Wednesday 28 October 2015

The Local Musicians Music Show @ The Dogs Bollix 2015


                       Benjamin Silver and LA Thompson 

Check out: http://localmusicians.co.nz to find out more about the acts from this music review!  

Rolling into the Dogs Bollix I was struck by the
professional set up of LA Thompson's

Local Musicians Music show, a night spearheaded

by the independent artist set to showcase awesome

homegrown NZ talent in the underground stables 

of Auckland City, with the possible inclusion of other 

musos from different areas to be included in the future. 

I wasn't let down by the live sound either.

It was dialled in immaculately on the sound

desk and the speakers were set at just the right

volume for the first performer of the night 

singer songwriter Kerryn playing solo on her 

trusty acoustic guitar. 


Sitting up straight on a bar stool Kerryn

strummed off a bright and chirpy first song

before jumping waist deep into a brooding

cover of Bruce Springsteen's anthem 

"The River". I have to say I was a bit surprised

by the song choice as you don't usually hear

that song being played to much at your local bar. 

But I'm glad Kerryn did as it proved to be a 

real gem of a rendition. With no signs of intimidation

at all Kerryn just rocked into it like any other song 

and did it more than justice displaying solid vocal 

abilities and flare. She also resisted the temptation

to overplay and go full Boss mode on the song 

and try and take the Dogs Bollix Roof of which

Im sure she could've.


 Also of particular interest was Kerryn's original 

song "Dreaming" that followed   'The River". 

Inspired by hard working themes not dissimilar

 to our favourite guitar slinging New Jersey boy

with sullen themes of dissatisfaction and self-

alienation brought about by the working day it even

hinted at a bit of resentment for having to work in the

first place. Kerryn's final song made you think. After it

finished the crowd applauded her final song with a

note or possibly more a chord of approval about the

pains tackled by the subject matter of "Dreaming".   


After the first performer left the stage LA Thompson

quickly jumped on stage grasped the microphone and

let the audience know there would be a brief break

before the next act called Benjamin Silver took to 

the Dogs Bollix's stage. In the mean time Bob Marley's

anti-establishment reggae song "Get Up Stand Up" 

blasted over the speakers loud and proud. 



After sorting out his amp and plugging in his tobacco

stained Fender Stratocaster Benjamin Silver introduced

himself very briefly with a 'how do you do?" before stealing 

the hearts in the crowd of the room with his powerful

gravelly voice and spidery melodic guitar work.

Throughout his short set Ben painted a picture of his

personal adventure through life with its triumphs, 

pitfalls and those many in-between moments.


His original song "Journey to Home" conveyed the 

repetitive lack of meaning in life that sometimes we 

all must face hopefully with a good sense of humour 

as it can be painful to never quite get to a place we are

truly happy with. The line that grabbed me the most in

Silver's first song was; "how many more miles must 

I travel before I arrive". 


Moving further into Ben's set his voice shone brightest

in a heartfelt cover of "Walking in Memphis". Everyone

in attendance went quiet as Marc Cohn's song was 

given new life by Silver. The crowd were collectively

impressed with the quality of such a performance 

conveying the beautiful yet raw timbre of Ben's vocal

performance as well as its emotional intensity with lines

 like; "You aint got a prayer in Memphis, in the middle of 

the pouring rain" reverberating round the room long 

after the songs final refrain. Silver finally emerged into 

a Rock 'N" Roll version of the Beatles "Let it Be" 

that was akin to the Beatles channeling the energy 

of Grunge rocker Eddie Vedders raspy vocal delivery. 

Certainly not an obvious blending of two beloved artists

but the unison of both was wicked to hear. 



LA Thompson and Frankencopter would finally

finish of the nights entertainment with a very professional 

edge. The former playing an almost flamenco style finger

picking guitar over sweltering electronic drum machines. 

The almost Led Zeppelin feel of Thompsons song;

 "New Sun Rising" and many other songs from her set 

really added glimmers and shades of colour and sound 

to the show that were new and refreshing. 

Frankencopter by contrast with a full live band set up

hammered away with tenacious wild abandon on the

drums with screeching guitars, vocal harmonies soared and 

the Kiwi band rocked as one. Well except for the very

groovy bass player who was a suspected Aussie by his

fellow Frankencopter bandmates.The guys fronted by a 

talented lead singer who didn't hit one bung not all night 

launched into a final hair raising version of "Gutter Black"

 in tribute to "Graham and that other guy" with a full on 

saxophone solo. It was raw fun even a bit raucous. 

What a Kiwi plus an Aussie classic played with gusto, brilliant, 

fantastic :)  By Moss Bioletti 

          Frankencopter   https://www.facebook.com/Frankencopter

Chris Barclay

Chris Barclay also shredded the guitar to death at
the show. I've never seen someone play guitar like
that before my head literally exploded roll over to his 
Facebook page;
to check out his GoPro live recording that he 
managed to film himself of his guitar playing antics
at lightening speed wow!! 

      to find out more about the acts from 
                  this music review!




         







1 comment:

  1. Wicked Review LA Thompson and fellow musos ROCKING IT OUT!!!!

    ReplyDelete