OFF: Judge Trev on Cosmic Puffin bill

[Christian Mumford]

Not unlike that, no. 

> Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 17:37:21 +0100
> From: judge48 at HOTMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: OFF: Judge Trev on Cosmic Puffin bill
> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
> 
> What, you mean my stance and body are a bit like Muhammad Ali...the great 
> boxer?
> Yes, I have to agree with you there Christian
> 
> Trev
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Christian Mumford" <royalistradio at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 4:04 AM
> To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
> Subject: Re: OFF: Judge Trev on Cosmic Puffin bill
> 
> > thats some funny shit trev.... i think you stand out nicely and fit in 
> > with the "Ali" period rather well.
> >
> >> Date: Fri, 8 May 2009 03:53:47 +0100
> >> From: judge48 at HOTMAIL.COM
> >> Subject: Re: OFF: Judge Trev on Cosmic Puffin bill
> >> To: BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET
> >>
> >> There, I've added all the stuff you left out (in brackets) and a pic of 
> >> me with the starfighters
> >> trev
> >>
> >> --------------------------------------------------
> >> From: "Jonathan Jarrett" <jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK>
> >> Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 9:02 PM
> >> To: <BOC-L at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>
> >> Subject: Re: OFF: Judge Trev on Cosmic Puffin bill
> >>
> >> > On Mon, Apr 06, 2009 at 09:32:41PM +0100, trev typed out:
> >> >> Judge Trev, the legendary Inner City Unit guitarist, has now been 
> >> >> added to
> >> >> the bill of the Cosmic Puffin festival, Essex, this week-end.
> >> >>
> >> >> http://www.cosmicpuffin.co.uk
> >> >>
> >> >> He will be playing with his acoustic duo Trev and Kev, opening 
> >> >> Sunday's
> >> >> events.
> >> >
> >> > That would be the perfect cue for a review, really, wouldn't it? After 
> >> > all if I don't do one, Trev will set Mike on me for
> >> > using second-hand vinyl mailers...
> >> >
> >> > Mersea Island is a lovely little place, about three miles of flat land 
> >> > linked only by a tidal causeway to the rest of Essex.
> >> > However, my companion and I didn't really see this till Saturday 
> >> > morning of a festival that started Friday night, because a twenty-
> >> > minute delay at the point of departure turned into an hour's delay at 
> >> > the station turned into a two-hour one at the mercy of First
> >> > buses and, to cut a long story short, we arrived in the dark, on foot, 
> >> > much to the surprise of the organisers who seemed (odd for
> >> > hippies) to expect everyone to come in by car. Or at least by van. 
> >> > Anyway, there we were, having followed the sound of music down the
> >> > unlit road, and once we had the tent out and being set up I recognised 
> >> > `Ejection'. It turned out to be The Starfighters 
> >> > http://www.realfestivalmusic.co.uk/jt.html
> >> (with judge trev) doing it, and
> >> > although I never actually *saw* them I think they won the title of best 
> >> > Hawkwind covers band playing the festival, and there was
> >> > actually a lot of competition for this. I would not see Xenon Codex or 
> >> > Assassins of Silence again, in fact I avoided them this time
> >> > too, but The Starfighters sound like a tight band having fun with songs 
> >> > they love, and would be worth a look if you're feeling short
> >> > of Hawkness and they're down your way.
> >> >
> >> > By the time we actually got to the place where the bands were however 
> >> > the Starfighters had disappeared, and a very lively
> >> > groove was being kicked up. I ran into Kozmik Ken outside the tent and 
> >> > after some catching-up he let slip that the band in question
> >> > was House of Thandoy, Mike Howlett's current outfit, so I dashed in to 
> >> > see, and they were being very good indeed. Basil Brooks on
> >> > synth added more to the look than the sound a lot of the time, but 
> >> > Mike's bass never stopped its stuttery Primus-like urgency, and the
> >> > guitarist several times locked in step with him in really quite complex 
> >> > patterns while the drummer was just enjoying everything. As I
> >> > was just saying about Zone Six elsewhere, this is a jamband that can 
> >> > recover when something runs out of speed, and I was very glad to
> >> > have caught them even for only part of a set.
> >> >
> >> > The pattern of things was that there was a hall inside the place, which 
> >> > was notionally sound-proofed, and there the organisers
> >> > had a late music license and they played till two or so; outside there 
> >> > was a much larger marquee where they had an eleven o'clock
> >> > curfew. The site was busy enough but all weekend I never saw that 
> >> > marquee full, and the PA had trouble making it sound nice when there
> >> > weren't people to fill the room. It must have echoed something awful as 
> >> > well. The quiet acts had a better time of it than the loud
> >> > ones, but the loud ones all sounded a bit compressed, as if only the 
> >> > mid-range was really delivering any punch. Sound inside the hall
> >> > was fine but sadly the bands in there weren't usually the ones I wanted 
> >> > to see. In the marquee, also, except with the very quietest
> >> > acts the soundman had to turn up the vocals with every single band. It 
> >> > would usually take him a song and a half to make them audible,
> >> > and some people might have realised this was a problem with the rig and 
> >> > compensated. As it was no band really got a strong start
> >> > because of this dozy response to the acoustics. I'm sure it's not easy 
> >> > but it annoys me to see bands I care about doing their best and
> >> > not being able to reach anyone because someone else messed up.
> >> >
> >> > Now I've realised in trying to put this together that I can no longer 
> >> > remember what bands played in what order, and there was
> >> > never anything as helpful as a running order on the web (my gods the 
> >> > website's useless. Colourful, but useless) so I will just have to
> >> > give you highlights as they occur to me. Given that, I may as well make 
> >> > Trev happy for a minute by remembering that either on the
> >> > Saturday or the Sunday, after almost no or only some sleep 
> >> > respectfully, I still made it out of bed to go and see Trev and Kev 
> >> > (fat bastard)first
> >> > thing. Trev had warned me to expect `comedy', but aside from the 
> >> > essential comedy involved in trying to play punk songs on an
> >> > acoustic--well, I say `trying' but that implies he didn't manage, 
> >> > whereas he did and it was good--the main comedy dynamic here appears
> >> > to be that Trev tries to play some songs, and Kev (fat bastard) tries 
> >> > to stop him by insulting him. Insults are returned, Trev starts playing 
> >> > and
> >> > then Kev (fat bastard)decides he may as well join in either on backing 
> >> > vocals, harmonica or noise-box. There was also a genuine synth player 
> >> > very
> >> > quietly contributing to some numbers but he seemed to get fed up with 
> >> > Kev (fat bastard) and give up halfway through. Kev (fat bastard) also 
> >> > seemed to give up
> >> > halfway through, and by the end was trying to do all his accompaniment 
> >> > using one key. "All Trev's songs sound the same," he said,
> >> > "I bet this note'll fit right in." It actually did, as well... Anyway, 
> >> > though it may not sound it, it was fun, and once you've woken
> >> > up to the sounds of `Watching the Grass Grow' on an acoustic, you're 
> >> > probably well prepared for some light-hearted backchat and
> >> > musical irreverence. Other songs that got the treatment were `Folsom 
> >> > Prison Blues', `Ghost Riders in the Sky', and a version of
> >> > 'Master of the Universe' mashed up with a Madonna song whose name I've 
> >> > already forgotten (beautiful stranger). Trust me, it needed doing. 
> >> > There were lots
> >> > more but being forced to recall Kev's (fat bastards) beard has thrown 
> >> > me off the track. It all only holds up because Trev can (a) play most 
> >> > songs at
> >> > the drop of a hat and (b) is used to playing with people who can't play 
> >> > the ones they know however many hats you drop, but given those
> >> > two facts, it was a good way to start the day.
> >> >
> >> > I'm sure Nukli weren't next, but they weren't far off it, and they were 
> >> > certainly notable. I remember Nukli from the days of
> >> > Delerium Records as one of the legendary festi bands Richard Allen 
> >> > basically pursued around the country until they agreed to give him
> >> > an album. He must have found this easier with Nukli than with Omnia 
> >> > Opera because Nukli don't seem to have stopped for very long,
> >> > ever, and of the bands I saw I reckon Nukli would have to be the best 
> >> > in terms of what they were able to play and how much they seemed
> >> > to enjoy doing so. The only one I knew, `Inner Days' from the Delerium 
> >> > sampler, sounded a bit odd without the sound effects, but I'd
> >> > never really thought before that actually it's a fairly complex piece 
> >> > of music with lots of different parts and they just played it
> >> > through as if it was easy and obvious good fun to jump around like 
> >> > that. Playing as a three-piece, with a drummer (trading under the
> >> > name of Peter Out) who would have won any 
> >> > guess-the-oldest-geezer-on-the-site competition but played like it was 
> >> > all in an afternoon's
> >> > workout, 
> >> > guitarist/keyboardist/flautist-and-I'm-pretty-sure-he-played-other-things-too 
> >> > singing (and he would have won the *hairiest*
> >> > geezer competition), and a bassist, all just having a good time playing 
> >> > very proggy space-rock at a fair old lick. In sum, I
> >> > would say they are worth catching. If they'd been in a dark club with 
> >> > lights and a full-time synthist they'd be a spectacle and a
> >> > half, but as it was they came over like jazz-prog workmen who loved 
> >> > their job. If you don't know their stuff think, a lighter jazzier
> >> > Nektar with more aliens and hippy cliches. Another thing I'd say in 
> >> > their favour is that whereas most other bands came and went on the
> >> > day they were playing or else sprawled around smoking and chie-iking 
> >> > the two Nukli stringsmen were in every audience I formed part of
> >> > over the festival, anxious to see what everyone else was up to and 
> >> > dancing where appropriate. They did feel like the festival's
> >> > resident band by the end.
> >> >
> >> > Nukli mainly made it through the lame sound OK though I suspect they'd 
> >> > usually have a bit more meat to their riffs. Bruise
> >> > on the other hand suffered somewhat. I became a Bruise convert the 
> >> > first time I saw them about this time last year, and since then
> >> > I've seen them a few times and know they can have better gigs than they 
> >> > got this time. In part this was because what is sometimes a
> >> > two-piece of singer-guitarist and drummer this time had their bassist 
> >> > along, thinking I guess to fill more outdoor space but actually
> >> > only slowing themselves down and making what should have been an 
> >> > electric performance slightly flat of batteries. Isobel's voice
> >> > wasn't quite there even once it was at full volume, just the edges 
> >> > bleeding off into the tinny PA, her guitar couldn't fill the
> >> > whole tent with what it was playing through, and the rhythm section 
> >> > seemed to have both slowed down for each other. My companion liked
> >> > them but I wished they'd had a better chance at it.
> >> >
> >> > Who else? On the Saturday, playing inside, were a band of whom I knew 
> >> > nothing called Grooveweird whom I would cheerfully see
> >> > again, heavy dubby trance type rhythms fronted by a girl who played a 
> >> > variety of wind instruments without much effect or imagination
> >> > but who thankfully couldn't spoil her fearsomely tight band who were 
> >> > the most danceable thing I heard all weekend. Show-off guitarist
> >> > and mad synths an added bonus. I only caught the end of their set and 
> >> > wished it had been more. They were followed by a band whose name
> >> > I now forget,  (Dream Machine) but who had John Egan from the Ozrics on 
> >> > wind instruments. Jon's biggest features with the Ozrics were never 
> >> > being close
> >> > enough to the mike to be heard, dancing like a whirling dervish and 
> >> > seeing things in the rafters, and wearing the most egregious
> >> > colourful kaftans known to man. Unfortunately for this band he'd only 
> >> > retained the first of these skills, and so he didn't add much to
> >> > a rather underinspired trance-dub sort of outfit who just didn't have 
> >> > the muscle of the band they'd followed. On the Sunday evening
> >> > the inside also played host to a band called Surfquake, including a 
> >> > keyboardist whom they insisted was called Hannah Lulu, and they
> >> > were a complete misfit with the rest of the festival but in a great, 
> >> > coordinated-wavy-shirt, trad surf kind of way. They were second
> >> > most danceable and no mistake. And late on the Saturday night, after 
> >> > retiring shattered to the tent, there were two successive bands
> >> > who made me nearly get up again to go and dance, one more of the 
> >> > "banging choonz" persuasion and one proper festi with psych guitar
> >> > over the beat, but I was too tired to actually get up, and there is no 
> >> > running order on the website, so I'm afraid I don't know who
> >> > they were. Trev, did anyone give *you* a running order you could check 
> >> > against?
> >> >
> >> > I'm sure I'm doing some bands a terrible injustice by not remembering 
> >> > them, but this is long enough already and the only other
> >> > one I can recall straight away is Litmus. Litmus (boy band) arrived and 
> >> > I found them in the middle of being accused of being uniformly addicted
> >> > to Sudafed by a certain Judge Trev character. Given that Martin was 
> >> > ill, and not for the first time in their performing career either,
> >> > I could understand it as a precaution but it seems unlikely... So when 
> >> > they played it was with one vocalist, because Martin could
> >> > stand, play bass and croak greetings but he certainly couldn't sing. 
> >> > That might have worked if Simon had been able to cover some of
> >> > his vocal parts, or Marek had picked up some extra, but they only sang 
> >> > their own lines which left a number of the songs basically only
> >> > three-quarters there. Given that a lot of Litmus's (boy band's)style is 
> >> > in shouted chorals, having the strongest vocalist unable to sing, 
> >> > combined
> >> > with a band too polyphonic and loud for the ratty PA to cope with, made 
> >> > them sound much too much as if they had no ideas and were just
> >> > going to do sterile jamming all night. And to be fair, they did play 
> >> > for, what, forty-five minutes to an hour and did six songs or
> >> > maybe seven, one of which was only three minutes long (but by far the 
> >> > best). That's a lot of space to fill and it's hard for some of
> >> > it not to be, well, filler. I'm growing fonder of the new material and 
> >> > thought it came over as well as the old, but that may have been
> >> > partly because, down at the front throwing myself around to the 
> >> > still-undeniable punch of the rhythm section, I was shouting words
> >> > that fitted the missing vocals so loud I couldn't necessarily tell what 
> >> > wasn't there. If they'd done `Right Stuff' I seriously would
> >> > have asked to be let sing it. But they didn't, so everybody was saved. 
> >> > (N. B. never actually let me do this, anyone. I can never
> >> > remember how many times `My nerves are made of steel...' goes round.) 
> >> > Nonetheless, this was not a good day for Litmus (boy band); the poor 
> >> > sound
> >> > and the ill co-frontman sapped them of definition and variation and 
> >> > without the vocal volume there wasn't really enough attack to
> >> > survive. Rotten luck for them but I wonder if more and shorter songs 
> >> > would have worked better than hoping to get by on jamming, even
> >> > here. This audience didn't really get to see what the band can do. 
> >> > However, I will observe that the new keyboardist is still a top
> >> > choice, and managing to lever himself into the occasional exclusion 
> >> > triangle that arises in the breaks between drums-guitar-bass with
> >> > interesting and *musical* extra parts; he is able to join in the jams, 
> >> > in fact, but here the sound rather damped the effect of that.
> >> > Oh well. Better luck next week I hope!
> >> >
> >> > If I've missed anyone that Trev thinks desrves a write-up too, or a 
> >> > different one, well, he can write too dammit, I've seen
> >> > it. Over to you yer 'Onner, yours,
> >> >    Jon
> >> >
> >> > ObCD: Comets on Fire - _Avatar_
> >> > -- 
> >> > "When fortune wanes, of what assistance are quantities of elephants?"
> >> >     (Juvaini, Afghan Muslim chronicler, c. 1206)
> >> > Jon Jarrett, Fitzwilliam Museum, jjarrett at chiark.greenend.org.uk
> >> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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