Editorial - May 2023

  by Admin

published: 26 / 5 / 2023

intro

Putting on a gig is always a risk. There is so much capacity for things to go wrong - that the drummer may get stuck in traffic and he and his drum kit may turn up only halfway through the sound check, or that the headline band

Putting on a gig is always a risk. There is so much capacity for things to go wrong - that the drummer may get stuck in traffic and he and his drum kit may turn up only halfway through the sound check, or that the headline band might break up on stage in an array of verbal abuse and swear words. We have had both in the past, but there was none of that in the three gigs we put on over three weeks in late March and the first half of April. just fantastic music. On the 25th March we presented a sold-out show at The Wee Red Bar in Edinburgh with The Bathers, the black watch and Stephen McLaren. We followed this by putting on the black watch again on the 31st March, this time at The Water Rats in London. on a bill sandwiched between Moon Under Water and Heist. We then concluded with a second sold-out show on the 14th April at The Wee Red Bar again with The Bathers, and this time The Cowboy Mouth as support. As a promoter, there were many highlights for me – Stephen McLaren concluding his set with a stunning, unorthodox version of Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’; getting to see L.A. band the black watch whose music has come to mean so much to me during the last year twice; becoming so lost in Heist’s music as they had done that we almost missed the curfew, and being able to offer The Cowboy Mouth their first Edinburgh gig. Two things, however, stood out in particular for me. At the first gig, an audience member who had just bought a Moon Under Water shyly asked if their frontwoman Audrey Eade, to her utter but pleasant shock, would mind signing a CD. She and they deserved it though. They rose to the occasion of playing their first London show since before lockdown. and were absolutely brilliant. At the second Bathers gig in particular, the audience stood and listened to them, absolutely transfixed, and in almost total silence – Not bad for a busy bar on a Friday night. That is all that you can hope, that people will listen and they certainly did at these three gigs in abundance. Thank you to The Bathers, the black watch, Stephen McLaren, Heist, Moon Under Water and The Cowboy Mouth. This edition of the magazine is dedicated to them with gratitude. As always, this magazine, however, has been brought together through the talents and enthusiasm of many people. Thank you to Kimberly Bright, Steev Burgess,, Malcolm Carter, Nicky Crewe, Julie Cruickshank, Nick Dent-Robinson. Anthony Dhanendran, Dave Goodwin, Zena Greig, Adrian Janes, Neil Kinsella, Richard Lewis, Eoghan Lyng Nige Nudds, Mark Rowland, Helen Tipping, Lisa Torem, Andrew Twambley, Philip Wark, Cila Warncke and Denzil Watson., all of whom contributed to this edition our April mini-update. Special thanks to our webmaster Richard Banks, without whom none of this would be possible. Please check out our regular Facebook and Twitter updates. We will be back in mid-May with a mini update and then in early June with a full edition, Thank you as always for reading Pennyblackmusic, John Clarkson Magazine Editor www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk