Reviews

mattsellors

Residents of Bath would recognise the first performer tonight who we shall call Al (basically because I don't know his last name!) as he can regulaly be seen strumming and singing at the top of the high street almost every day.

In fact the top of the high street is unofficially known as his little busking patch. So its from the street to the stage for this rather unassuming looking songwriter who played a short set of really enjoyable acoustic songs His songs tell a story and he uses clever wording in his lyrics. "Still thinking about you, not everyday but I do" and "when he cries so do I, he won't let the sun drift by" which he sung in the song 'Uncle Seymour Washington'.

The song 'Guitar Lessons' was also a good one followed by a big build up at the end. I'd be interested to hear some recordings of Al's songs. He has a very gentle and laid back almost folky voice and this makes him pleasing to listen to so go and give him a quid next time you see him busking!

The headline band were called Sellors & The Scientists and they were fantastic. Imagine Tom Waits playing reggae against a backdrop of funk. Not so unusual for Tom Waits but something I hadn't seen before. They consist of drums, bass, bongos, guitars and trumpet and were a really tight unit with huge amounts of energy.

As with The Whiskeycats last FRiday they had a packed audience who were up and dancing very quickly. They have the added bonus of having a good looking frontman with loads of stage presence and as mentioned a very cool and very different voice. He played a very gritty distorted guitar in between moving and dancing as he sang. Very animated in a very cool and natural way. The song 'Worry' was their first number and our first introduction to their 'big' sound. The dirty guitar blended fantastically with the fat bass which created a smooth groove immediatly.

The second number was inspired by Bob Marley although interestingly enough it was on this song that I real! ly picked up on the Tom Waits comparisons. The trumpet added a very sexy element which no doubt drew all the young ladies eyes even closer to the front of the stage and onto the dancefloor! The band played a couple of chilled out grooves that led into impressive improvs. Some of the time signitures were equally impressive and on one song the band stopped playing and sung some multiple vocal harmonies before building into a big climax. The song 'Personal Helper' contained a mental trumpet solo before leading into another chilled number with the lyrics "There's a killer on the road, he's coming for us all." The next song was dediacted to all the freshers before we had band introductions and their final song.

The frontman Matt was introduced as 'the man with 1000 voices'! An encore was of course played and the audience tried to call them back for a second one but by that point I think they'd played all their songs. A hugely successfull performance by a band that has just begun! branching out. If they play as well as this at every gig they will have a huge fanbase very quickly. Tight, original, energetic and a nice group of guys. Definetly onto a winner. In fact they'd be great for a Saturday night at Moles so keep your eyes and ears open!

To comment on this review or gig go to the forum section for this: Comment on gig or band

Ed Hutchinson