Acoustic Rock Night at the Old Tavern - 2nd June 2007

The life of a venue’s music manager is not always a happy one….? Bands cancelling at 2 days notice and strange bar requests for milk and tin foil (I kid you not!) are sometimes a challenge.

But it’s all worthwhile when you get one of those “special” nights. And last Saturday was certainly special.

It all started when Paul from The Mudheads contacted me to see if I was interested in an acoustic rock night as he and his son Aaron (also a Mudhead) wanted to “get back to their roots”. As I’d had a similar request from Kevin from Psycho Delia Smith (who plays in an acoustic duo with his son Yan as “Unplugged and Not Dangerous”), I could see a plan coming together.

Now bearing in mind that I’ve never seen The Mudheads (although I had already booked them for the venue), some may think this was something of a gamble, but Paul convinced me that this would be a good opportunity to get a taste of later things to come with the full Mudheads experience (dangerous strategy Paul, if you were shite, I might have cancelled the next one!!)

Well all I can say is, I had nothing to worry about! 

Unplugged and Not Dangerous opened the night and after their set Paul looked a bit pale and whispered to me “how are we going to follow that?”. My advice was “if in doubt, play louder”. I think they followed my suggestion but not at the expense of quality. Paul & Aaron play with a passion and energy that I haven’t seen for a long time which makes for a highly entertaining performance.

I did get some strange looks from Paul, the Landlord who I had managed to convince that this was going to a nice refined acoustic evening! Blimey, we’ve had quieter Heavy Metal bands? 

The Loaders opened with Billy Bragg’s “A New England” but not as you’ve ever heard it before, This is the Loader’s trademark, taking well-known songs but covering them in their own inimitable turbocharged style. Other songs which got similar treatment were “Can’t Stand losing You”, “A Little Help From My Friends” and “Two Princes”. I think this appeals to a wider audience as some people get fed up with the same old covers bashed out time after time but still like to be able to sing along to songs they know. And how many bands to you know that can get away with weaving in the theme to “Only Fools and Horse” to a song? 

The Loaders are also a visual as well as a sonic feast, despite the best efforts of the lighting man (who just happened to be a member of the opening act) to sabotage the set with more smoke than Dot Cotton produces in a month and an unusual light show that included long periods of complete darkness. 

The evening concluded with both acts back on stage with a “Band Aid” style grand finale which included old favourites such as “Ziggy Stardust” and “Whole Lotta Rosie” both of which got the enthusiastic audience singing along. 

If these two blokes with acoustic guitars are a taste of what the Mudheads can do, then I can’t wait to see the full effect with the 50% bonus of CJ the drummer and electric guitars. 

Roll on 24^th June!!

It’s disconcerting when a band, sat watching the performers going on before them, think….”flippin eck! We’ve got to follow this lot”. Disconcerting yes! but Unplugged and Not Dangerous caused that sinking feeling for me just last night at the Old Tavern in Stapleton. 

Bottom line, Kevin Skuse and son Yan with guest vocalist Kirsty as Unplugged and Not Dangerous are very VERY good. 

They are accomplished, competent and practiced musicians and they have a good choice of songs, both original and covers, including daring renditions of a song from Jesus Christ Super Star and even Tenacious D. Everything they play they do with an air of experience and good humour. 

Yan showcased a couple of songs of his own and he is proving to be an extremely creative song writer as well as a very competent musician….talk about a chip off of the old block.

As an act they are good at taking hold of the stage and keeping it. None of this ‘three minutes pratting about in between each song’ for these guys. You know the kind of thing. Chatting amongst the band members, drinking more than playing…the drummer disappearing for a whiz every three songs and the lead singer endeavouring to chat up anything in a skirt with a pulse. Unplugged and Not Dangerous (I wish they had chosen a shorter name) blended one song into another and the longest break they had was to change guitars. The phrase I am searching for is ‘PROFESSIONALISM’. They performed as a band that actually made their living out of it. 

Aaron & I felt that they kind of cheated when they produced Kirsty onto the stage. Not only is she easier on the eye than the rest of us, but her voice (reminiscent of Briana Corrigan from The Beautiful South) lent a real colour and depth to their set.

Unplugged and Not Dangerous take what they do, if not themselves, very seriously and as such provided an enjoyable event with a great light show and swapping instruments to give the various songs a different feel and edge. 

The whole of their set was thoroughly entertaining and by the time they got to performing Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ I was singing along like a good un! 

The Old Tavern is proving itself to be a fine venue and given time and local support will soon be up with the venues like The Bunch of Grapes. Unplugged and not Dangerous will have helped to have pushed the venue another rung up the music venue ladder. 

At the end of the set, Aaron (my partner in musical crime) turned to me and said” it’s not good, there’s no other way….we’ll have to break strings. 

The biggest compliment one musician can give to another is this…….I never want to follow them on stage again.