Another Monkey Business night, another Thursday in the Olde Queen's Head in Halesowen and who'd have thought it - another fabulous night of music, a great DJ and a great atmosphere thanks to local dirty back country blues/rock band The Ganders and their fans.
Joe Karchud - www.myspace.com/joekarchud
9pm and the night was introduced by Joe Karchud - a singer/songwriter and former frontman of Bridge 55. Still relatively young and appearing a little nervous without the backing of a a full band Joe took less than half of his opening song to draw the 'back of the room' section of the crowd to the front to have a look and listen - meaning the crowd was appreciative of the performance and attentive. No specific genre or clear comparisons for me - just a range of well crafted, storytelling songs of a misspent youth burning down trees and hopes and dreams delivered with a voice clearly capable of soaring well beyond his currently tentative range that was well pitched and never verging on breaking. You get the feeling he has many stories to tell and many ways to express himself. A few more solo gigs under his belt (go and see Sam and Dale at Acoustic Brew) and his performance should grow to match his talent.
The night was DJ'd (wonderfully as ever) by WCRfm presenter Katy Jay - and so impressed was she that Joe is going to be interviewed and recorded for the 'Freshly Picked' Unsigned show. Top work.
The Ganders - www.myspace.com/theganders
Bloody marvellous!!!! Seriously - Paul is sober and on fire manning the sticks, Dan plays up and down the dusty end of his bass like Entwistle - while looking like he is thinking of what he fancies for supper and Daz belts his way through an assortment of vocal techniques and pitches - while firmly rooted in a bed of Plant-esque blues rock....while playing hook laden variations on 'the most fun you've ever had and dirtiest shag in the world' guitar riffs.
When a 3-piece is this good it is the best kind of band there is. Nobody to get in the way and a very natural feel that means you end up loving their stuff as much as they do - and singing 'Dirty Soul' all the way home.
Familiar older material to sing along to and a wealth of new songs that they take to the studio this summer sees them in fine form for what was apparently their first non-weekend show for years.
Monkey Business run gigs at the Olde Queen's Head in Halesowen and The Lamp in Dudley and are part of the team at Musoplex (www.musoplex.com). Go there to apply for gigs.
TT
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