Perfect Harmony For Bojangles
musictube June 14th, 2008
Ethan Thomas, twelve year-old Appleby Grammar School student and talented musician, took the stage first, with a set that for one of his age can only be described as excellent. With great potential for the future, Ethan is definitely somebody to look out for. Ethan’s set was pleasant with some Classic Blues, very capably performed, alongside some of his own songs which are well written and with some tweaks have the potential to make great chill-out tracks. Ethan’s guitar playing was good and his only hitch, a time-out for guitar tuning, gave the audience time to talk. Ethan’s vocal performance was strong with a fine melodic quality. Ethan is a young lad with a future; once he finds his direction, as singer songwriter, a guitarist like Clive Carroll or a session musician, he will do well in his field. You can check out more of Ethan Thomas at his web site or check out his youtube
On the whole, the night was a success with some audience members saying it was the best they’d yet
More videos can be found on PTV. Look forward to seeing you all at the next one on the 27th of July with Fiona Clayton. A good night is anticipated.
Some useful links:
www.bojangles.co.uk
www.phasinghz.co.uk
www.jonastral.co.uk
www.ethanthomasmusic.co.uk
Elfin beauty, vocal dexterity and powerful lyrics from Fiona Clayton at No.15
Classical fawn-like good looks and multi-faceted musical talent from Ben Mattinson
Fiona Clayton’s love songs and lilting ballads were ideal for the St.Valentine’s atmosphere Fiona Clayton performs ‘Your Face, My Bones’ at No.15Fiona has feisty, spirited vocals and an elfin charm, something of the sensitive innocence of Marianne Faithful and the fresh and quirky energies of Jewel plus a gunpowder-whiff of Sineid O´Connor in her ambience. She has been entertaining live since she was nine years old; singing first with BlueJam, Penrith’s community-based music group she and her friends then formed the band Soft Target and she later went solo. Not only does she have indisputable talent with the guitar and piano, but this “profound lyricist” has been known to write a song within half an hour of setting pen to paper. Her strongest subjects at school: English, Music and Art, all tie together nicely in her songwriting and singing.
Fiona Clayton’s ‘Soleil Soleil’Fiona has described her live performance as “surprising”, so mind that you don’t spill your drink the first time you hear her. She sees her music as “moments in song form” and the set was representative of this. There is a startling, riske quality about her work that runs throughout the apparent randomness and ecclecticism, there’s a good ration of creative surrealism involved too. Her image is very much reflected in her music. Fiona’s style, very much aimed at her own generation of music-lover is cutting-edge, sweet, passionate, charged with the vulnerable strength of youthful falsetto, breaky and full of acceptable flats, quavers and vibrato. It’s lively, experimental and rebellious with a squirrel-swift passage from octave to octave.
The crowd appreciated her set and it showed her own compositions off to fine advantage alongside a good cover. Beginning with ‘Your face, my bones’, sixteen-year old Fiona stood throughout her set holding her audience enthralled from the start, playing ten more songs including ‘Bring this back’, ‘You are’, ‘Even though’, ‘Soleil Soleil’, ‘Stray dog’, ‘Let Me in’, ‘Alice’, a great cover of Yael Naim’s ‘New Soul’ (sadly too tuneful for us to sing along to), her own ‘Good love’ and finally climaxing with her superb new song ‘Build a rocket’.
Fiona shouldn’t feel at all put out that none of us in the audience joined in with the chorus parts of ‘New Soul’ as invited, we just lacked the talent, not the will. There was only one song that showed some slight guitar stumbles and that was ‘Bring this back’, otherwise it was one striking performance after another. My personal favorites this evening were ‘Soleil Soleil’ - a very sweet romantic ballad and perfect for the Valentine’s mood, ‘Build a Rocket’ - a sweet and edgy love song that shows off her vocal agility really well and ‘Alice’ - a feisty number with a tune that swiftly carries you along with her hypothetical halucinating protagonist, through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole. Though asked for an encore she was concious of the time and yielded the floor to Ben Mattinson, one of northern England’s finest musicians. Fiona’s finale ‘Build a rocket’
Ben is a very likeable and unassuming young singer-songwriter from Carlisle. Ben started out on drums at 13 and moved on to guitar at 15 and then to singing his own songs at 16. Formal musical training and Church involvements have nurtured and polished his talents since then. In addition, his street busking experience has helped develop his ease of interaction. Ben is one of those rare and wonderful musicians who sound as good live as they do in the recording studio. Identifying Duncan Sheik as his main musical influence, Ben stresses the importance of alternative melodies, originality and uniqueness in his own music.
Ben Mattinson entertaining at No.15 on St.Valentine’s NightBen Mattinson showing what can happen when love goes up the ‘Garden Path’Ben Mattinson followed Fiona with a thirteen song set, that was his own bar two covers. He kicked off with a Plain White T’s cover ‘Hey there, Delilah’ and followed up with ‘Untitled’, ‘Under the ceiling’, ‘Over and out’, ‘Memory lane’, ‘Sunrise town’, ‘Thoughts of her’, ‘One thing’, ‘Myspace’, ‘People with guitars’, Quiet (a John Mayer cover), ‘Finish me’, ‘Insecure’. He finished up with two encores, his penultimate song ‘Pete’ is an upbeat and whimsical song written for a Zoologist friend of his, about a pet monkey and the simian condition and he finished with a powerful performance of his more serious song ‘One chance whispers’ which is about the challenge of making a good first impression on someone that you fancy, a fitting end to a very fine St.Valentine’s concert.Very apt for St. Valentine’s day, Ben Mattinson’s ‘Thoughts of her’
Ben’s entire set was punctuated with an amiable banter Sunrise Town On one level Ben provides excellent entertainment value and if you care to look deeper then you’ll find treasure in his lyrics. His mild throat infection in no way detracted from the lengthy performance which seemed casually immaculate with very fine vocals to match his polished guitar work. His entire set was punctuated with an amiable banter that warmed and informed his audience, giving the whole experience a tone of pleasant, easy intimacy.
Ben’s performance was casually immaculate with very fine vocals to match his polished guitar workThoughts about being indoors in ‘Under the Ceiling’It was a very happy St.Valentine’s in No.15. Many thanks to all those who made it happen.For up to date info about gigs and News sign up to the 
Bojangles - Appleby’s great new music venueYou might well find something extraordinary “Down the Road of the Cat Who Fished” in Paris, as Angie Palmer’s evocative ballad of that title suggests, and much the same can be said for a musical soiree at cafe 
Fiona Clayton enthralling her audienceWith her feisty, spirited vocals and elfin ambience, the sensitive innocence of Marianne Faithful meets the fresh and quirky energies of Jewel in Fiona, add a zesty sprinkling of Sineid O´Connor too and you have all the makings of a star. This Cumbrian starlet has been entertaining live since she was nine years old. Singing first with BlueJam, Penrith’s community-based music group she and her friends then formed the band Soft Target and she later went solo. Not only does she have indisputable talent with the guitar and piano, but this “profound lyricist” has been known to write a song within half an hour of setting pen to paper. It’s good stuff, too. Here’s a taste of it:“Good Love”“Good Love” is one of Fiona’s favorite songs, and is representative of her flair as a singer-songwriter.The WatershedExplicit! Who stands the crux? Fiona does with a powerful performance of her excellent song “The Watershed”. Fiona’s finale, a fine new composition keeps going through my head.Since February of last year I’ve seen her perform very well at Cafe No.15 in Penrith, at Appleby’s Avenue 67 Open Mic events and at The Nine Standards festival in Kirkby Stephen and though she always pleases the crowd, I think it is fair to say that her performances are gaining real strength over time. Live experience at the bigger events like Solfest and Nine Standards seems to be polishing her performance and building confidence nicely.
Fiona Clayton, stunning looks and great vocal agilityFiona began the show with a performance that was as stunning as her appearance and demonstrated far greater vocal agility and subtlety of volume control than I’ve seen in her previously, something else that was new to me was her playing with a pick. Standing performance suits her very nicely and she warmed up the crowd very well with music that was distinctively her own, plus a great cover of Joan Armatrading’s. She didn’t give us much banter between songs, but avoiding lesse majeste was perfectly in keeping with her opening act.Fiona’s style, very much aimed at her own generation of music-lover is cutting-edge, sweet, passionate, charged with the vulnerable strength of youthful falsetto, breaky and full of acceptable flats and vibrato, lively and rebellious with a squirrel-swift passage from octave to octave. It’s music with a lot to prove and when it achieves its aim it is very, very good indeed. Many of her songs have ‘hit’ potential. It’s wonderful to see and hear talent like this upspringing in Cumbria. For more details about Fiona please see her 
Angie Palmer has been dubbed the “uncrowned queen of English Americana.” It’s high time she was crowned!Angie Palmer followed with thanks to Fiona for a great opening set and then hit us with a superb set of her own. Angie’s musical talent is forged in the passionate fires of the sixties and seventies folk, blues and country-rock tradition and derives strength from long experience of live performance and the lyrical genius of Paul Mason, Angie’s poet-philosopher partner.Angie’s music draws from a wide range of influences, primarily the great singer-songwriter traditions of the ’70s (Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell etc.), she’s something of a “category killer” in the sense that her music isn’t confined by genre, her songs are appreciated by people who like folk, blues, and country. It surely encompases all these genres and iTunes defines some of her songs as pop. Many of her songs have been dubbed English Americana and as for authenticity, my wife says “If I were sitting on my porch in Louisiana listening to Angie’s ” Premonition Blues” on the radio, I wouldn’t guess she was British.” When she finished up with Janis Joplin’s “Mercedes Benz”, I was worried that someone might call in an exorcist! Janis may well be back from the dead here, but please don’t exorcise this spirit.With a twinkle in her eye, Angie broadly describes her work as “flexible folk” or “Alt Country” and she should know. Interestingly enough this latitude with genre is more traditional in France where Angie has lived and performed on and off since she was seventeen, than elsewhere, perhaps as Paul observes, because outside France people are often more concerned with whereabouts in a record store you can find the music.
Angie Palmer, excellent liveThere’s star power in Angie’s performance and for a venue of Bojangles’s intimacy she didn’t need the amplification - in fact with all the variety in her playlist she explains “what really defines my music is that I can do what I do without amplification” (apart from at her really big gigs like Montreux, obviously). She’s a very capable performer, equally at home playing house parties or up on stage in front of 3,000 fans at major music festivals.Her live performance is very dynamic and entertaining and she has a witty, easy going banter and her melodic voice is rich and deep, often with a decidedly sexy rough edge. She can do the same in French amazingly (the French ciggies help with her Janis Joplin gravel too), but she admits that she finds English repartee a lot easier! Her banter doesn’t just fill the vaccuum between songs either, she likes to inform and prime the audience for the next song to enhance their enjoyment of it, “people need clues to where the song is going”, she explains. The orientation all flows very naturally and helps with another defining characteristic of her music - the strong narrative element. This is serious music, clever and entertaining yes, with catchy tunes and roll-along rhythms, but it is all intelligent.
Angie Palmer, queen of English AmericanaHer set was all her own except the Janis Joplin finale and included: “The Ballad of Love and Strife”, “Less than I need you”, “Premonition Blues” - prime examples of what could be considered her trademark English Americana, two songs with slower tempo, “Satellite” also from her Road album, concerning how to ruin a relationship by doubting its integrity and “Down The street of the cat who fished” telling of some things that might possibly happen down such an exotic street. She took a request from the jovially boisterous table 7 crowd for “Footprints in the Snow” and gave us a wonderful preview taster of her forthcoming album, a brand new blues song titled “Five Lies”, just two days old, and very brilliant.Yes, we were spoilt rotten, the whole set was top-notch, oozing professional integrity and yet the show felt laid-back, frank and unassuming - nice. She has lovely vocal control, an unstoppable, powerful roll to her guitar play and she’s always on the move. My own favorites were: “Premonition blues”, “Five lies”, “Down the street of the cat who fished” and “Less than I need you”.
Who needs amplification? Angie doesn’t. Bojangles is a nice little venue, the atmosphere and sound quality were great, next time there’ll be some additional lighting too. That will help the photography - apologies for the darkish pictures this time, but flash kills atmosphere and The Juice is all about atmosphere.I was lucky enough to have a chat with Angie and Paul in the show’s afterglow and learned more about them and their amazing music. Theirs was a fairy-tale romance that has blossomed into a partnership of rare quality. Paul explained how they had first met in a cafe in Paris attending a philosophical salon, he a lecturer in European Philosophy at Manchester Metropolitan University researching the work of Jean Paul Satre, she an already talented busker and sufficiently fluent in French to help him participate in the forum. Paris wove its spell and destiny unfolded, yielding a singer-songwriter partnership that goes from strength to strength.Paul writes many of the lyrics and Angie puts it all to music, they spark off one another finding out what works and what doesn’t and maintain good quality control. Angie explains, “It’s hard to distance yourself from the creative process. It really helps to have a partner involved.”One of Angie’s favorite songs, “Down the street of the cat who fished” is an exemplary fruit of this partnership. Named after a real Parisian street (that in reality isn’t quite as salubrious or romantic as the name might suggest), each of the ten verses describe people that might be encountered there, King Lear, Echo and Narcissus, Adam and Eve, Romeo and Juliet and more besides. “The song is open text in the sense that it’s inhabited by the audience” Paul explains, “the text of the song knows more than I do”. Different listeners unravel new meanings and have their own insights. There are layers of allegory at work. It is mystery. Another favorite? Her latest work, in this case “Five lies”, because it has fresh novelty. It’s a song about the lies most commonly told between men and women. It is a magnificent throbbing blues number that suits her voice perfectly.They had no idea that their work would become famous Angie says, but always had “faith that something would happen”. Happen it did, in 2004. The fan base was there waiting for her, it was a matter of making herself known. Everything changed for the better when 
Angie was ecstaticSo was the audience. Angie’s music was well received. Paul identifies the bulk of her fan base as “a knowledgable and passionate demographic, people over forty who are music fanatics. They grew up in the 60’s and 70’s immersed in music and they still have vinyl. They’re still active and still buying music, but on CD now.”And that’s great because you can find find Angie Palmer’s CDs: Romantica Obscura (2001), Road (2004), Tales of Light and Darkness (2006) all under the Akrasia label, in the high street, in chain stores like HMV as well as in independent music retailers. They’re also on Amazon and iTunes and you can order CDs from their website or buy them at their gigs, so whatever your music purchasing M.O. might be, they have it covered! Her last two CDs made the long short-list for the Nationwide Mercury Prize. Furthermore Angie’s in the process of recording her next CD right now and if the power of “Five Lies” is anything to go by, then it should be another humdinger! Watch for it in two to three months.Alongside this fabulous music Bojangles offered a mouth-watering menu (their fish dishes are particularly good) and a broad range of drinks - it was a fine night out and happily there’ll be more musical evenings in store at this great venue. The intensely talented John Trengrove will follow up this success on February 29 with another evening to remember!
For more on Fiona Clayton see her 
For more on Angie Palmer see her 
