Christian Bland - (and the Revelators) Musician, Leicester, 24/9/2014

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 14 / 11 / 2014

intro

Anthony Strutt finds compelling Black Angels guitarist Christian Bland's side project the Revelators' brand of psychedelia at a gig at the Musician in Leiester on their first UK tour

Christian Bland and the Revelators are only playing three tour dates on this,their first UK tour, and all the places they play start with a L. There is London (no surprise there!), Leicester at the Musician and then they are going up to Liverpool for a psychedelic festival. Christian is no stranger to these shores as his day job is as lead guitarist with Austin's the Black Angels, whom, since they formed in Austin, Texas in 2004, have released four albums and toured Britain as well as back home many times. They play tonight as a very tight four piece without glitz or glamour. The Musican is a venue that lets band play their music with that in mind. There may be no glamour here, but they have a decent sound system and lights. It can often get crowded here, but, while tonight is a gig I have been looking forward for a while, sadly Leicester hasn't as the head count isn't high. Christian Bland and the Revelators have recorded three albums to date. Only two are on sale tonight. 'The Lost Album' from 2010 isn't here and from my research is only on vinyl, This was followed by 'Pig Boat Blues' in 2012 and the just released 'The Unseen Green Obscene', which has been recorded over a two year period. Bland, who both sings and plays guitar, and his band which consists of bass player Luke Dawson, organ player Chris Catelena whom wears a big hat and drummer Bob Mustachio, play a short set of just under an hour of twisted old school psychedelia. His distorted vocals twist around the reverbation of the odd chords. On record as well, this doesn't sound like something that was released this year, but something that came out back in 1967 or 1968 which is a hard thing to get right. Although Paisley-flavoured, this doesn't have the catches of silliness that is sometimes attached with that movement. They play tight songs that could have easily been passed out by bands like the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and the Seeds. On the new album, there is a tribute to Syd Barrett, 'Syd Barrett's Blues' and when they play some covers of some of the tracks from Pink Floyd's debut album, 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn', it all clicks as this is their true spiritual home and where their heart is. I couldn't wait to open the beautiful coloured vinyl LPs I bought on his stall when I got home. A dated gig, but for the best of reasons.

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