Rainbow Girls at Norwich Arts Centre

I admit I was a little sceptical and unsure what to make of Rainbow Girls, a female five piece formed in California five years ago. I immediately thought of sunshine, beaches, surf, then San Francisco and the Summer of Love, and finally Hollywood, Los Angeles and all those manufactured bands like Josie and The Pussycats. Was this going to be merely a pre-packaged surfing/hippy/high school prom band sent over to Europe to sell a few records and posters?

Well, first lets correct a few things. Firstly, they are not the product of a large studio or record label. Although they are from California and began by busking around Santa Barbara, they crossed the pond, sofa-surfed their way around Europe writing songs and playing wherever they could. They signed to a specialist agency in the UK called Blue House Music, home to amongst others Marty O'Reilly, Raevennan Husbandes, Lewis and Leigh, and The Black Feathers (all of whom have played the Norwich Arts Centre) as well as Norfolk's own The Vagaband. They have released two albums, both crowd-funded, and although not yet world famous they have headlined their own show at San Francisco's famous Fillmore. Now down to four members after Cheyenne Methmann left for pastures new, they are back in the UK touring before returning to California in October.

Any band that gets to return to Norwich Arts Centre must have made a good impression first time around, and judging by the number of repeat ticket sales they must have made an impressive debut here last year. They are no showbiz divas either, and can be seen mixing with the audience during the support act's set and whilst setting up the stage. They greet photographer Richard Sashamane like an old friend, and he gets a special shout-out later on in their set.

Local favourites 'Feral Mouth' kick off the evening, well four of them anyway. Dobro player Noel is missing, and frontman Jape is sporting a baseball cap and leaving his familiar vaping trail. Banjo player Gareth appears to have lost his trademark John Deere cap. Maybe it is being used elsewhere in the county by a hard-working combine harvester driver. Amazing set as ever, and their last appearance in Norwich this year, apparently.

Rainbow Girls receive a big welcome on stage, and within a few minutes I realise why so many have returned to see them a second time. Their stampy style of folk rock, infused with elements of gypsy, americana, funk, soul and good old rock and roll are just the sort of thing a Norwich audience loves. Great playing, beautiful vocal harmonies, and a ramshackle stage banter and a succession of line-up changes that may not always be slick but is always endearing. These are obviously not just great musicians, but great friends also. 'Yuba', from the new album 'Perceptronium' was written on hearing the news that Cheyenne was leaving the band, and displays the bond that clearly still exists between them all. Yes, they are all good looking girls, but it is the musicality and 'joie de vie' that they exude that impresses the most. The track 'No Girls Allowed', again from 'Perceptronium', reinforces the message that all the years of talented female musicians struggling to be taken seriously is now hopefully now a phenomenon of the past.

Good luck to Rainbow Girls. I arrived without high expectations, but left suitably impressed. Catch them if you can before they return Stateside. For a list of upcoming gigs, or to buy the albums, check out their website at http://www.rainbowgirlsmusic.com/


Likewise, for information and music from Feral Mouth, go to http://www.feralmouth.bandcamp.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/FeralMouthStringBand

Bavaria, Brass and Beer with 'LaBrassBanda' in Norwich

'A night of brass and beer' is how the Norwich Arts Centre programme described Friday night's musical event, with two of my favourite local bands, Feral Mouth and Killamonjambo, heating up the stage in preparation for special guests LaBrassBanda. 

Now I have to proffer an apology for being woefully unfamiliar with LaBrassBanda before turning up on Friday night, although that has never previously stopped me from having a good time. Sometimes it is the band of whom I know least that ends up impressing me the most. But the more I found out about LaBrassBanda, the more I felt that I should have been more aware of them.

Originally formed by five friends in Bavaria in 2007, LaBrassBanda has evolved into a 'Volksmusik' phenomenon that has played to tens of thousands of music lovers at festivals all over Europe. They have released five albums, the last two, 'Europa' and 'Kiah Royal', both making the top four in the German album charts. Although two of the founder members have since moved on, the band has now swelled to eight, creating an impressive wall of brass on a festival stage in front of thousands. Tonight they are squeezing themselves onto the more modest stage of the Norwich Arts Centre.

But before the excitement of witnessing genuine Lederhosen on a Norfolk stage, we have the pleasure of 'Feral Mouth', a legend of more local proportion.

Feral Mouth

Formed in Norwich five years ago, Feral Mouth bring together a group of six musicians with a knack of adding a contemporary edge to the traditions of old time country and bluegrass. Using banjo and steel guitar alongside cello, drum and double bass, they never fail to impress with their commitment to keeping the 'folk' in 'Norfolk'. A 'band's band', they seem to know everyone on the local music scene, and were last seen at NAC bringing the Addison's Uncle album launch to a stomping climax back in January. 

Killamonjambo need no introduction to anyone 'au fait' with the Norwich music scene. Seven lively characters with a love of reggae and ska that exude endless energy on stage, as well as a knack of losing their shirts before the end of the opening number. Real showmen as well as displaying an authentic love for the music, it was great to hear news of their new recording deal that now links them to a major label. In the meantime, their album debut 'Fiesta Moon Landin' remains available for recreating that sweaty ska-funk atmosphere within your own sitting room.

Killamonjambo

In fact, it is partly as a result of the Killamonjambo boys that LaBrassBanda are here tonight, the two bands having bonded over a few steins at a previous reggae festival across the water, and the Bavarians are already on stage for the KJ's final number, swelling the number of musicians onstage to Barclay-busting proportions.

But it's time to change into those Lederhosen and T-shirts for the climax of the evening as Stefan Dettl, looking uncannily like a Bavarian Keith Lemon, leads his band onstage for an hour of unrivalled fun, oom-pah, techno, reggae, funk, folk and punk, and any other genre of music that it is humanly possible to play with brass band instruments accompanied by bass guitar and two percussionists.

Dettl is quick to ingratiate himself to his Norfolk audience, initially claiming to speak only Bavarian, but soon having the whole floor choreographed into an eight-step 'Soul Train' dance move, re-creating his childhood wish to be the 'white kid' from KC and The Sunshine Band. The reggae number 'I Love The Batty Man' is the LBB secret weapon against homophobia with the wonderful hook-line, 'Batter my banana' A tongue-in-cheek brass medley of German Top 40 hits spins from 'Rock Me Amadeus' to '99 Red Balloons', but has the audience joining in and giving it large.

A final treat for the Norwich Arts Centre crowd is a mingled finale with all eight members of the band down on the floor performing as one with the audience. A wonderful end to a wonderful evening, and grateful thanks to the promoter Paul Wilson from WRR for pulling off such a coup for Norfolk music lovers.

That's 'V for Volksmusic' from LaBrassBanda's Stefan Dettl

Batter My Banana! - LaBrassBanda loves the Batty Man

'I'd Like to Tell a Story' about Addison's Uncle Album Launch at Norwich Arts Centre

Philip Pearson is Addison's Uncle

Acoustic, folk, indie? The boundaries that once separated fans of different types of music have blurred considerably since I was a teenager. The success of acoustic bands like Mumford and Sons, and solo artists like Ben Howard and Lucy Rose, seem to have spread the appeal of acoustic right across the musical spectrum.Which is great. A distant cry from the time when folk bands of the day, like Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, played only to real-ale drinking purists, the country and westerners stayed locked firmly within their hoedowns, and the rockers wore platform boots and sported makeup, and glitter in their hair.

Funnily enough it was punk rock that smashed the cosiness of musical tribalism, and not long after that rules were laid down which basically allowed anybody to have a go at anything, with or without musical experience. This redefining of the process of achieving fame, or notoriety, may have been a universal leveller, but it does not take long for the wheat to separate from the chaff, and for the quality to float to the surface. Since then, good music has been available and appreciated in a much more egalitarian manner, and it can now be cool to follow jazz, country, metal and rap all at the same time, without having to tie one's colours to just one mast.

One of the best things to come out of this new dawning of musical appreciation is that it is now definitely cool to enjoy acoustic music, regardless of whatever else you might have in your CD collection or on your iPod. And, as an added bonus, acoustic music sounds great in a pub, fantastic in a converted church like Norwich Arts Centre, and amazing on the main stage at a festival. In fact, anywhere.

One of the best of Norfolk's 'new wave' of acoustic bands is Addison's Uncle, whose debut album 'I'd Like to Tell a Story' was launched at Norwich Arts Centre last night.

Fronted by Nottingham-born Philip Pearson, who literally became Addison's uncle when his brother became a father, the band has grown out of a mutual love of folk music, and acts as a palette for a variety of accompanying instruments and voices to complement Pearson's songwriting, guitar playing and vocals. The result is a richness and depth that can instantly switch from the 'stampy' crowd-pleasing of 'B1159', describing the 'alternative' route out of Norfolk from Great Yarmouth, to the poignant reflection of 'Uncommon Ground', born out two brothers separated by vast distance, or 'Lost At Sea' which remembers the Horsey fisherman lost in the 1953 floods rescuing fellow villagers from the tidal surge.

Shaped and formed with the assistance and the musical input of violinist Georgia Shackleton and the arrangements of banjo player and fellow guitarist Aaren Bennett, all eleven songs on the album are crafted pearls that are unmistakably Norfolk, yet with universal appeal.

Understandably, the album launch night was completely sold out, but those who did get in were treated to a jubilant set that included all the favourites, followed by a rip-roaring collaboration as the excellent support band from Lincolnshire 'The BeauBowBelles' returned to the stage to join in a frenetic rendition of one of my favourite tunes of all time 'The Devil Goes Down to Georgia'. The unapologetic pop classic, the Mumfords 'Little Lion Man'  is chosen as an encore, 'just as an excuse to be able to swear on stage' and gave the crowded floor one last chance to get 'stampy', before Addison's Uncle left the stage to celebrate, and begin their own after-show party, courtesy of local favourites 'Feral Mouth' who kept the Arts Centre reeling until almost midnight.

Video for 'B1159'

The album is available on i-TTunes, although if you are lucky (and quick!) you may be able to get one of these limited edition CD/DVD versions with the 'Live at Festival Too' performance from Kings Lynn as a bonus disc.

Addison's Uncle website