HW: BURG HERZBERG 17.07.2004

[Jon Jarrett]

On Mon, 26 Jul 2004, Henderson Keith wrote:

        <snipping most informative review, as I can't add anything to it
except to say, `yeah, who are Pothead?>

> Related to HW, Bevis Frond did headline Friday night, playing after
> Bari Watts' Outskirts of Infinity and Denmark's On Trial, and Adrian
> Shaw was outstanding on bass (as to be expected).  A second guitarist
> now, and a new drummer (from what I remember in the US four or five
> years ago).  And Jethro Tull was pretty darn good too, but it seemed
> weird for them to be there, all this big money and 'professionalism'
> (if you will) amidst a festival without any sense of 'sh*ttogetherness.'

        How were Outskirts of Infinity? I've seen them twice now, once
with a scratch line-up with Nick on bass and which was very loose but
quite a lot like seeing Band of Gypsies live, I'm guessing, and certainly
the closest I'll ever get. The second time Rick Gunther was doing his
first gig sober for twenty years, and this was an occasion for much
celebration, and I don't know who the bass player was but with him on
board the band was a completely different animal. The rhythm section just
muscled through everything at impressive speed, the tunes were all being
carried by the bass and Bari was left to go stratospheric for the whole
set. It was great, almost ideally designed for the way I hear music, lowe
registers from the neck down, guitar for the head... Anyway, since they as
far as I know haven't played between these two gigs, did they continue toi
kick arse or did I just catch them at the right time?

        The extra Frond members are Paul Simmons of The Alchemysts and one
of the many bands called Nova Express (this one having his girlfriend (I
think) on vocals and playing a kind of acid-fried Tori-type folk) as well
as Scorched Earth in the studio. I don't really think he does anything in
the Frond, except free Nick up to play more soloes, but I'd rather see
Nick pushed a bit, as he rallies wonderfully. The stage interplay is quite
good though. The new drummer, after Andy Ward's various problems became
sufficient to stop him from playing live, is a man called Jules Fenton and
I don't know what he does otherwise. He doesn't half hit things hard
though.

        I don't know what the line-up is on the new album, but given how
disheartened Nick seemed to be with the whole thing in the mail-out whith
which he announced it, we should all buy it and send him messages of
encouragement whatever it's like...

        Hope all that's information, anyway, yours,
                                                    Jon

ObCD: Clutch - _Transnational Speedway League_
--
                Jonathan Jarrett, Birkbeck College, London
    jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk/ejarr01 at students.bbk.ac.uk
  "As much as the vision of the blind man improves with the rising sun,
       So too does the intelligence of the fool after good advice."
       (Bishop Theodulf of Orleans, late-eight/early-ninth century)