I wanna tell you about Texas radio and the big beat.

In a brutally devoted tribute to the long running cycle of imitation between life and art, Sam Smith & Company have had more bass players than Spinal tap have drummers. The reality behind these tapesque line up changes is obviously a matter of pieces fitting together, rather than former members not being up to scratch… or bizarre gardening accidents. Our recent addition to the band however, Jack Farnworth has dived in head first and the results have been fantastic. My first encounter with Jack was finding out that he’d recently started following us on Twitter. He had the name of his current band Inego in his Twitter biog so I listened to them while I checked my emails. I really liked their stuff, it reminded me in parts of Saves The Day, but much rockier. While checking my emails I found one from Jack in response to the ad for bassists I’d put on gumtree. He missed a trick by not adding ‘If you want a sample of my playing, I’m in that band you’re dancing in your chair to now’ but I suppose nobody has that foresight. It was a while before we had the chance to organise an audition, but Jack was still keen to pay a visit to our rehearsal room and we knew straight away that the job was his. The practice went so well, that we decided that his first gig would be the Talbot, in Burnley the following week. The best part is that it was his idea! 

Tommy and Jack possibly bonding over learning an entire set in a week!

 So what now for Tommy, Our current bassist? In my last blog I gave kudos to him for covering on bass for such a long time. Sam's original plan was to have him on keys and third guitar, and now we can finally gig with that line up! Tommy is your standard musical genius, quiet until you put an instrument in his hands. As a guitarist I’m drawn to his style straight away. For a start he never uses a flat pick! Something I’ve tried on influence from many guitarists like Nils Lofgren, Robby Krieger or Wilko Johnson. I can't describe the little I've heard so far, so its probably best if found out for yourself! I’ve always shared the role of lead guitar with Sam, you’ve gotta step aside and let somebody else talk when they can say it better than you. So to carry on the metaphor, SSAC now come with three relentlessly stern negotiators. 

So onto the first gig as a five piece! We’ve been looking forward to this since we last played at the Talbot in Burnley back in January. Last time we took the stage to a tiny crowd we were a little worried. We were the first band on though, and we had never played there before, we can’t take that personally. They made a lot of noise between them though, cheering on every song. The Talbot is one of those rare pubs that CAN claim to be a music venue, they’re professional and their punters turn up just to hear something new! When we used to play in pubs all the time we got so sick of poorly run events, having to battle with shouted conversations yet still being expected to play a set. Thank you Talbot Wednesdays for fighting the good fight here!

Our second gig was no different, only it seemed the friends we made earlier in the year had been spreading the word! The set was well received and we made a bunch of new friends, how soon can you have us back? We only got chance to catch one other band on the bill, a fairly new band called ‘Stir-fry Weekends’. I enjoyed their set, as did the audience. They reminded me a lot of late 90s Pearl Jam, sneering vocal lines over a heavy rhythm. Adding those elements to your own sound gets you my stamp of approval, albeit one that doesn’t really hold any authority. Give these guys another month or two and they are going to be amazing.

Now those first four paragraphs linked together with a nice sense of structure. You know how I mentioned before that Tommy never uses a pick? Well neither does Robby Krieger of The Doors. Welcome to the fifth paragraph. A couple of weeks ago some very sad news broke, Ray Manzarek lost his battle with cancer and social media was full of tributes. I’ve given mine, so it’s probably more apt to talk about what The Doors mean to me. The relationship between Ray and Robby is the reason I love this band. Where one ends the other begins, literally. Rather than accompanying a solo with generic chords, they will play their own secondary lead parts, giving the whole ensemble texture. Listen to LA woman to see this band’s talent when it comes to arrangement. They bring colour to a song that is essentially the same chord throughout. The ‘conversation’ between guitar and keyboard during the ‘Mojo Rising’ bit is a fantastic example of everything I’m struggling to put into words here. One note to add to that though, sorry Robby but I tend to ignore you here, and jam my own parts with the late great Ray Manzarek. 

So to finish, reckon we’ll jump back to Camp SSAC. Well Sam has had a brilliant idea for a competition. If you don’t know the dealy yet, we’ll be putting pictures up from our Burnley gig all week. All you have to do is provide a caption and you could win a signed copy of our EP along with a T shirt. Some of them have been great so far, keep them coming!

 

In an effort to find Tommy shaped holes in the songs, Sam and Tommy have been working on arrangements. I had a nice little run for The Pouring Rain Is Bliss but they don’t want it, if you don’t do it guys, Sky will. I’ve been working on some slide parts for ‘Flapper Fold’, this has been happening since the song was written and I’ve never found anything that works. I’m doing my best, but the fact that Chris Gilman can’t give a song writer what he wants is frankly shameful. 

You can’t really end on a sentence like that, so let’s watch this video about why Ray Manzarek IS brilliant. 

All Photos taken by Andrew Wood at the Talbot Hotel, Burnley 5/6/13