it’s been a magical week for Bruise. 3 gigs, the first at Eltham Folk Mob which was a RARE traditional folk set. These songs normally get sung in the privacy of our own living room, for our own pleasure, but very occasionally we get together with Gary Southwell to perform a traditional folk set and this is where Jim and I show our roots. Unfortunately Gary was unable to make this short tour at the last minute so Jim and I fulfilled the bookings with our hearts in our mouths, and what a reception we got. The crowd roared their appreciation as we sang songs of sailors and ramblers and maidens in distress. I played the ukulele primarily but picked up my guitar to accompany Jim as he sang lead. (Yes, that’s a surprise isn’t it! I’m sure you can imagine he has a beautiful manly voice and delivered ‘The Fair Flower of Northumberland’ admirably.) Also my new toy a ‘shruti box’ made it’s first appearance. I loved singing ‘The Humpback Whale’ along to it’s strong throaty drone. We were blown away by the reception and truly touched when for an encore the crowd demanded ‘Silvertown’ an original tune. It was a privilege to perform one of Bruise’s songs in the company of such historical material and I was moved to hear the Folkmob crowd singing along.
The next day we drove down to Burnham on Sea’s Ritz Acoustic Club. They had booked A Murder of Rooks (our traditional folk spin-off) on the strength of last years appearance at The Brunham on Sea Folk Festival. We were all loved up after Folkmob and a beautiful drive, where even the Stroud/Reading stretch of the M4 lifted our hearts with bare black trees full to bursting with mistletoe in the fading winter sun. Sound check in the refurbished art deco cinema was a breeze courtesy of Graham and his solid sound set up, and when Jim and I arrived all duded up for the performance we were greeted by a full room and quality floor spots. A generous reception from this room, we were grateful for the memory of the night before and we performed many of the same songs. I felt a genuine rapport between us and the audience, and my favorites from the night were, again, ‘The Humpback Whale’, our encore ‘Jock Stewart’ but particularly the last few songs ‘Cam-Ye-Oer Frae France’, Erin-Go-Bragh’ and ‘Hal and Tow’ which raised rapturous applause. Thank You Burnham on Sea! We’ll see you in September :o)
We concluded our weeks travels with a trip down to Whitstable and despite being 4 hours early for our appearance and the ensuing confusion we were itching to get on. A fairly full room quickly filled to bursting as we played our first set. It was glorious to be behind my Stratocaster again and to be standing tall next to Jim and his drum kit. We had crammed in a rehearsal the day before so we were crisp and sharp, feeling great, sounding great. Some folks had made the trip from London to catch this set (thank you Keith and Jacqui) and we were warmly welcomed by the Whitstable posse. It was bliss, it was sublime. The bloody joy of Jim’s drumming and my rhythm guitar, the utter pleasure of singing, with the notes of gentle folk concerts in the back of my mind, we tore the place apart. Couples agog at the sounds we were creating, individuals dancing unfettered. The songs reigned supreme and I glowed with joy and perspiration. 6 encores, count them SIX. This was glorious, for all the appreciation, for all the applause I bow my head. Whitstable you rock and it is our pleasure to Rock You! X
