King Tut's Wah Wah Hut opened its doors under the ownership of DF Concerts in February 1990 and was named after a New York club of the 80's which promoted live music, performing arts and comedy. The Glasgow version was set up to provide a platform for unsigned/up-and-coming bands to play live every night of the week and, as the stairs to the gig hall lay testimony, a veritable who's who of major bands have passed through the place over its 23 years. Amongst other accolades, the place has been called one of the best live music venues in the UK, and most certainly the best in Glasgow. It has won 'Licensed Music Pub Of The Year' (Scottish Licensed Trade News in Nov 2001) and it was awarded BBC Radio 1's UK Best Live Music Venue award three years in a row. Not bad for a wee basement venue with a 300 capacity!
Bear's Den and the support act The Mariner's Children arrived at King Tut's on a crisp, clear, clean and cold November night. They are set to play several more UK gigs before heading to Germany & the Netherlands as part of their current tour and it was great that they had added Tut's to the list of venues. So I went to see them along with an enthusiastic crowd of some 150 other folk and I found myself wondering just where we were all meant to stand if it was full. I guess it would just have been a bit more 'intimate' from the audience's point of view!
So now it was the turn of two more acts to make the step up the ladder of success, starting with The Mariner's Children.......
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The Mariner's Children |
The gig started at about 20:45 when the support band, a five piece on the night, assembled on stage and Benedict Rubinstein (looking uncannily like Daniel Radcliffe's brother!) launched them into their first song. I say 'five piece', however, as the article in the Guardian back on 23 Sept 2010 helpfully explained, they are in fact a seven piece collective (Emma Kraemer - violin & Daniel Matthews - guitar, piano, accordion, glockenspiel, vocals were absent).
So Becca Mears (cello), Benedict Rubinstein (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin, autoharp), Felix Weldon (drums), Emma Gatrill (accordion, banjo, vocals), and Marcus Hamblett (double bass, vocals) performed some fascinatingly intricate and interesting songs and I was immediately captivated by their sound. In parts it references Mumford & Sons, Admiral Fallow and Arcade Fire, however, the band (who hail from Norfolk/London/Brighton) also have a love of Pentangle, Iron & Wine and Bert Jansch. Overall, their sound is an alt folk one and their lyrics are bedded in the folk traditions of love and death! As Benedict says on their website about the song Sycamore, it “came from a period when I’d gone to a lot of funerals in a very short space of time. I was thinking about death a lot but I was also in quite a good place in my life and very much in love......The track is about death, but it’s definitely a love song”!
I was particularly taken with the song structures and the tight harmonies to which various band members contributed at different stages. The songs are not based on the accepted norm of verse/chorus/verse but more on a thoughtful development of sound. Some build up to a full band sound from a quiet start (witness the aforementioned Sycamore) and others start out with loud thumping drums, descend into vocal duets and then build again to an aural assault as in It Carved Your Name Into The Ground. In addition, and there is more than a passing resemblance with Admiral Fallow here, various band members are multi instrumentalists! At one point Emma swapped banjo for accordion then bass guitar and Marcus swapped bass for banjo. This added an interesting musical dynamic to the overall sound and, along with Benedict's acoustic lead and Becca's cello, it allowed the band to vary the musical style and tempo to great effect.
At the end of their set I bought a copy of the current EP Sycamore and I look forward to more from this interesting collective, who include members of Peggy Sue, Laura Marling, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Alessi’s Ark, and Eyes & No Eyes! In the meantime, check out The Mariner's Children on the link below singing It Carved Your Name Into The Ground.....
It Carved Your Name Into The Ground
Next up the staircase was Bear's Den. As those of you reading this with local knowledge will testify, we have an area of the city (on the north west fringes) called Bearsden (pronounced exactly the same way) however, that is where the similarity ends!
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Bear's Den |
This incarnation of Bear's Den are three young lads from London. Andrew Davie (acoustic and electric guitars), Kev Jones (drums, bass, keyboards) & Joey Haynes (electric guitar, banjo). According to their Facebook page other artists they like include Barry Manilow, Youth Lagoon and Florence Foster Jenkins and they formed on 12 March 2012. When asked how best to describe their music in an interview with the music blog AMBY in June 2013, the band said "Storytelling songs which aim to inhabit a sonic landscape somewhere between CSN&Y and Youth Lagoon". So there you have it!
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Andrew Davie |
Andrew Davie (known as Davie) thanked us all for coming and seemed rather nervous but delighted to be playing in Glasgow. His 'banter' between songs was limited but perhaps this was because he wanted the music to do the talking. So first up we had Agape the title from their 5 track EP released earlier this year and from the picked banjo intro, played by Joey Haynes, via the tub thumping drumming by Kevin Jones, it was clear that we were in for a great night. The song has a great rolling rhythm and a good number of those present sang along keeping Davie company as he eased into the set.
The inter play between Davie and Joey on various guitars and banjo was an integral part of the bands sound and this was evident on the slower Don't Let The Sun Steal You Away which includes the interesting line
Don't let your mind speak louder than your heart.
A great sentiment indeed and the three part harmonies were a joy to hear.
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Kevin Jones |
Kevin Jones played some fine, if not a little unconventional, drumming, I don't think I saw a traditional drum stick all night! His style is more pounding and 'beating' out rhythms using large round headed, cloth covered drum sticks. This was when he wasn't playing a bass guitar or keyboards whilst simultaneously drumming with his right hand!
Along the way we also heard songs from the Pompeii EP, only available at gigs, and the recently released 6 track EP Without/Within off which came perhaps my favourite song on the night - Sophie. The song started with languid, lolling notes traded between Davey's acoustic guitar and Joey's electrified banjo and it was underpinned by a subtle drum and bass section provided by Kev. The lyrics are particularly sad and enigmatic and includes the lines:
You would hide yourself in a shroud as your hair started falling out
When you took off your dressing gown Sophie
And your mother was dressed in black with a lock of your hair in her hand
And I knew there was no turning back Sophie
And I can't forgive myself, no I can't forgive myself......
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Joey Haynes |
Davey stated that "many of our songs are slow and depressing", a contender for the 'no shit, Sherlock' award! However, they are also wonderful aural soundscapes which evoke many emotions with some fine lyrics sung with heartfelt sincerity.
To lift the mood the band then played two of their more up beat numbers, starting with Writing On The Wall during which Kev played fine pounding drum & bass then acoustic guitar and left handed keyboards! The song ended on a great sonic 'work out' between Davey's acoustic guitar and Joey's electrified banjo. Then next up was Sahara (Part 1 & 2) and the introduction played by Joey reminded me of the 'sometimes' band The Friends Of Dean Martinez. He elicited similar ethereal sounds from the high notes of his electric guitar that they sometimes create. As the song simmered along coming to the boil with a frenzied crescendo the audience danced and Bear's Den rocked the Hut to a shimmering finale.
The guys then left the stage to rapturous applause, returning shortly afterwards to perform an acoustic version of Bad Blood which saw the trio of beardies gathered in a small group off to the side of the stage. Davey and Kev played acoustic guitars and Joey played banjo whilst the three part harmonies were very much to the fore. It was an impressive end to an exhilarating show.
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Bear's Den |
Thanks to all who contributed to a great night and going by the animated, exuberant reaction from the crowd we had all enjoyed a memorable evening in King Tut's Wah Wah Hut. Cheers.
22:00
Agape
The Waters
Don't Let The Sun Steal You Away
Pompeii
Mother
Sophie
Isaac
Writing On The Wall
Sahara (Part 1 & 2)
Hard Life
Encore 22:45
Bad Blood - (acoustic version)
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