Monkey Chews Gig

It's a nice room- a bit of a bohemian womb, if such a thing can exist. They were obviously expecting smart company, as the bar was lined with about twenty bottles of champagne and same again of Jack Daniels. I was very pleasantly surprised to see Simba behind the desk, ex-University of the West, who told me his brother Beenie (also ex-University of the West) is now drumming for Gabriela Cilmi. I am very pleased; Beenie studied Songwriting with me, was always late for class but wrote some very interesting and intense songs.
The first artist to play was Samantha Whates. She comes from Melrose originally and as a guitarist shows the obvious influence of Joni Mitchell. However, that's where it stops because her songwriting style is altogether different and I absolutely loved her high, airy, fresh voice. which was perfectly pitched. The melodies of her songs meandered and ran up and down scales without being busy and fussy, and she made simplicity out of complexity, which was very clever without being Clever, if you understand what I mean. In some ways she reminded me of Morvern Callar, although her songs are a little more complex, which is not to their detriment. It was refreshing to be fascinated as well as entertained by a singer. I loved it.
I went on next; Katy joined me to sing on Heaven Avenue- it was nice. I tried a new song called Summer Days to fight the January blues, but forgot the last verse. Nobody seemed to mind too much. I almost drifted off to dreamland on Little England; the horrid norovirus is still there burrowing away in my system, I know it.
Chris Tanzi was the next performer. She was very good, very professional but it was not so much a style of music that I like; I can imagine she is very good at festivals and other large gatherings. Katy was looking to pinch her flute player!
Last, but not least, was School of Imagination, which for want of a better description, was a psychedelic string band. They had bass, drums, guitar, uke and mandolin, and lots of singing by three men with identical voices who sometimes sang in harmony and sometimes in unison. Their songs rambled about all over the place, but as a listener I was very happy to ramble with them; they were so well-rehearsed you felt happy to be driven to an unknown destination in a strange vehicle. Were they early Pink Floyd? Not really. The Eagles? Too English. Nick Drake muliplied by five? Possibly. There was a 'World' music thing in there too. Oddly, the music they most reminded me of was Bill Keith, the jazz banjo player, whose music bounces softly along like a thick cloud, colliding with rhythm just enough to hold it down and stop it from disappearing up its jaxy. The thing about Bill Keith is that he has no drummer, and this band has a very competent drummer who flows along with the rest of them, gazing skywards as if to read his horoscope from the ceiling as he plays. If I was a film maker I would make a film specially to have this band playing along in a corner.
Well, that was it- apart from the fact that Dec came out to the gig. He used to run a record label for the University of the West and I always really liked him and his rapport with the students. It was lovely to see him: my music is not his cup of tea but he really enjoyed the evening and I hope to see him again soon.
Katy's planning a songwriting get-together of lady songwriters. Will we give away our trade secrets? Who knows!