The Shop Session gigs are basically a totally unplugged gig in a Bicycle Shop with a featured artist & a guest artist. In the main the guest artist is someone who will be playing a featured spot later on in the year. This serves two purposes firstly it makes sure the quality of the music stays high as well as giving people a taster of what a great night they are in for when the guest comes back.
This months guest artist was the superb Darren Poyzer which meant we were going to get a glimpse of his lovely heartfelt storytelling style of songwriting.
To kick proceedings off there was a little bit of noise from moi basically to get peoples hands fully warmed up for clapping in appreciation of Darren & Jo and root out the rhythmically challenged amongst us. Then it was time to introduce Darren.
Immediately you could tell Darren's connection with the audience was going to work well in this cosy venue as he encouraged a bit of playful banter before introducing his first song of the night 'Rewarded for violence'. Darren has a lovely style which draws you into his story with some deft touches on the guitar and a voice that conveys his message perfectly. I personally really enjoyed Darren's song 'Sunday Morning Footballer' which was the first of two songs he played in the second half of the evening, it's such a lovely and interesting story you just want to soak it in. So as you can tell we're definitely looking forward to seeing Darren back here in June to do a full featured set. It will be ace, you would be mad to miss it!!
Vid Link
Hold on....
I won't be a minute....
Ah right here it is...my dictionary. I need to start searching out some more superlatives before I write about Jo Bywater's music again ;]
Actually I've just found a list online & I'm loving 'most immense' but I might have to tag the word 'dude' onto it. Anyway on with the show(or blog).
Well I have lost count how many times I have seen Jo Bywater play but this was going to be a bit different because this time it was totally unplugged so we would hear the raw sound untouched by electronic wizardry & dark doings. Jo kicked off her first half set with 'Disclaimer' which is the first song from her 2010 album 'Cycle Grace Pulse Break' (I still have to check the album title everytime I mention it. Gonna ask if I can have a one word 'Title for dummies' with Jo's next album ;] maybe just in the small print to stop me mixing up or totally missing some of the words). Even though I've seen this performed quite a few times I'm still mesmerized watching Jo playing the guitar & the thing that really struck home was that the vocal didn't lose any potency without the Jiggery Pokery of a soundman adding reverb or any other dark magic. The guitar playing in this environment really worked well as Jo has a pretty aggressive attacking style for someone who plays the acoustic guitar and the sounds crafted from the lovely Taylor really filled the room.
Charlotte's Choice
By the time 'Smokescreen' came to an end I was in a musical world of my own, the spell only being briefly broken as Jo told the audience that although the song she was now singing was called 'Fast Ant' the pace of the song made it sound like a meandering ant. Little breakouts to interact with the audience like this are making these shop sessions a really special and personable place to watch these fantastic artists :) Even now I am noticing new things everytime I listen to Jo Bywater play and during this performance I found myself enjoying the percussive side of the performance you could hear the prominence of the strikes and the foot taps to add a much deeper sound to the whole thing. 'Ropeladder' was a great example of the percussive sounds that were being produced. I think the highlights of the two sets that Jo did were the new songs (to me anyway as 'One small step' is an old song I'd not heard before) One small step & Silence Changed. I love hearing new songs and it was great to hear a song that had only been performed half a dozen times or less. During the 2nd set Jo swapped to a Gretsch resonator playing slide and what a sound. I've been really enjoying the direction of music on the latest EP from Jo 'Chasing Tales' (Didn't need to check the title of this one ;]) it's full of bluesy slidey goodness and it was wonderful to see it performed a few feet away in all it's glory. The night finished on a high with a 'most immense' tune (see what I did there dude ;]) Wave which is the last song on the album 'Cycle Grace Pulse Break' (If I keep typing it I'm bound to remember at some point). 
Vid link (With Jo kicking our pet tambourine. It's like a lemming with bells on)
A very big thankyou to Jo Bywater & Darren Poyzer for making it another memorable & wonderful night of acoustic music & also the people in the audience who always add to an interesting and magical evening.
A list of the upcoming Shop Sessions can be found here..
For the story telling magic of Darren Poyzer head to.
And finally for Acoustic slidey bluesy wonderment & probably one of the coolest people you could learn guitar from go to..
