TO THE POWER OF SIX
We squeezed so much music in last night, there was hardly room for the punters. It was, however, still a more than comfortable ride as we enjoyed performances by 6 very different acts. Kicking off was a man who's size disguises an surprisingly robust and mature (in a good way) voice that builds effortlessly from an melodic murmur upwards: ROSS PALMER treated us once again to some tender Americana and bold whisky-soaked tunes to get things rolling in the sweetest way.

After an unexceptional soundcheck, RANGER played undoubtedly their best set to date at the electroacoustic club, with Charli and Sam's voices contrasting and complementing beautifully in a classic boy-girl, question and answer way, making the most of their dark, melodious, 21st century folk.








There'll be those who think we talk everything up in this blog but, on their third showing for the club, cult.with.no.name also took off in a big way, the duelling piano, beats and bleeps of Erik Stein and John Boux, providing an almost orchestral platform for the cabaret vocal performance of singer, Erik.



After un-crossing some wires, we got ALEX GETTINBY to the electroacoustic club, along with his violinist, providing an almost-quartet's worth of sublime string accompaniment to some nicely-delivered, gently-rocking acoustic anthems.













SIMON METHERINGHAM always gave us a high standard to keep to after he once told us that the sound at our old haunt, The Bear on the Square, was the best he'd ever had. Tonight, we had extra digital hardware on the bar as we attempted to record Simon's set and the results seemed to almost capture the epic space and feeling that his introspective but upbeat songs convey.


Finally, James Yuill returned after a long-absence, patiently waiting before taking to the stage at 10.45, alongside a table with his lyric book on, and treating us to the perfect after-dark, lo-fi, no-frills folk-pop, the kind of stuff that hammers on your soul without even raising a fist.

SORE THROATS, BASSOONS & GALLOW'S POLE

The Big Issue effect continued undiminished at last night’s electroacoustic club, as we welcomed more of you on a mission to find out more about this so-called ‘best-kept secret.’ First up on the Lamb’s dimly-lit stage, and with her first appearance here, was BETHANY WEIMERS, whose brilliantly unique voice got everyone’s undivided attention as it reverberated around the room and reached the parts that other voices can only wish to.

As full debuts go, PAUL NUGENT’s first ever live gig was a real treat – some fine songs and bold vocals confidently delivered to some rapturous applause. Unfortunately STANZA weren’t able to perform and we wish David a quick recovery.

Next up, making their way down from Leicester were 4 core members of the ever-expanding IST. They’d ditched the horn section and choir to fit into the Lamb (and the van) but still pushed the PA to blowing point with their big, quirky sound driven by 2 guitars, bass, congas and… a bassoon (the instrument of the future if these maverick’s get their way). Shining through, however, were some deeply and darkly tragi-comic songs and an undeniable vein of mischief.

Finally, saving what little voice some recent hard-living and resulting sore throat had left him with, STEPHEN HODD took to the stage in apologetic manner. He then proceeded with another most memorable performance, lulling us into a daze with some trademark gritty, mystical ballads and progressing to a mighty deconstruction of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Gallow’s Pole,’ the intense, hypnotic climax of which saw him howling into the soundhole of his acoustic guitar to leave it, and countless guitar loops, feeding back through the delay pedal as he wandered off stage.

A not-so-quiet riot... An unusually and deceptively quiet start to last night’s open mic gave way to a packed house by 8.30pm, with a considerable crowd of Big Issue readers storming the door after reading this week’s feature on the club. Add to this a proper melting pot of girl and geezer performers from London, Essex, Stoke-on-Trent (Ant Mayer and Mission Defunkt), and even Amsterdam (Reaganesk) and, boy, were you a warm, fuzzy, receptive and generous audience, almost foaming at the mouth at times.

Special mention also goes to A Junior, the first (but hopefully not the last) comedian to grace the stage, Anthony DiMario, 12 days fresh of the plane from Texas and playing live for the first time ever, and Franc, who, thanks to the host’s failing memory, was told he’d be on next 6 or 7 times before he finally made it up there.


After a visit from Relentless Records last week, Ian Dejon from the Concentrated People label (Todd Mckenzie, The Smoke Fairies), came down to check out the night after hearing out 'live at the electroacoustic club volume one' compilation. We hope to collaborate on some nights soon.

Next months open mic is on WEDNESDAY 2nd November and there are already a few names on the list so let us know asap if you want to play.

Blog is go. With a little bit of ftp here and a dash of html there, something happened and this blog started dragging itself of the floor and onto your screen.

There are 16 people already signed up for the open mic tomorrow (Thurs) and a few of them are wu-u-urld-class, so it's gonna be hectic and it's gonna be interesting. See you there. Perhaps.

3 weeks later and this blog is running but not up. That means i'm writing purely for my own theraputic benefit.

In the beginning there was the Walrus Social in Waterloo, where the first ever electroacoustic club was held: Angie Blue, Niall Kelly and Kelly Waters were there, not forgetting the 4th act whose name i forget. Were YOU that 4th act? If so, get in touch.

Here, almost 18 months later, and after progressing through the Slaughtered Lamb, the Bear on the Square and the Lark in the Park (note theme) begins a much-needed blog, my first, and the opportunity to hear about what happened last night at the club (eg. z-list celebrities in the audience, last-minute changes of venue, speakers falling off walls, etc) as well as significant developments (speakers being re-attached to walls and last-minute venue changes), ideas, future plans and events, exclusives and recent bookings, as well as news and releases from running jump records www.runningjumprecords.co.uk and The Hot Wings www.thehotwingscom. Soon there will be a forum for those of you that care to discuss the merits of the electroacoustic club and drawbacks of using a nylon-string acoustic guitar with no pick-up at an open mic session. In the meantime all feedback is encouraged and welcome at blog@electroacousticclub.com