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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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CHICKEN LEGS WEAVER The 100 Club, London,
January 17th 2008 |
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What
happens to musicians in early January Serge? Are
they like the rest of us, sitting at home nursing
colds and coughs, and falling foul of the occasional
bout of projectile vomiting? Or are they out at
the sales, arm to elbow with crazed-eyed bargain
hunters, greedily seeking out half-priced stage
outfits? Or are they somewhere in the sun, luxuriating
in mountainside villas, servants and their ‘people’
at their every beck and call? Well, either way they
are certainly not in London, which as ever is cold,
miserable, and devoid of gigs. Actually we were
supposed to see Tony
MacPhee’s Groundhogs a week or so ago
but succumbed instead to a short and very sharp
dose of the Norwalk virus which I wouldn’t
want to share with even the dodgiest regular at
the 100 Club. So it’s now the 17th January
and we’re here to see the unfortunately-named
Chicken
Legs Weaver, who only came to our attention
through one of those wonderful moments when you
chance upon something on the digital wireless that
just stops you in your tracks. On this occasion
I think it was ‘Paper Houses’, from
their debut 2006 Johnny Dowd produced album, Nowhere. |
How
would I describe them – well, I jotted in
my notebook, “fuzz box-fuelled Sheffield swamp
gothic”. It’s raw-edged steely blues
from Yorkshire’s musical city of the moment
– as uncompromising and uncomplicated as you
would expect from the county of the White Rose.
Band leader Andy Weaver (whose uneven gait apparently
inspired the band’s name) plays a blistering
slide guitar – he’s using three or four
pedals, but whatever the combination the result
is an ear-numbing yet visceral wall of sound (‘though
his thumb and finger playing is far more complex
than you might give it credit for). The guitar matches
his unlikely voice. It sounds like a Marlboro Red
40-a-day man’s blues growl – some say
Tom Waits style, but it lacks the subtlety for that
– what you hear is what you get. On bass guitar
is the relatively recent recruit (the band have
been playing for over ten years) the very solid
Jane Howden (“Jean Jacques Burnel in female
form” wrote another reviewer), who joined
shortly after Nowhere was recorded. |
And
on drums is the man who almost stole the show
– ex Comsat
Angel Mik Glaisher. He’s a big guy –
looks like a cross between Lyle Lovett and Tommy
Cooper with a face etched with anxiety –
until he starts playing. As befits his size his
drumming is huge – it is, if you will, lead
drumming as opposed to rhythm drumming, filling
in powerfully behind (no, in front of) Weaver’s
guitar. The result is enthralling. |
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Just
a shame then that instead of being cooped up thigh
to thigh in the 100 Club, drumsticks flying over
our heads, it’s such a paltry crowd –
I might be inclined to put this down to promoters,
the rather bantam-weight Alien
Jazz Party, who at best seem to be winging it.
I hope they haven’t put all their eggs in
one basket, because if they have, I fear things
may be coming home to roost …[Enough! Ed.] |
Ok. Well, the only really disappointing thing
about the evening was that we weren’t able
to pick up a copy of the band’s new album,
Silk Ripped Dress, which has sort of just been
released, and features Whiskyfun favourite Richard
Hawley on the track ‘Monday Man’.
It’s a sign of the difficulty CLW seem to
have in getting broader exposure (I read somewhere
that major labels thought they were “too
old” to sign) is a
record company with apparently little or no
distribution and a very out of date website –
and they don’t even show up to gigs with
CDs to sell. But you will be able to hear them
on the BBC’s Mark
Lamarr show on 16th February. We heard some
of the new stuff – including the impressive
opener ‘John the Revelator’ (shades
of Ian Siegal) and ‘Before the fall’
in addition to ‘Paper houses’, ‘Your
enemy cannot harm you’, Howling road’’,
‘Zombified’, and ‘Stump Jon
and the owl’ among others from Nowhere.
All very good indeed – and I suppose the
resultant twenty four hours of partial deafness
was partly a consequence of having over a month
off. Blimey! Anyway – you know how it goes
– if you like your blues deep and dirty
with a dose of menace, then give these guys a
listen, go and see them, and buy their albums
(if you can ever find them).
- Nick Morgan (photographs
by Kate and Nick's iPhone)
Kate's
Chicken Legs Weaver photo album 
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