Last year I had the pleasure of discovering Michael Berk, with his one man, one guitar take on all parts of the classic headbanging track 'Bohemian Rhapsody' and Amrit Sond with some sparking guitar playing. This year we have a couple of new faces (well new to some). Brendan Crocker is a bluesman from Leeds, surely one of a small bunch (I do not know any Leeds Blues bands; not yet anyway). And Thomas Leeb is, well, I need to sit down to type this...
Firstly Jon Gomm, the man from Leeds who most of us know for slapping a guitar about a bit, has put on his Leeds Guitar Night for the past couple of years in the Social Club, tucked away in Headingley. I don't know if it is because he is organising the show, or whether he wanted to enjoy the bands with a pint, but he rarely plays second to anyone (his recent support slot for hip hop folk lads Nizlopi was a rarity). This shows the outstanding talent that he has in store for us tonight.
Gomm plays a new track to start with, which he describes as depressing and very long, but I find it a delightful song. He follows with 'Waterfall', 'Gloria', 'Hey Child' for some distortion and 'Weather Machine'. Brilliant as always; many people in the fag break can be heard commenting how much he amazes them.
Next up is an old friend of Gomm's called Brendan Crocker, who used to play in Notting Hillbillies, a blues band featuring Mark Knopfler (yes, of Dire Straits). He has also played with Eric Clapton amongst others. His guitar playing is not similar to Gomm's, but his finger plucking style is greatly enhanced by his deep drawl, providing a lovely smooth bluesy voice.
He mainly takes requests tonight; some in the audience have heard of him, so we get to hear some of his classics, the stand outs being 'The Great Indoors' and a slower version of Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. There's a quite controversial track too (not for myself, but some may not like it), though most of the crowd sing along to 'Dropkick Me Jesus (through the goal posts of life)' by Bobby Bare, of 'outlaw Country' music fame. He is a charming and modest performer, stating that he can't believe he is playing after Gomm, but with a background in music like his he should not be so modest...
Finally it's time for Thomas Leeb, a guy many of us have not heard of or seen before. The Austrian who now resides in California invited Gomm to tutor guitar in Austria over the Summer, so Gomm has invited him to play at his Guitar Night. This may have been a bad move for Gomm...
Leeb is technically perfect on the guitar. Bringing to mind Erik Mongrain and Andy Mckee, though he doesn't sing as well as play (where Gomm excels), his finger picking, guitar tapping and slapping style is flawless. He is also a cheeky chappy, saying that he is Austrian and sounds funny, but that we sound funny to him too.
This is his first time in Leeds, though he does tour a lot, mainly in Ireland, America and Europe. Tonight he is mainly playing songs from his latest album 'Desert Pirate', which includes a few covers. Mrs Gomm (otherwise known as Nastasha from local band Gallo) sings along while he plays 'Isobel' by Bjork; Gomm's sweet high vocals are perfect for the role.
Another cover is 'No Woman, No Cry' by Bob Marley, arranged to allow Leeb to play all the parts, melody, rhythm etc. 'Quicksilver' is a great melodic tune, and the title track 'Desert Pirate' is a great paced tune, featuring a lot of scratching on the guitar body, and even an added slap on the head for Leeb mid song. For the last song he does a melody, again playing all the parts on the on guitar, to tunes like 'The Muppets' theme tune', and he even unplugs the guitar and stands at the front point of the stage, still tapping and slapping away. His hands move so fluidly it makes it look easy. Again I want to go home and start drumming on my guitar, but I know it will sound shite (and the neighbours won't be happy at midnight when I crawl in).
So thank you Jon again for introducing us to more guitar tinged talent, though this time you may have set the bar too high with Leeb. He is literally a sensation on steel strings.
article by: Danielle Millea
published: 26/11/2008 10:49
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.