Thomas Truax / Alice McLaughlin / Antony Elvin

The Soho Revue Bar, formerly Too2Much and prior to that the notorious Raymond Revue Bar, is a stunning intimate venue with glamorous decor – dimly lit with orange globes on the tables, chandeliers, gilt-framed mirrors and glitterballs.

Tonight is a Curious Generation Showcase. We are introduced to the “scandalous” but suave Antony Elvin, who is a sight to behold in his Japanese kimono -the occasional flashes of leg have the audience wondering what he’s wearing under it! Those thoughts didn’t distract from his performance of clever, funny and sharply observed songs. He sings in a deep rich voice and plays guitar exquisitely. The audience were chuckling all the way through his set and all the tracks positively sparkled, especially ‘Among the Dandies’ allegedly based on an incident involving Noel Fielding (of Mighty Boosh fame) at the ICA. ‘I Don’t Mind You’ was the closest he has written to a love song – touching! The highly amusing ‘Trousers of Parliament’ is about a friend who was a speechwriter for the Tories, and ‘Jacqui’ is an ode to the beautiful actress Jacqueline Bisset who he bumped into at Chalk Farm.

Alice McLaughlin and her band have a very tough act to follow. Although she has an excellent strong voice, lively folk-rock songs, and is highly recommended (she’s toured with James Morrison and Tom Verlaine, and written songs with Boo Hewerdine and Mylo), the set is not as much fun as Antony Elvin’s or anywhere near as entertaining as the headliner...

Tonight is the official album launch of the third release from Thomas Truax called ‘Why Dogs Howl at the Moon’. His music has been tentatively assigned to the “steampunk” genre, alongside The Dresden Dolls and Duke Special. It’s a mixture of gothic fantasy, vaudeville and mad-genius invention. He hand-builds his own instruments from found parts such as wheels, concertinaed hoses and old gramophone trumpets, and uses looping techniques with them to create interesting sounds and percussion accompaniment. These strange contraptions - Sister Spinster, the Hornicator and Stringaling have been regular touring companions for a while and are spoken to and cajoled as if they are human band-mates. Tonight the newest, youngest addition is unveiled – Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins provides great accompaniment on ‘Stranger on a Train’ replicating the sound of the rail and driving the song along. The lyrics describe life on tour, the rail journeys and feelings of being rootless.


Thomas, originally from New York, claims to spend time in Wowtown, an island floating out in the Atlantic which is seemingly inhabited by strange critters, and provides inspiration for songs and for the surreal tales in the ‘Wowtown News’ bulletins which he emails around regularly. One such song, greeted by whoops and applause, is ‘Full Moon Over Wowtown’ which is played mostly unplugged with Thomas wandering up and down the stairs in the venue, amongst the plush seats and even rotating around the pole (presumably usually used for more conventional pole dancing). This works particularly well in hushing the audience and drawing everyone in to one of Thomas’ alternative and spellbinding worlds.

There are some quirky, eccentric songs such as ‘Why Dogs Howl at the Moon Part 1’, ‘Inside the Internet’ and the delightful ‘You Whistle While You Sleep’ featuring the funky Stringaling. There’s also a lot of depth and personal musings in other tracks like his trademark show opener, the spooky ‘Prove It to My Daughter’ with the Hornicator on background wailing duties and the vivid and haunting ‘The Butterfly & the Entomologist’. Thomas describes ‘Alien in America’ from the new album as his “serious song” – it seems to be about disillusionment with his home country (he’s rumoured to have relocated to London so hopefully the UK can adopt him – please can we keep him?).

Thomas has recently signed to SL Records and ‘Why Dogs Howl at the Moon’ is out on 21st May. His recordings are certainly not background listening and command full attention but Thomas Truax is definitely best experienced live – he’s the most unique and interesting one man band that I have ever seen and endlessly fascinating to watch.

Set list:

Prove It to My Daughter
Why Dogs Howl at the Moon Part 1
Notice of Eviction to a Closet Full of Skeletons
Inside the Internet
Full Moon Over Wowtown
Stranger on a Train
The Butterfly & the Entomologist
You Whistle While You Sleep
Alien in America

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.