Troon as
a town isn't exactly known as a hot bed of musical talent, but once a
year it kicks the dust of its dancing shows and for a few days lets
its hair down with a multiple venue festival that really does cater
to the tastes of everyone.
Of the
smorgasbord of talent available it was the Su Casa tent down near the
beach that I headed to, and it was there that I had a glass half
empty, or is it half full moment, as I stepped in and caught what was
the end of Craig Martin Wards set.
On the
half empty side I was annoyed at missing the bulk of his set as I
like what he does.
There's a
sense of humour that threads its way through his lyrics and gives
them a little something extra that many solo singer/songwriting
troubadours don't have.
It's not
a case of them leaning towards being comedic parodies, but instead
that he has the ability to put a wry smile into the content of the
material that gives an audience moments where they can smile along in
recognition of how absurd all our lives can be sometimes.
It's a nice touch.
It often
surprises me that his name isn't more often on the lips of local
music fans when they discuss who the big fishes are in the small
pond.
On the
glass half full side at least I didn't miss his whole set.
Following
on from Craig was Jamie Mann who many of my musical acquaintances
have urged me not to miss.
Initially
I wasn't really keying into his music. The first song was well played
and he has a very good voice that hints at Jeff Buckley without
encroaching on the histrionics that he was apt to occasionally
favour.
It was
the lyrics that just didn't engage.
Then just
as I was wondering what it was that others had seen in him that I
couldn't he revealed all with his second song, and from that moment
on simply got better and better.
By the
end of his short set he had won me over.
His
guitar playing is impressive. Nice finger picking with little
flourishes that add to the performance and vocally he knows how to
deliver a well crafted song.
From what
I thought was a weak start he really managed to bring it all together
and deliver an excellent performance.
Sonic
Templars were to be the first band of the night that I would see.
Normally
a full on indie rock band this was the stripped down version who were
missing a drummer but had picked up a violinist.
Similar
to Jamie Mann they are a much talked about act who I had yet to see.
The
difference between them, apart from musical styles, was that I was
impressed from the start.
The
addition of the violin to the opening song opened the whole
performance up and added something that would be hard to express.
It just
allowed them to hit the ground running with a much fuller sound than
I expected.
Sadly
that was the only song to feature Amy on violin, but the rest of the
set was equally as strong and the acoustic bass gave the music a
solid peg for them to hang everything on.
It's very
obvious that in essence they are a rock band, but delivering their
songs acoustically doesn't give them any problems and the material is
pretty solid.
By the
time they reached the last song of the set it seemed rather obvious
that if they had arrived with the intent of converting people to
their cause that they had done so with some style.
Now I
really do need to see the whole electric shebang.
Now what
can be said about Colin Hunter and Calum Muir.
Both are
very talented young men, and separately are more than able of taking
a crowd by the hand and entertaining them.
My own
preferences lean towards what Colin does on his own, but that's not a
slight on what Calum does as he is equally as good.
It's just
a subjective taste thing on my part.
Yet when
they play together they appear to be able to bring out the best in
each other.
That they
have known each other for so many years obviously plays a part in it.
Like some musicians who have shares stages for decades they can read
the subtleties of each others performances and take turns in leading
each other in different direction while maintaining a flow.
Taking
turns to sing lead or backing vocals depending on what is required
comes across very well. As does their ability to swap instruments to
suit what the songs need.
It;s
actually a really captivating performance that they should both be
very proud of, but there is one issue I have with them and that's
that this is often just a live experience.
Once they
step off the stage the experience can't be revisited, and they really
need to have a CD or something, anything, available for us so that we
can take a piece of what they are doing home with us.
From
Colin and Calum leaving the stage and The Holy Ghosts taking to it
something seemed to change.
It got a
bit darker, the tent got a bit busier and there was a feeling in the
air that crackled with a bit of tension.
It's the
sort of thing that would get dogs howling and people looking to the
sky and asking when the storm was coming, and it's all the doing of
The Holy Ghosts.
There's
something dangerous about them.
Something
rock and roll that puts a primal swagger in their step
When the
crashed into their set all I could think was that when Liam asked
Noel to join Oasis that they sat down and tried to think about all
the things they wanted the band to be.
'Lets get
some Stones in it our kid, a bit of The Faces, loads of The Beatles
eh? The sneer of Lydon and fuck it let's throw in the seventies
terrace stomp of Slade to'.
What they
didn't realize that what they were describing was the Holy Ghosts as
they live and breath right now.
Keeping
on the subject of the Gallagher, or one of them anyway, I was reading
the latest interview salvo from Noel Gallagher where he was quite
rightly bemoaning that the record industry isn't a conducive to
breaking rock and roll legends any more.
It's
true.
I could
go along with his view that the investments isn't there and even
strongly agree that DJs with play lists to adhere to aren't really
DJs.
Yet I'm
not going to agree that everyone is following on from the lowest
common denominator bollocks in the charts, and that there's no one
with the ability to become the next rock and roll legend.
There's
always going to be bands like that.
The Holy
Ghosts prove it when they step onto a stage.
There's
the whole history of rock and roll there, from the Faces playing the
Speakeasy to The Clash playing stadiums, from the swagger of Jagger
to the Johnny Cash kicking out the footlights.
This is a
stadium band playing a tent.
Of course
there's no guarantees that they will be the band to break big
globally, or even nationally, but there's no arguing that they have
everything in place to be able to do it.
Once
their debut album is out I could well imagine NME journos prematurely
ejaculating in a frenzy to be the first to say they have found the
great white hopes for rock and roll.
For once
they would be right, but the stains on their crotches will always
look ugly in retrospect.
And then
it all went a bit pear shaped.
As Little
Fire stepped up the Holy Ghost loving audience did a runner to catch
The View who were the main draw of the weekend.
Circumstances
just dealt him a raw hand.
The draw
of The View was just too strong and while he, and then Rose Parade
played excellent sets it was to a decimated, albeit appreciative,
audience.
It's
nights like this that artists and bands show their backbone though
and both Little Fire and Rose parade took it in their strides.
I suspect
that once both acts have their debut albums out that less people
would be drawn away from seeing them as much is on show to indicate
that both will be very special.
