Had myself a run down to Redcar at the week-end; my first visit to their long-running Blues club, to catch Jay Tamkin & band while they’re doing a couple of gigs in the north.
Opening the evening was John Emil from the US who’s doing a couple of weeks round the UK. John does rootsy acoustic blues with a touch of country, folk and bluegrass; self-penned and a range of great standards on dobro and an unusual looking acoustic lap guitar (Hawaiiian?). Well worth catching if he’s in your vicinity.
Jay was on crackin’ form right from the start, the simmering introduction the guys do just built to a rolling boil into I Got News For You, and not letting-up for the first 45 minutes; Jay and Rik exchanging solos on Guitar and organ respectively while Nik holds it down on the drums. The last song of the set had a sort of “free-form” to it; the band improvising as Jay called out the key changes, keeping things rolling.
After the lottery break, a refreshed Jay came back on and blazed through a strong set. The main backbone was from the Alibi album. Circles was dealt with in good fashion and I don’t know if Jay realised that Redcar was the stamping-ground of David Coverdale in days gone by, but Lovin’ Man was done in a way which reminded me what was good about vintage Whitesnake. Can’t Not Think About You recently got a nod for consideration in the upcoming Blues awards and is one of those clever songs that works well as an acoustic number, but tonight Jay took it the other way and built it to a blazing climax. Rounding off this final set, we got the double whammy of You’ve Got The Heart; Jay’s lap-jack tour-de-force followed by a mighty You’ve Changed. The fun didn’t end there though; the guys came back on for a encore; giving Rik and Nik each a final opportunity to dazzle before closing with something a little special. I’m not saying what; if you don’t know, you’ll have to catch Jay and find out. I’ll give a hint though – think WT Feaster Band’s trick taken up a couple of levels.....
Didn’t realise that when the guys came off the stage, they were 2 minutes shy of the midnight curfew they have at Redcar, but it meant in total they played over 2 hours, that following a 3 hour session the previous night at Harrogate: all that blues for you pounds and no covers. Jay is something of a maverick in this respect; you look at the band and you think you’re going to get a Matt Schofield sound-a-like, of which Jay is more than capable but he can turn it on and give you a jazz infused Deep Purple.
The club isn’t as large as I thought it would be, the room has a capacity approaching 150 and was about 2 thirds full on the night (competing with the football match which has to be an improvement on dancing dogs....). The music is hot, the welcome is warm and the beer is cold; what more could you want?
Mike
Plenty of dates still to come, especially through the summer if you want to avoid Olympics overdose:-
29th May - Live interview with Jay on Looker Radio @ 6.15pm
30th May - Jay live interview from 4-6pm with Martin Hodge @ Phonic FM Exeter
1st JUNE - PONTYPRIDD DISTRICT CLUB
2nd JUNE - THE GOWER-Cardiff
8th JUNE - Private Birthday Party Gig
9th JUNE - LLAMA Festival @5pm (North Devon)
See http://www.llama.org.uk/
16th JUNE - AUSTRIA-Jay Tamkin Band & The Brew
22nd JUNE - LONDON
23rd JUNE - BRIGHTON
4th July - BRIGHTON
14th JULY - SYDENHAM BLUES CLUB
27th JULY - HEATHER MUSIC FESTIVAL
28th JULY - THE UNICORN FESTIVAL
31st JULY - BOTTLENECK BLUES CLUB
3rd Aug - www.bluesatthebay.co.uk (Eaglescliffe, nr Stockton-on-Tees)
4th Aug - GUISBOROUGH BLUES CLUB Double Header-Jay Tamkin Band & Giles Robson & The Dirty Aces
9th AUG - The ROBIN-BILSTON
Buy your tickets here http://www.therobin.co.uk
10th Aug - STUDIO LOUNGE TOTNES
17th/18th - AUG - BELGIUM FESTIVAL
25th AUG - RHYTHM FESTIVAL
26th AUG - J.T.B. booked for private party
7th/8th/9th SEPT - HOLLAND - FESTIVAL
6th - Oct - SWANAGE BLUES FESTIVAL
1st - Nov - BOOGALOO PROMOTIONS
Cellar Bar-Farnham Maltings
When life gives you lemons; don't make lemonade.
Give back the lemons. Why were the lemons free? What's wrong with the lemons?
Do Not trust the lemons...
) My first shot at this artist and I'm very impressed. The better half likes it too and was soon singing along. A blend of country rock and blues that sits mighty fine on the ear. I'm jealous of you Euros with such local treasures. It's hard to come by stuff like this out here in the wilderness.