Hip Hip

Some stupid band was billed to play with "special guests" last Saturday 13th August at Crawdaddy. It would turn out to be a very exciting night, before said stupid band ever got to the stage. It happens on occasion that the “special guests” do not live up to their lovely description, but on this night the special guests were very special indeed. (Much special-er than the main attraction, !!!) The first performer reminded me of Elliott Smith and Nick Drake- fatalistic, beautiful, and haunting. His voice conveyed pain and emotion, despite a little nervousness, quelled I hope by an appreciative crowd who got a shy smile in return for their applause. In direct contrast, next up was noisemaster Crayonsmith. He was wielding all the right tools: a noisy guitar, a drum machine, Xylophone, one of those gadgets that he could record noises/vocals onto so that it repeated while he got on with the rest. He is a fearless character, not afraid to actually look at the audience and say "COME CLOSER TO THE STAGE YOU BIG EEJITS", except he was a bit more gentlemanly about it than that.

I remember late one Sunday night on the radio a few years ago, Jay Aherne mentioned something about indie-tronica, and I believe Crayonsmith has something to say about it too. He has put together an EP called "You Get Down Here". Two of the songs he played that night, "Scarytale" and "Unnatural" are available as mp3s on his website.

The "headliners" at this gig do not deserve any space here. They trundled their way through their set like a group of karaoke singers at Vera and Jack Duckworth's vow-renewal ceremony. Life is too short for bad music, and I escaped out into the warm night. Whew.