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Festival Music
TWO DRUMMERS DRUMMING
Where’s the six geese a laying and the five gold rings? 00.
Have you heard the one about the drummer? Maurice Bacon and Mathew Priest have. and they're sick of it. Stick- bashing veterans of two notable bands of the (30s and 90s. they've brought their ‘Two Drummers
JAY BRAMNAN Sound sugar-coated acoustica with crystal clear swooping vocals and an edge of stark sexuality. Was it terrifying releasing your first album Goddamned yourself?
It seems like the natural order of things to me because I‘m such a weird person with very specific ideas and opinions and beliefs. It‘s a lot of work. for sure. I‘m like. 'do I get to write another song at some point?’
Are you a fan of your touring partner Bitch?
I love her. I'm a fan of her music and of her as a person. She's actually been a little bit of a mentor of mine.
Your acoustic ‘Straight Outta Compton’ cover is legendary. Do you have any more surprises for us?
A lot of times I end up playing the cover people ask for at the show. I also worked up a new cover for the tour of a Joni Mitchell song. It's called ‘All I Want'.
And now the obligatory Shortbus question:
I'm proud of the film and I love the people in it so that I‘m happy to be associated with for ever. There's parts of me in there but if yOU watch the move it's not like you‘re seeing Jay Brennan by any means. I‘m quite different. (Suzanne Black)
I Cabaret Voltaire. 08444 999 990, 24 Aug. 7pm, £8.50.
90 THE LIST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE 2”
Aug) .'
Drumming' show to this year's Fringe to dispel such musical bigotry. and to fight the corner of contemporary music's perennial back-seat driver.
The show opens with a not— unexpecteddrummingdemonstration. and moves on to encompass tales from the soggy end of the music business and miscellaneous Video clips of rhythm-related japes. Both Bacon and Priest have a real depth of experience in the recording industry (the former was the drummer on (30's soul classic ‘Everlasting Love'r and their encounters wrth rock royalty and gullible record executives make for absorbing anecdotes. The audience are freguently brought into play were taught some basic rhythms and. later. are synthesised into a SO—strong human drum machine.
Bacon and Priest are affable presenters. and the promise of a visit from a member of the drumming aristocracy should entice some to return. The show has the feel of a genteel initiation into the fraternity of drummers. and it's a device that makes for a diverting and inclusive (30 minutes. tOliver Farrimondl I The Bongo Club. 5:37 2827. tutti/2:3 Aug. «1.30pm. 5‘7—815‘6—71.
AIR ALBA
A celebration of Scotland’s contribution to world cuisine through song, story and music .0.
As the small audience shuffled in out of the early evening drizzle. raconteur Nancy Nicholson and guitarist Tony Mitchell happily greeted the audience. spinning yarns before most had even taken their seats. This friendly welcome set the tone for an hour of song. music and storytelling cleverly entv-rined around Scotland's culinary history
The shows title. Air Alba - Gaelic for 'around Scotland' —: (lid exactly that. with the talented and likeable Nicholson taking us on a lighthearted journey through the history of the Scottish diet and its role in shaping the nation's people. history and politics. The relaxed lounge atmosphere at the Royal Oak basement bar provrded an ideal setting as a llllX of original folk tunes and modern classics were skilfully performed by guitarist Tony Mitchell. ensuring an entertaining evening for both natives and Visitors alike. Who would have thought a song about Thatcher's advrce on cheese could be so much fun. (Davrd Armstrong) I The Royal Oak. 5:37 2.076. until 24 Aug. 3pm, 55.
DAN LE SAC VS SCROOBIUS PIP Electrifying collaboration brought together by MySpace
Opposites attract, right? That certainly seems true for Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, the former being a short, stocky, shy beatmaster while the latter is a tall, skinny hyperactive wordsmith.
‘We both bring the best out of each other,’ says Pip, aka David Meads. ‘I just love the way his beats complement the words, everything seems to work really well together.’
It does indeed, but it could so easily never have happened. Despite going to the same school in Stanford-le-Hope in Essex, the same college and even working in the same shop, the pair never got together musically until years later when they were brought together by, of all things, MySpace.
The resultant collaboration is electrifying. Pip’s intelligent, thought- provoking and often hilarious quickfire rapping is brilliantly lifted by Le Sac’s enigmatic rhythms and samples, and the pair’s debut album, Angles, is full of absolute top-drawer electronic rap, hip hop and spoken word.
It also spawned a bona fide international hit single and internet sensation with ‘Though Shalt Always Kill’, an awesome stream of consciousness rant about everything that’s wrong with life. That song perfectly illustrated the pair’s oeuvre, combining sometimes dark material with a more light- hearted side, a pattern they take over into their live shows.
‘We sling in costume changes and other weird stuff, to make sure it’s a laugh,’ says Pip. ‘The album has some dark subject matter on there, but you don’t want to go to a gig and be preached at, so we try and make it as fun as possible.’
The pair are veterans of the live circuit already, having played hundreds of gigs as a duo over the last two years, and it shows in their impeccable live show. Pip especially seems born to perform, his lyrical dexterity outstripping pretty much any other rapper in the country today.
‘l’m really comfortable on stage,’ he admits. ‘I started off touring the country living in a van and doing spoken word stuff on street corners, so whenever there’s a stage and a crowd, I’m perfectly happy, because it’s better than being in a town centre with people not in the mood.’
(Doug Johnstone) I [-/(]tll(/ Room, 08444 995) 990, 2’5) Aug. Xpni, 5‘] I.