Monday 22 July 2024
The Camden Club, London
****
A more than ‘adequate’ set from a dynamic duo. Dramatic ebb and flow from Prog’s Best New Band of 2023
Situated opposite The Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road, The Camden Club describes itself as ‘the newest venue to hit London’s iconic music scene’, hosting ‘the best live music in London.’ It’s a lovely venue, with a long bar along one side, a slightly raised stage with built-in lighting, seating for around 100 people and an at-seat food service. It has an excellent sound system, expertly managed at last Monday’s gig by sound engineer Tamara Sterle.
Last Monday evening’s gig was a prog double-header, featuring Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, and EBB who won Prog’s Best New Band last year. Hats Off front man Malcolm Galloway told Nick Holmes Music in a recent interview that when playing live he and bass player Mark Gatland concentrate on songs with vocals rather than the instrumentals that pepper their studio albums. At the last minute they adapted their set from their previous appearance at Prog for Peart in Abingdon (see setlist below) so that all the piano songs came first. As the venue opened, Galloway was still sound checking a new song ‘Hydrogen’ from the forthcoming album The Uncertainty Principle, in which the protagonist is stuck in an MRI scanner wondering what the test results will reveal. The poignant words describe the anxiety of ‘waiting between two worlds’. Galloway said there wouldn’t be time to play it in the main set, and in any case the song is ‘utterly depressing’, but it did give a hint of the thoughtful music we can expect from the next album.
Galloway was soon joined on stage by bass player Mark Gatland, sporting a glove on his right hand like a latter-day Alvin Stardust, leaping in the air as he played like an excitable punk rocker. An early highlight from the piano-based section was ‘Cygnus’, a soulful song with a moving piano intro. Galloway, a former hospital doctor gave an affecting account of how in his view the 2017 Cygnus Report into a possible future pandemic was ignored in relation to the provision of PPE during COVID. ‘Here Comes the Flood’ featured a mournful piano, heartfelt vocals and a sensitive fretless bass sound. A lovely song, with a beautiful harmonic progression.
The piano was duly despatched from the stage, and Galloway was unleashed to play his PRS guitar, with epic Floydian tones on ‘Walking to Aldebaran’, and the title track from The Light of Ancient Mistakes. There was a punky version of ‘One Word That Means The World (Arkhipov)’, reviewed here in the Off The Beaten Track series. It’s a fascinating song that describes how Arkhipov’s decision probably averted World War III. Gatland quipped that he was happy to play a song about a nuclear apocalypse. He was quick to qualify his comment;- he was happy because war was avoided. This was followed by the industrial funk of ‘All Empires Fall’, a song which describes the concept that, as Galloway puts it, ‘At the most basic level, the second law of thermodynamics suggests that any conquest is ultimately temporary’. It’s an poetic trope (the falling of empires, not the second law of thermodynamics) that dates back many centuries to poems like the late ninth century Anglo Saxon works The Wanderer and The Seafarer, and beyond. The set ended with ‘Century Rain’, which began as a slow-burn ballad which transformed to full-on prog with Galloway’s voice almost cracking with emotion, and a spectacularly energetic guitar solo.
If Hats Off… lit up the room with their passion and dedication, EBB created a different, more theatrical vibe, the prog equivalent of the indie band The Last Dinner Party another up and coming female band who are flamboyantly dressed on stage, the difference being that EBB have a male bass player, the superbly virtuosic Bad Dog.
Kitty Biscuits, Anna Fraser. Photo courtesy Doug Wregg
The six members of EBB were joined on stage by a flowers (‘a flower?’) as was Myrkur in her recent London gig. More significantly, the Seventh EBB, known only as ‘Jenny’, joined the band on stage dressed in various theatrical outfits. The set began with a coup de théâtre, Jenny dressed as a jester animating the members of the band, lifting them from their knees and bringing them to life.
Images courtesy of Doug Wregg
The band follow the best traditions of prog rock, exhibiting a restless ambition that makes them hard to put in a convenient musical box, truly progressive in the best sense of the word. The theatricality of their stage show is matched by the musicianship – front woman Erin Bennet is a fine guitarist and singer, Suna Dasi provides atmospheric keyboards and evocative backing vocals, Nikki Francis brings precise keyboard textures and some lyrical sax, and Anna Fraser is an excellent drummer. Kitty Biscuits brings charisma and drama to the set, with spoken word sections and operatic backing vocals, sometimes ululating like Yoko Ono. When the three vocalists sang together, the effect was extraordinary.
EBB played whole of their new three-track EP, The Management of Consequences and several tracks from their first album Mad & Killing Time (2022). Highlights of the set included ‘Silent Saviour’ with an ambient start that moved to some deliciously proggy keyboards, rocky guitar and vocals, with added sax and a final guitar and bass unison flourish. There was a delightful funky, metallic syncopated riff in ‘Tension’, and we were introduced to a brand new piece ‘No One’s Child’.
The set ended with ‘Mary Jane’, a rousing song that reminded us that strong, simple melodies and vocal harmonies are always an important aspect of the best prog rock, as well as instrumental pyrotechnics. The audience demanded an encore, and EBB obliged with ‘Hecate’, with its grand prog metal riffs, liquid, undulating piano flourishes, and dramatic vocals from Kitty Biscuit.
Malcolm Galloway returned to the stage at the end to thank everyone for coming, and to stress the importance of live music. Audiences shouldn’t need too much persuading to come out when the venue, sound, music and performances are as good as this. Hats Off… brought cerebral drama and passion, and EBB brought musical and physical drama with the help of their seventh, silent member playing several different characters. What united both bands was the sheer joy in live music that they brought to the stage.
This blog was republished at 17.55 on Monday 29 July to replace a previous version that had minor edits and the final section missing; further minor edits were made at 22.47.
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