It was
Brewdog's birthday at the beginning of March, and marking the
occasion was a fantastic gig of wonderful local music put on by I'm
Not From London. Flip The Lid is an acoustic night put on every two
weeks at Brewdog Nottingham, which showcases some really special
local talent.
Speaking
of special local talent, kicking off the evening was ANWYN
WILLIAMS, who I've managed to see so much of lately, that I think
I'm beginning to know her songs inside and out! She kicked things off
with the fun, lively, upbeat Drinking In Bars. After some
slight feedback issues, it all managed to settle down, and allowed
her to take the stage by storm with her powerful voice, and guitar
which pushes the melody forward, especially during the “I'm fine
anyway” lyric. The Rambler is next, which is a much
darker number, with low pitched fingerpicked guitar, it rumbles and
forms and angsty undercurrent, which moulds her deeper vocals and
works well. Walking Now follows, and keeps on with the sadder
tones of the previous number, with passionately performed vocals, and
melodies which broke hearts, it's a gut wrenching song which gets me
a little every time. She follows this with new track Old Bones,
which she only played the previous night at The Breakfast Club's
album party (which you can read the review here). It's a quiet song,
letting the emotions settle from the previous number. The guitar is
subtle and slow, and the simple chords allow for the lovely melodies
in the fingerpicking and vocals to shine through. Another brand new
song Bridges was really gorgeous, and had a more pop feel to
it, which provided a nice change of pace from the country sound. It
had a particularly intense chorus, again featuring heartbreak, which
was repeated, building the intensity; “I burned all my bridges
leading back to you”. Driftwood follows, with intense
fingerpicking and flowing melodies, it seems very in line with it's
lyrical content too, really painting a picture musically of driftwood
floating down a stream. Going Gone Away ends her set on a
high, with its rising melodies and upbeat delivery, flowing perfectly
into our next performer of the evening.
MARTIN
SANDERS steps on the stage with his blues fuelled songs, with a
cover of Country Blues. One
thing that occurs to me about Martin is his blues guitar is more
aggressive than most I've seen, which is really great to see, and he
teams this style of playing with a mixture of both soft and shouty
vocals which aids the rollercoaster emotions of the song. Leave
Me Be follows, which is another
intense song, but is a bit more upbeat than the previous number,
there are some really great pitch bending techniques being applied on
the guitar melodies, which have a lovely way of filling in the vocal
breaks. No Damn Good is
the next song, which is another more downbeat number, and is more
downtrodden with lyrics such as “go ahead and leave me”.
It has a passionate vocal delivery, with a more rock influence coming
through, but still retaining the classic blues style in the guitar. I
even thought that the chord progressions and melodies were so
interesting and progressive that it even reminded me a bit of
classical music, but maybe that was the Punk IPA talking.The next
song in the set was Cocaine (All Around My Brain),
which picks up the crowd a bit with a more upbeat number. It has some
particularly good chord progressions and great sections, and a strong
vocal delivery. It seems like this song contains a few influences
including blues, jazz, rock and even pop a little. It's great and
Martin seems really connected to his performance, and really
emotionally invested in the songs. His set ends on Four Til
Late, which ended the set on a
more traditional blues feel, which rounded his set nicely. It was a
particularly entertaining set, and great to see such a confident
musician really nail his craft and thoroughly enjoying himself in the
process.
Next
up on the bill is a very special set from THE
FADE, who step out of their electrified rock comfort zone and
perform a set almost entirely acoustically (except for the electric
bass guitar). With both Jackson and Sam on acoustic guitars instead
of electric, and Joe donning a cajon rather than his drum kit, it's a
very interesting change for them. They kicked off proceedings with
Capo on 2nd,
which is a gentle and sweet rock number, but with the acoustic set
up, it really brings out the desperate tones in Sam's vocals, and the
acoustic guitars simmer gently, and are given punch from the cajon
and more direction from the bass. Jackson played a lovely solo on
acoustic guitar too during this one. The song has lovely developments
during the instrumental sections, which have a low key feel when
played acoustically.
Waltz On 2nd
follows, which is solely an instrumental number, which sounds lovely
with the acoustic, almost spanish sounding guitar. The cajon and
shaker comes through and highlights the subtle melodies. The rock
influences come through still, retaining the usual sound of the band,
whilst the acoustic set up puts a new spin on things. Some
Things is next, with Sam
introducing the song, telling us it was the first song they ever
wrote. It's livelier than the previous two numbers, picking up the
pace and acoustically driving the music in another direction. It's
upbeat, but retains some angst and dirty rock sounds with the bass.
The fast paced nature of this song means they all have to be extra
aware of each other, and their set up becomes more apparent. They are
sat in a semicircle formation, which promotes communication between
the members, and they are working together really well. They also
have be even more in tune with each other during Perfect
Storm, the next number on the
bill. It is a longer, stretched out number, which has subtle, low
key, downbeat melodies. Acoustically it's kind of a different animal,
with relaxed and sweet melodies playing out on gentle acoustic
guitars. They're working well together, making sure they are all
staying in tune with each other. The instrumentation is really nice
in this one, with careful considerations to the arrangements and how
the songs transpire to an acoustic set up. It seems like the balance
of the instruments have been considered, and the time and effort pays
off in a beautiful performance. It's laid back to, because they are
all sat down together, it almost feels like a really great jam, which
brings them closer to the audience. Ending their set with Best
Before Blues, they pick up the
pace again, and inject some energy for the final push. Usually Joe
(rhythm) provides the backing vocals on The Fade's tracks, but due to
the acoustic set up, the job has been given to Jackson, who takes on
the vocals and adds a new tone to them. The backing vocals are deep
and grumbly, with emotion and a definite moodiness which adds to the
song, and contrasts nicely to the acoustic vibes. Their set was a
laid back version of themselves, and it worked so well that I really
hope they explore this set up more with some of their other tracks
too. They work well as a rock group, but their stripped back acoustic
ensembles brings out new elements to their music I hadn't noticed
before, and was rather lovely.
Headlining
Flip The Lid were CHESHIRE
AND THE CAT, a popular feel good band in Nottingham, who
certainly brought the party vibes for the final act of the evening.
With trumpet, sax, bass, guitar, cajon and vocals, it's the largest
ensemble of the evening, and the layers this provides certainly makes
the music very funky and lively. Milk in the Morning
is their opening track, with lively, jazzy and pop infused melodies,
it builds up nicely with the trumpet and sax parts, before coming in
with soulful vocals. The female vocals are passionate and strong, and
her strength is complimented nicely by the softer and gentler male
vocals. There are interesting sections in this number, and
breakdowns, which prompt the audience into many false ending
applauses. This enables the song to subtly change into the next
number Beast is Back,
which has a an upbeat cheeky feel with the rising melodies in the
chorus, complemented by the falling melodies in the bass. It's fun,
flirty and a burst of energy, preparing us for the next number
Devil's Jazz. Which has a
gorgeous chorus, with female vocals erupting, with their smooth
chocolatey texture, and amazing strength. It's got great arrangements
and some excellent sections, there also seems to be a nice mix of
genres here, including jazz, hip hop, pop and even rock at times. The
songs are fairly long, but they change and develop often, and the
instrumental sections and solos are particularly good. Next up was a
cover of Wandering Eye
by Fat Freddies Drop, which had some really nice moments where the
trumpet and sax are playing together, and are stood in centre stage
with each other. They are obviously having fun on stage and enjoying
themselves, which is a pleasure to watch. Both the female and male
vocals in the verse are sang in unison, which I think personally was
a missed opportunity for some great harmonies to unfold. The vocals
are lovely though, and the solos are great with power but still
retaining delicacy and emotion.The cajon is strong and a driving
force throughout, but is very similar, and although you need the
rhythm section to be constant and not going all over the place, a
little more variation could be really great. The final number of
their set is one of their more well known numbers called The
Sax Song. This number is more
chilled, and ends the evening in a relaxed manner. The song is
quieter, with gentle instrumentation, which is nice underneath the
painful lyrics and angsty melodies; “What happened to the
love, what happened to the dancing? You said it's gone, I said you're
wrong”. It has some great
developments and although is quite a sad subject matter, it still
manages to be upbeat, despite it's more chilled nature.
The
evening was a stunning one, with fantastic music, and I left that gig
with a big smile on my face. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and thought for
a birthday gig, you couldn't really do much better! Thanks Brewdog!
By Cassia Helme
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