Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Josaka gig at the Global
Well, it turns out last night was a really fantastic gig. As I mentioned last week I was going to see Damien A Passmore, Ben Marwood and Jim Bowes do a special one off Josaka gig at the Global Café. The night was a great success. I got there early and a nice seat at the front which was good because the place was totally packed.
First up was a surprise performance. Gerry from Six Nation State dropped in to do his first ever solo acoustic set, and he was really very good. He's got a great voice and the Six Nation State songs he played really held up acoustically. Which they always say is the sign of a good song. I've got the new SNS single to review at some point. It's a bit more chilled out than the last one but still sounds great. I'll do that closer to the release date which is 26th March.
He was swiftly followed by Damien A. Passmore. (DAP!) As far as I know DAP is Reading's only acoustic act who sings songs about rednecks and is a former wrestler. It was really nice to see DAP do a long set of his own material in an intimate setting where people can actually hear the words. His songs are funny but as with all 'comedy' music, the music has to be good as well, and it is. He seemed slightly unsteady on a couple of songs last night, but in the main it was really top stuff.
Jim Bowes took his one man comedy show 'Quiz shows, rap offs and blind confidence' to Edinburgh last year and last night was to be the final performance. He's currently working on his show for this year's fringe. I've got to admit despite lots of people telling me it was a great show I wasn't expecting it to be as funny as it was. I know, that's ridiculous, especially after my comments on this blog a while back about people asking 'was it funny?' after you've been to see a comedy show.
I've just seen on Berkshire Live that Rob Rebus said Jim has a kind of Dave Gorman style, I think that's very true and I think Dave Gorman is extremely funny. It's mainly down to the use of interactive media, music, slideshows, graphs etc. This is particularly self deprecating. The main butt of almost all the jokes is Jim himself and it seems he's a keen observer of his own foibles. I'm looking forward to the 2007 show. I'll let you know if it previews locally.
Up last, for his first ever headline show in Reading was Ben Marwood. Normally on a Monday night Ben is working at Impact Studios in Reading whilst Joey Ultra rehearse. He is generally a very excellent and helpful person. I'm not just saying that because he makes us tea. Although that helps.
I've seen Ben play quite a lot acoustically, he's one of only a few local acoustic performers who can really hold my attention. His songs are catchy but he gets real emotion into his vocals. It's something you don't hear often. Recently it seems Ben's been really growing in confidence. His between song banter yesterday was really funny and his songs sounded great. He's got a split single out on Velocity Recordings at the moment with the Heartwear Process. It's available in Reading HMV if you want a copy or see the Velocity website.
First up was a surprise performance. Gerry from Six Nation State dropped in to do his first ever solo acoustic set, and he was really very good. He's got a great voice and the Six Nation State songs he played really held up acoustically. Which they always say is the sign of a good song. I've got the new SNS single to review at some point. It's a bit more chilled out than the last one but still sounds great. I'll do that closer to the release date which is 26th March.
He was swiftly followed by Damien A. Passmore. (DAP!) As far as I know DAP is Reading's only acoustic act who sings songs about rednecks and is a former wrestler. It was really nice to see DAP do a long set of his own material in an intimate setting where people can actually hear the words. His songs are funny but as with all 'comedy' music, the music has to be good as well, and it is. He seemed slightly unsteady on a couple of songs last night, but in the main it was really top stuff.
Jim Bowes took his one man comedy show 'Quiz shows, rap offs and blind confidence' to Edinburgh last year and last night was to be the final performance. He's currently working on his show for this year's fringe. I've got to admit despite lots of people telling me it was a great show I wasn't expecting it to be as funny as it was. I know, that's ridiculous, especially after my comments on this blog a while back about people asking 'was it funny?' after you've been to see a comedy show.
I've just seen on Berkshire Live that Rob Rebus said Jim has a kind of Dave Gorman style, I think that's very true and I think Dave Gorman is extremely funny. It's mainly down to the use of interactive media, music, slideshows, graphs etc. This is particularly self deprecating. The main butt of almost all the jokes is Jim himself and it seems he's a keen observer of his own foibles. I'm looking forward to the 2007 show. I'll let you know if it previews locally.
Up last, for his first ever headline show in Reading was Ben Marwood. Normally on a Monday night Ben is working at Impact Studios in Reading whilst Joey Ultra rehearse. He is generally a very excellent and helpful person. I'm not just saying that because he makes us tea. Although that helps.
I've seen Ben play quite a lot acoustically, he's one of only a few local acoustic performers who can really hold my attention. His songs are catchy but he gets real emotion into his vocals. It's something you don't hear often. Recently it seems Ben's been really growing in confidence. His between song banter yesterday was really funny and his songs sounded great. He's got a split single out on Velocity Recordings at the moment with the Heartwear Process. It's available in Reading HMV if you want a copy or see the Velocity website.
# posted by Mike @ 13:39 
