Jon Gomm / Xi / If I Were King / Gaia

A range of music tonight in the sweltering JoeÂ’s Well, as
Gaia start us off with psychedelic rock and harmonising vocals that vary between chilling and beautiful. They are very talented musicians and with a bit more emphasis on the songwriting this Sheffield band will go far.

Next up youngsters If I Were King show off some really good talent, especially the indie style vocals. Again though, even though the beats are good, the lyrics are so repetitive you know the song after one chorus! With a little more songwriting...

Looking at the many Xi t-shirts floating around I get the impression that this band are hot stuff. The hot stuff I actually get is a set if guys poured into some very tight clothes calling me and the rest of the crowd “fuckers”. I don’t feel right when someone in a pink t-shirt that not even I would wear is calling me names, when their music is just plain unoriginal.

Leeds virtuoso Jon Gomm always impresses me whenever he plays. Taking along a few friends who are virgins to his style of, shall I say, hard to comprehend guitar playing, one commented “Why is he not famous?” Indeed.



Using the entire guitar as a band, Jon taps and slaps the guitar body, presses the strings with fingers and thumbs for bass and melody, and tunes and detunes the guitar for different pitches whilst singing in a very strong voice. The many jaws to the floor that have witnessed this unique musician are always in ore, wondering how he does it. ‘Stupid Blues’ is a fantastic rambling tune that combines many of these techniques at various speeds, whereas the Bob Marley cover of ‘Wait In Vain’ concentrates on tapping and plucking.



There are guitar pedals involved, but only on Jon’s voice to distort it on tracks like the dark ‘Hey Child’. Sadly tonight there was no cover of Radiohead’s ‘High and Dry’, though the self-described silly encore featured bits of Jimi Hendrix and Rage Against The Machine. With his fanbase ever increasing, I think the next step is for a live video, as the CD ‘Hypertension’ does not do this guy justice. Though the songs are good on their own, you have to see exactly how these songs are being played to appreciate it.

FUTURE GIGS

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