Samsa
admin December 3rd, 2006
By Andy Johnson
The final P&P of 2006 (but not of the season!!!) promised to be a great showcase for ex local band Samsa, who now reside in the Leeds area. Even the sound check sounded good with Samsas’ own sound-man Ian allowing P&P’s resident sonic guru Tom to take it easy with a few beers for the latter half of the evening once the open session had ended.
First up on the open session was Chris and Andy from rock band “3 mile smile” giving a blues feel to the proceedings with an instrumental version of “Torn, Tired and Broken” from their soon to be released EP, followed up with a 12 bar jam showing off both Chris’s excellent guitar work and Andy’s unscripted bass soloing when Chris’s guitar lead fell out!! Their web page www.3milesmile.co.uk has details of CD availability and back catalogue items. They were followed on stage by Rob Heron, playing songs off his album “Morning has come…”. “Answers”, “What do you want me to do?” by Mike Scott, and the title track “Morning has come…” all given a rousing reception from the audience with a well deserved call for an encore of “Make myself” again, from his album!! Check out his myspace page at www.myspace.com/robheronmusic for album sales, etc. Watch this bloke..he’s going places. Sound man Tom Corda-Stanley was then joined on stage by Chris Walker to give a taster of his new jazz EP “An evening with Gatsby” playing “Notes to a Gentleman on Leaving Through a Window” to an appreciative crowd. His myspace is www.myspace.com/lvhz where details his CD can be found. Just shows that the “Plug” bit in Plug & Play is just as relevant as the “Play” bit!!
After a short break the ever popular Lucy and Jamie Deakin took to the stage to give the audience a reminder of their unique take on Cello/Guitar duets. Starting with “Burleaves” and continuing through “Gremlin”, “Stepping Stones” and “Sasperilla” (dedicated to Lucy’s parents Keith and Jackie). Finishing off with a combined tune of “Hannah’s Tune/Apple Scrumping” to much applause from the audience.
Samsa divided their set into two distinct sections. The first being an acoustic set from Ollie showing off not only his excellent voice but also his subtle guitar playing to good effect. “He who dares” and “Ground Control” were among the songs played in this set, occasionally joined by Lucy on Squeeze Box to add another dimension to the already eclectic evening.
Then came the big ending…Samsa took to the stage in all their glory to give the audience what they came for. Kicking off with “Wasting Time” they went through their set list with venom. Good interplay between Ollie and the audience kept the tempo moving between songs (something that can be lacking in other groups). “Red Sky”, “First the Lights”, “Silence” and “Another Night” were all played with the professionalism you expect from this outfit. The metrognomic Jamie on drums kept everything tight and with Harry on bass (with broken thumb!) the rhythm section never wavered. Called back onstage for an enthusiastic encore, the evening finished off in great style with “Animals” giving the audience a great end to the gig.
Next up in January is Bob Fox (Big River, Sally Wheatley, etc)…Don’t miss.
Keep supporting this great venture by the VOLUNTEERS of Plug & Play to keep music live in Penrith…
Merry Chrimbly and a Hiccy New Year.