More Music is a splendid building nestled deep in the heart of the West End of Morecambe. An ex music hall, now transformed into a community music hub, giving opportunities in all aspects of music making to all manners of community groups, especially young people looking for a chance to play, perform and record. They have so far released two albums showcasing this new music, and put on the occasional concert, where the bands/artists get the opportunity to play live in front of an audience, and we lucky people get to hear all manner of musical styles, and there really is a delicious mixture on display, both surprising and impressive.
Bearing in mind that some of the people here are very young, and in many cases this is the first time that many of them have stood in front of an audience, then mistakes and false starts are occasionally inevitable. However on the whole there is a plethora of talent on display here that really filled my heart with pride.
Take openers Pain for example, who bravely sidestepped the technical issues plaguing the intro to their first ever gig, and delivered a terse, intense song which had the feel of the raw immediacy of a New York No Wave band. Despite the oppressive heat inside the main hall, I didn’t expect to be transported back to a Tuesday night in CBGB’s, and I imagine the majority of the audience, comprised mostly of friends and family of the performers, felt the same. Rock School gave us their rendition of The Cranberries “Zombie”, which was understandably a little tentative, but once they got going, injected it with passion and determination.
The Sing It Out crew, a More Music singing group for young people, delivered a song called “Horizon” they had written, ably assisted by the team at More Music, led by Rachel Parsons (ex-drummer with indie band Angelica).
Highway Maintenance are a band with so much potential stored up within their ranks. Their choice to open with a cover of “Teenage Dirtbag” didn’t really get going until the guitarist sang, and the song started to come together a little. But the lead singer had a real likeability (despite the mullet…but I hear all the kids are doing that these days for some reason!), and when he announced original song “Wizard’s Curse” to a round of cheers from the fans, they really took off, delivering a song that was catchy, moody and dynamic. They ended their set with a rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep”, which went down well. Definitely a band to watch.
We were then regaled with the incredible talents of Bowl Of Soup, who showed prodigious skill on the piano and vocal, with renditions of the old folk/blues number “St. James Infirmary”, and the more contemporary “Cicada Days” by Will Wood, showing a rare dexterity on the keys while vocalising like Jeff Buckley. Remarkable.
Green Room presented us with decent covers of Oasis and Arctic Monkeys, complete with funky drumming, and a unison singalong. The Stages Vocal Night group performed their song “Identity”, and did a sterling job despite two of them not showing, one of them being the rapper. Given that the song is mainly a beat driven rap they did a remarkable job, and congratulations for getting up on stage and going for it. It’s actually a very good song too.
Rewynd are metal right down to their steel souls and rock hard hearts. Their quest to bring thrash metal to Morecambe was accomplished with aplomb. They so reminded me of Bad News in the best possible way, and the spirit of Vim Fuego was never far from songs titled “Grim Reaper” and “Rattle Bones”. They went down very well, as did Lunis, whose accomplished slabs of metal got the hair flailing and the heads banging.
Golden Geese on the other hand definitely come from a post-punk perspective, with the singer (who appeared to win in the popularity stakes with the ever growing mosh pit of fans) looking like a member of Wire while the band sounded like early Buzzcocks. I don’t know if their song “Repetition” is a reference to The Fall but I liked the line ‘life is like a drum machine, it just keeps beating on’. The drummer could do with a metronome at times, but I found the (original) songs infectious and the singer, with his outpouring of love and the occasional shouts of ‘alrighty’, very charismatic.
Last up were Solstice, who are a very unique proposition. A 3 piece led by a bass player who comes across like a freak Kevin Ayers/Julian Cope figure, playing music like Yummy Fur, Sultans of Ping, Yard Act, but most especially the Television Personalities…and that is something I didn’t expect at all. With songs like “21 Pena Coladas” (a guaranteed way to have a good time apparently!) and “Jenna’s Sis” (see what they did there) they present little snippets and observations of life to which we can relate, delivered in a jaunty, though slightly lugubrious manner.
There is a proper band here, with their own unique sound, and an underlying telepathy between members. This is a band whose records I would definitely buy, and who have something unique. Shame then that they announced this was going to be their last gig.
I know this was a local community project, and that the chances are this may have been the one and only time these bands ever play, so why am I telling you about them. The reason is that, wherever you are, the chances are that there is something like this happening near you, and if you really want to be part of the future of music then you can get in early and support young artists, and who knows you could discover the next reason to be excited, and it encourages them to go further.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL1HGVoLzQFVuQORhaQ8zow
Review by Andrew Wood
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