Friday 1 August 2014

Double Trouble Baxter Rock Out at Shop Session #5

Well it only seems like yesterday we had the first Shop Session and here we are half way through this musical year. So to celebrate we had a night of high energy ahead of us with some familiar faces and we couldn't wait..

The evening started with KwalaParla the first of a night packed full of duo's. KwalaParla is basically the name under which any of my own music goes out. This can be solo or a collaboration. Tonights version saw me team up with my nephew Ryan Bacon to perform a few tracks from an EP that we recorded early last year plus a Staind cover. As usual Ryan was ace floating around the guitar like it was just an extension of his anatomy and skillfully covering any mistakes I made :) So we enjoyed the start of the evening..
 
Vid Link


Self indulgence over..

The guest spot saw the return of the Shop Session's first featured artist Jonathan Tarplee but this time Jonathan was not alone he had teamed up with the amazing Daniel J Logan to fill his sound with percussive wonderment. The cool thing about Jonathan is his relaxed vibe just gets you on his side straight away. It was great to see & hear songs transformed with Daniel's subtle and engrossing rhythms while Jonathan effortlessly teased tunes out of his guitar. As I am sitting typing this I am listening back to Big Low Copper Moon and it just encapsulates everything that is great about Jonathan's sound. People just want to sway, join in and most importantly smile.

Vid Link
 
I will let you all into a secret although most of the music you read about here is acoustic singer/songwriter type stuff I actually grew up listening to full on plugged in rock & blues. So to say I was excited about seeing Baxter would be an understatement. Hayley Strangelove & Paul Senior are the composite members of Baxter and I had seen snippets of their Rock infused acoustic covers but not a full set. Right from the opening blast into The Black Keys 'Little Black Submarine' I knew this was going to be awesome..
 
Charlotte's Choice
 

Hayley & Paul individually are powerhouse vocalists and their voices complimented each other brilliantly as they passed through Rock to Grunge to Indie & Soul. Even though the music had been drawn by others the colours and the shades were definitely Baxter giving each familiar song a touch of something different to catch the eyes and the ears. I think the thing though that makes Baxter extra special is what's going on between the lines.. Maybe it was helped by the small intimate setting but you heard every quip and little interaction between Hayley and Paul which I can imagine might be missed in some of the noisier venues & this just connected the audience to the pair even more. I did at times find myself having to move away from the video camera so as not to be recorded laughing myself silly. My personal favourite from the evening was 'No One Knows' by Queens Of The Stoneage but it was a close run thing because I didn't stop smiling, singing and dancing behind the camera all night.





Vid Link




 
 
Now most people know I'm a bit sniffy about covers and this night has not helped because now if you don't do a cover as well as Baxter then you just shouldn't do it!!! My already high bar(as far as people doing covers goes) has been lifted by seeing versions of songs on this night that I preferred over the originals in a lot of cases so be warned if you are going to come and do a shop session and you're gonna do a cover just ask yourself 'Is it as good as Baxter?' not 'Is it as good as the original?'

You can find Baxter playing around Cheshire & Staffordshire at the moment & who knows maybe the world. Go and harass your local music venue to book them immediately your musical life will not be fulfilled until you have seen them.

For everything Baxter go to the facebook or twitter feeds
https://www.facebook.com/baxterduo?fref=ts
@baxterduo

Jonathan Tarplee can be found here..
http://www.blueyellows.co.uk/

And the equally amazing ;0) Dan Logan can be found via Orchard Studios as well
hosting a very cool open mic night at The Railway Inn Alsager Monday's at 8pm
http://www.orchardstudios.co.uk/news/?p=118
https://www.facebook.com/danieljloganmusician?fref=ts
http://www.thedanloganshow.co.uk/#home

You can keep an eye on Ryan Bacon drumming and guitar awesomeness on his youtube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/ryanjules1

And finally (Self Indulgent Plug again ;]) KwalaParla free EP can be downloaded from Soundcloud
https://soundcloud.com/kwalaparla/sets/our-own-world-ep-1

For a list of the upcoming Shop Sessions..
http://www.thecyclejunction.com/blog/?page_id=1447

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