Kawala

It's the end of an era...

Our friend's Becky and Simon's son's Daniel's band Kawala are playing their last London gig tonight which is a bittersweet affair. Debbie and I bump into Daniel outside the pub next to the Shepherds Bush Empire and it's a quick hug and "see you later" as he's got others to hug and chat to. We meet Daisy and Paul, fellow Kawala stalwarts, in the pub before wandering into the venue with them and the proud parents. Immediately we lose the latter and after getting a round in we squeeze down the steps and wedge ourselves at the back of the dance floor in time to see the band come on. The place is rammed indeed feels too full for safety. Daisy and Paul make their way back up the steps to more room but Debbie and I stand our ground. Why the band are breaking up I'm not sure given how popular they are but I guess making a living from music is getting harder and harder unless you are in the top 20 Spotify streamers or sell out stadia. The band come on to tumultuous applause and rip through a fantastic set with many old favourites which the crowd love and it seems know most of the lyrics. I was concerned that it would be a little bit of a downer but the atmosphere is party party and the band are loving it. The front two Daniel and Jim give the usual banter and Daniel especially gets the laughs. There is lots of chat and they nod to Bombay Bicycle Club who's drummer  is giving us a roll of the skins as the Meninblack would have said. One bit of fun is Daniel being persuaded to stage dive which is is forced to agree to by weight of numbers. Not sure he leapt but I think was in the mosh down the front for a song which his guitarist had to take over from him. Then it came to The End. Not the club but the end of an era. One in which I saw Kawala quite a few times from various small to larger London venues and in Leeds a few times. And in which I starred in a song video due to my cool dance moves. OK, 2 seconds of dad dancing but as Warhol said... not quite 15 minutes. So the guys in Kawala have had more than their share of 15 minutes. It seems sad for them to be giving this up but what wouldn't most of us give to have thousands of fans' adulation for an hour on stage. Time after time. I'm sure that they will all go onto other and greater things. So they play their last song and introduce the band and various back stagers before of course coming back for a two song encore and to a still full house they take a bow before exiting the stage. By this time I've squirmed out of the dance floor area and watch from above with bar optics between me and the stage. Like I said, no one left before the very end and even then there must have been 5 minutes of clapping. Extraordinary. I meet Debbie outside and having lost everyone else we make our way across Shepherds Bush Green in the cold night air. Can't wait to see what Daniel gets up to next. A beginning always follows an end...

ABBAshing

This week's gigs range from the sublime to the ridiculous. Or more possibly from the ridiculous to the sublime. Wednesday sees me at ABBA Voyage arena gratis courtesy of a works party as the arena is just off the Olympic Park. We have a private bar areas so have a few drinks before the show half of us are dressed for the occasion, me being in late 70s style rather than Waterloo era. I thought I'd stay for a few songs just to see the technology (this is the holographic version of ABBA) before I got fed up with listening to ageing pop songs and then write a scathing review bashing an awful experience of watching tech instead of live bands. Except it doesn't turn out like that. The first few songs are the members of the band holograms singing, dancing and playing instruments on stage as if a gig and to be honest that draws you in along with a pretty strong sound system. I hate to admit that they sound a lot better than when my sister played her ABBA vinyl on our dad's Dansette. Then they mix things up by having a song with an anime type story about someone on a trek with great visuals as you might expect by an arena with holograms. Also songs with the band "projected" onto the screens rather than shown as holograms. The "backing" band are real musicians with 3 singers at the side of the stage who are sometimes lit up and they do a song with the singers coming out onto the main stage so there is some proper live music. In fact I wonder if all the singing are from real people rather than recordings "sung" by the holograms although they do also "chat" to the audience and make weak jokes (Swedish humour I assume). A nice touch is the band all being introduced to us in turn by one of them. I even find myself dancing with my colleagues, must have drunk more than I realised in the bar. So I do stay to the end and after the group as their current ages (up to now they are as if in the early 70s) "come on stage" to thank us we go back to our bar for more chat before a long journey home on DLR and a packed Northern line. Debbie is convinced I've lost all sense of musical nous but I maintain it was an enjoyable experience. There again I wouldn't pay £80 to see it and am worried that every old group will become holograms and no one bother to see new music in scuzzy pubs and venues. Talking of which...

Two days later Debbie and I are cycling to a scuzzy pub to see a number of bands who we've never heard of for a date that we and Pete and Wendy can make before they're off to NZ. The night is billed as Garagebashing Vol.23 costing a princely £6.50 for 5 bands and of course at the now famous Brixton Windmill which is sold out. Too much R6 exposure methinks. I think we missed the first of the five but as we are at the bar Wazlo take the stage and kick off with a proper garage style rock and roll song with dirty distorted guitars. I think they are going to be a straight up just met learning to play in my dad's garage, or the south London equivalent of a garage, but as they go on I realise that they are pretty good musicians with some catchy tunes which could be commercially successful if they were played without that garage feel. They jump the genres too from proper garage rock 'n' roll to country with a NYC pre punk garage vibe with great riffs. Modern Lovers anyone. And one of the guitarist singers reminds me of Tom Petty which I nearly told him when I left but thought that tequila shot may have distorted my sense of propriety. So a great start and we see see Pete and Wendy. Pig City Committee are next on and are as billed a garage band at least delivering a great rock set with moments of synths taking over from the guitars and the energetic front man giving their all. After a sojourn to the garden and Pete having his pint swiped from under his, and my, nose at the bar (kudos to whoever did that!) we are back inside to see Spanish Horses who deliver a great set of what I can lazily label south London garage post punk slightly funky at times sleazy at others Roof Dog Rock. They are excellent and have a good banter with the crowd indeed launching into Daft Punk is Playing at My House and as I'm ready to groove they stop the song and laugh between themselves. Proper Windmill garage band humour. So a great evening so far and another to come.... Whitehorse are last up and start off with a great baggy Madchester groove vibe which gets the crowd dancing rather than jumping and moshing. After a few songs Pete and Wendy say goodbye and not sure whether it's our fellow groovers leaving or it being a long evening or past midnight but the band become a bit samey and Debbie and I decide to make our way home. So a great evening out as ever. Who needs 70s holograms when you can have distortion pedals. As an aside the Windmill is a great place to replace elastic bands holding your bike lights on as it's next to a post office sorting office so has loads of elastic bands in the gutters.

Photos in order of bands. None at ABBA as explicitly prohibits and photography or recording. Killjoys. Debbie and Wendy after their shots. Great one of the audience (c) Debbie