and of course gigs. For that reason I am not going to dignify last night's gig at Jam Cafe with a mention, but if I was going to it would probably look like this:
I wasn't sure where I wanted to go last night as there seemed to be quite a lot of choice. In the end I decided on Jam Cafe as Will Jeffery was playing a solo set. Either he doesn't do as many gigs on his own as he used to or I haven't been paying attention. According to my old diaries the last time I saw him playing was May 17th 2013 at Chameleon and before that at the Nottingham Playhouse bar on September 10th 2012, coincidentally both times he was on the bill with Adam Clarkson. This is a piss poor effort on my part so Jam Cafe it was.
Will posted on Facebook on Wednesday night that he would be on stage at ten o'clock 'Jam Cafe time', to which I commented 'half eleven then?'. Jam Cafe, as wonderful as it is, operates on a different time zone to the rest of Hockley, indeed the world. Please remember my comment for later.
After dinner I was starting to nod off on the sofa and very nearly didn't bother but after a fifteen minute power nap I was able to drag myself off the sofa and go straight out the door. I had washed and changed before I ate which was rather convenient. When I arrived at Jam Cafe I had only missed one act and the beginning of Heather Flint's set. I recognised her from playing outside Homemade Cafe during last year's Hockley Hustle and haven't seen her since, talking to her later I found out that she is at Leeds University which explains it. Although I missed the beginning I was impressed with what I saw, joined on the kahon/cajon (tomato/tom-ay-to) by someone whose name I didn't catch for one of their first gigs together, they played as if they had been together for years. Her CD is on while I write this blog.
Jake Buckley was new to me although I was aware of him, and he manages to use comedy in his music without going down the wrong route as a novelty act or comedian, similar to The Breakfast Club in that respect. He is also one of the few people I have seen using a loop pedal really well; usually I groan inwardly when I see them being used thanks to Josh Kemp raising the bar in that field but this was impressive stuff.
If my diary is anything to go by, I missed my once a year chance to see Will Jeffery last year so will have to see him again this year to keep the balance. Or he will have to do more gigs, one of the two. Will's set was a joy to sit listening to (I had attended this gig alone, don't feel sorry for me - I don't like talking at gigs so being on my own I am in my element) and I still maintain that he has one of the best blues voices around. As a 'surprise' he was joined on stage by his 94 Gunships band mate Rob Davidson for a couple of numbers which rounded off the evening perfectly, I can't wait for their EP to come out.
Incidentally, Will started his set at half past eleven, or ten o'clock Jam Cafe time.
This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.
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April housekeeping
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