NEWS
EVENTS
3 Men, 3 Guitars
Indie | Tuesday 25th September 2012 | Osh
3 sterling acts rock out the stage at The Old Blue Last
Last night The Old Blue Last hosted a trio of single men. With guitars. When I heard what was happening I spat crème de menthe all over my zoot suit. 3 guys? With nothing but their guitars? What kind of a gig is that? However, the characters in question were not merely men, they were bona fide bands in their own right. With one member. They are Joey Fourr, Someone Died and Shoes And Socks Off.
I arrived early so that I could catch up with Joey Fourr for a little pre gig banter. He spoke in a strange language at first.
- 'Excuse me' I said, 'I don't understand what you're saying.'
- 'Ah. I apologise. That was Sanskrit. I've just returned from a tour in Minsk with the Jainists.'
He went on to describe his musical creation process, swearing by fresh melon as the catalyst for most inspirational endeavours. He produces all of his music on his own, in the now abandoned aisles of Supermarket Sweep.
'I woke up in the middle of the night and found Dale Winton crying and cradling a Pot Noodle. We got to talking, he's actually a really big authority on agrarian reform. The whole night was wack. I wrote the song 'crappy meals' about him and that night.'
The gig was in celebration of Shoes And Socks Off, who was performing his final gig on the same day that he had played his first, four years ago to date.
First on was Joey Fourr. He exploded at the audience with a ravaging set of lo-fi grunge falsetto, delicately singing his way across the distorted swathes of his guitar, like a layer of cream upon a carrot cake. His track 'Cross Dresser' was like Kurt Cobain playing a slot machine till six in the morning.
Next on was 'Someone Died', a self confessed lover of Dave Grohl, he played the guitar like nobody I had ever seen before. How did he do that "thing" with his hands? The sound was a multi-layered, almost rhythm and blues style with a soft voice coolly cruising within the jangles of the guitar.
Finally was Shoes And Socks Off. The audience had come far and wide to see the final performance and were eagerly singing along and shouting out their favourites. The performance was almost melancholy; though this might have been largely due to the fact that the songs themselves were melancholy tunes. The atmosphere was livened largely by the hilarious mid song banter from Shoes And Socks Off himself.
I left the gig feeling somewhat of a musical prude. I had assumed that the gig would be lacking in some way from what I felt was a 'lack' of instruments and members. What I had found was a purity and intensity of the guitar and vocal combo. I found that even a man and his electric guitar (or acoustic) can stand proudly in front of a crowd, playing songs that still cause even the most cynical modern listener to dilate their pupils in awe.
By MJH Milner
