Home
A packed bill at the Speakeasy today for the arrival of ska legend Chris Murray sees the gig kicking off before I arrive with a man called Riot 4 Disco. Incidentally I’m guessing that isn’t his real name – unless his parents weren’t particularly fond of him. Apparently he only did a very short set, and it went well. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got for you on him! The first band I was fortunate enough to witness was someone I’ve not seen of or heard of before on the local scene, called Stuck In 2nd. Initially featuring two on acoustic guitars and one on bass, it wasn’t long before one of the guitars was swapped for a set of bongos. With a folk-reggae sound, my friend instantly compared them to Jack Johnson, but I disagree – they feel a lot livelier, with much more uplifting and generally happy songs than the famous Mr Johnson. In fact, there was not a single one of their songs I considered in any way depressing or sad, which for an acoustic act is quite a rarity. Another good point was only restricting their set to one cover song, and it was a fine choice – the theme tune to the kids TV show, ‘Arthur’. Another song was very originally called ‘Monkey Jump’ (described as one that ‘you have to jump around to like a monkey – very deep songs, ours’). The music was perhaps the slightest bit repetitive over the whole set, but the addition of the bass and bongos makes the band stand out more from your run-of-the-mill acoustic acts, and indeed some full bands too. Breaking into a sample of “I don’t like reggae” mid-way through a song was surprising to say the least, but it totally works, along with most other things this band produced. Definitely one to keep your eyes out for.
Next this evening we have a debut gig for The Breadchasers. Featuring the two most significant ska and punk promoters in Nottingham in the form of Will (Speakeasy) and Gaz (The Maze), this band will never be short of support. Both share guitar and vocals, with Gaz taking the lead mainly as Will is only a recent addition to the band, with other band members from a variety of Nottingham acts. You can tell that the band is new together – the songs are lacking in several key areas. You can’t fault the band for enthusiasm though, and there was one song towards the end that I believe Will wrote, as he takes the lead on it with fine results – a set-closer if ever I saw one. With time, this band could evolve into something that makes you stand up and take notice, but they don’t do that today.
(Midway through their set, Brooksy steals my notebook to write “Chris Murray is rather sexy, for an older male specimen.” Classy drunk.)
There’s no rest or respite for Will tonight, as he is part of the next act too, his main group Arse Full of Chips. Described by some as “a good, funnier English version of Goldie Lookin’ Chain”, AFoC aim to offend and amuse in large quantities. Opening their set tonight with “Gonna Fritzlise Ya” – an ode to Joseph Fritzl featuring the chorus “Gonna Fritzlise ya, gonna surprise ya, lock you in the cellar put my dick inside ya” – and carrying on through “The Kings of Matlock” which featured a naked man running through the crowd and attempting to rub himself against the band, it wasn’t long before the band reached their tribute to dead celebrities. With a song about Jade Goody (“why was Jade Goody such a racist, she hates homosexuals too”); Jeremy Beadle (“Beadle is not about, You’ve Been Framed won’t be the same, Beadle is not about, look at his spastic hand DEAD”) and Michael Jackson (I’ll let you guess the content), the audience is soon howling with tears of laughter. Will is clearly starting to get a bit frustrated with bandmate Theo, who is having great trouble remembering the words to more and more songs, and even having them written down doesn’t seem to suffice for him. The gig carries on though, with ‘Sven’ (“I’m Sven Goran Eriksson everybody knows my name, I’m the one that fucked Ulrika Johnson”), ‘The World of ROFLMAOcraft’ (“Its the world of warcraft, open the curtains and get off your arse”), a montage song about celebrities then finally ‘No Chuckle No Cry’ described as a song similar to No Woman No Cry, but the woman has been replaced by Chuckle meaning an absence of Chuckle brothers. If you want a band who don’t take themselves or anyone around them seriously, these are the guys for you. If you’re easily offended, then maybe not...
Next up is Jimmy the Squirrel, who put in another blinding set which gets full crowd participation. Their usual drummer is again absent, the result (my spies tell me) of an argument in the band, so they have another stand-in for the gig this evening. The poor guy has only had three practices to learn all their songs. He does quite well overall, but there are a couple of obvious errors he has to correct quickly. In general though, it’s the usual stormer from the band – for more detail, see any of my previous reviews concerning the band, they’re just as good as ever!
Finally we come to the headline act, Chris Murray (formerly of 90’s Canadian ska group King Apparatus). Well known for his bouncing on his heels/raising eyebrows singing style, he explains straight off that he doesn’t have a set list tonight, and just wants us to shout out songs for him to play. As a result, we head straight into ‘Rocksteady’, followed swiftly by ‘Do The Ska’ and ‘Megadog’. While perhaps not quite as chirpy and upbeat as Stuck in 2nd earlier on, Chris still keeps everyone happy with uplifting songs and a feel-good groove that works its way through the whole set. During ‘Love Flame’ he breaks a string, and challenges the crowd to time him for changing it, betting he can do it in less than two minutes (he manages 1:57). As we approach the end of the night, he plays ‘Home’, explaining that 4-6 weeks ago he’s heard that one of the housemates on Big Brother played or sang this track on air, so if someone can tell him which episode it was he can sue Channel 4 as they didn’t ask permission! Answers on a postcard please. All in all, it was a great Sunday night of entertainment, without any punctured eardrums. Who could ask for more?
Next this evening we have a debut gig for The Breadchasers. Featuring the two most significant ska and punk promoters in Nottingham in the form of Will (Speakeasy) and Gaz (The Maze), this band will never be short of support. Both share guitar and vocals, with Gaz taking the lead mainly as Will is only a recent addition to the band, with other band members from a variety of Nottingham acts. You can tell that the band is new together – the songs are lacking in several key areas. You can’t fault the band for enthusiasm though, and there was one song towards the end that I believe Will wrote, as he takes the lead on it with fine results – a set-closer if ever I saw one. With time, this band could evolve into something that makes you stand up and take notice, but they don’t do that today.
(Midway through their set, Brooksy steals my notebook to write “Chris Murray is rather sexy, for an older male specimen.” Classy drunk.)
There’s no rest or respite for Will tonight, as he is part of the next act too, his main group Arse Full of Chips. Described by some as “a good, funnier English version of Goldie Lookin’ Chain”, AFoC aim to offend and amuse in large quantities. Opening their set tonight with “Gonna Fritzlise Ya” – an ode to Joseph Fritzl featuring the chorus “Gonna Fritzlise ya, gonna surprise ya, lock you in the cellar put my dick inside ya” – and carrying on through “The Kings of Matlock” which featured a naked man running through the crowd and attempting to rub himself against the band, it wasn’t long before the band reached their tribute to dead celebrities. With a song about Jade Goody (“why was Jade Goody such a racist, she hates homosexuals too”); Jeremy Beadle (“Beadle is not about, You’ve Been Framed won’t be the same, Beadle is not about, look at his spastic hand DEAD”) and Michael Jackson (I’ll let you guess the content), the audience is soon howling with tears of laughter. Will is clearly starting to get a bit frustrated with bandmate Theo, who is having great trouble remembering the words to more and more songs, and even having them written down doesn’t seem to suffice for him. The gig carries on though, with ‘Sven’ (“I’m Sven Goran Eriksson everybody knows my name, I’m the one that fucked Ulrika Johnson”), ‘The World of ROFLMAOcraft’ (“Its the world of warcraft, open the curtains and get off your arse”), a montage song about celebrities then finally ‘No Chuckle No Cry’ described as a song similar to No Woman No Cry, but the woman has been replaced by Chuckle meaning an absence of Chuckle brothers. If you want a band who don’t take themselves or anyone around them seriously, these are the guys for you. If you’re easily offended, then maybe not...
Next up is Jimmy the Squirrel, who put in another blinding set which gets full crowd participation. Their usual drummer is again absent, the result (my spies tell me) of an argument in the band, so they have another stand-in for the gig this evening. The poor guy has only had three practices to learn all their songs. He does quite well overall, but there are a couple of obvious errors he has to correct quickly. In general though, it’s the usual stormer from the band – for more detail, see any of my previous reviews concerning the band, they’re just as good as ever!
Finally we come to the headline act, Chris Murray (formerly of 90’s Canadian ska group King Apparatus). Well known for his bouncing on his heels/raising eyebrows singing style, he explains straight off that he doesn’t have a set list tonight, and just wants us to shout out songs for him to play. As a result, we head straight into ‘Rocksteady’, followed swiftly by ‘Do The Ska’ and ‘Megadog’. While perhaps not quite as chirpy and upbeat as Stuck in 2nd earlier on, Chris still keeps everyone happy with uplifting songs and a feel-good groove that works its way through the whole set. During ‘Love Flame’ he breaks a string, and challenges the crowd to time him for changing it, betting he can do it in less than two minutes (he manages 1:57). As we approach the end of the night, he plays ‘Home’, explaining that 4-6 weeks ago he’s heard that one of the housemates on Big Brother played or sang this track on air, so if someone can tell him which episode it was he can sue Channel 4 as they didn’t ask permission! Answers on a postcard please. All in all, it was a great Sunday night of entertainment, without any punctured eardrums. Who could ask for more?
