Bear Bones Launch Party

Sunday 8th October 2006 at the Star and Shadow Cinema

I'm sure it's fair to say that on paper the Bear Bones launch party line up always promised to provide a good night out. The line up of local favourites Pea Sea, Richard Michael Dawson, Nev Clay and Country Jim and the Bitesize Cowboys all gathered together under one roof for the night was one that had to be seen. Add to that the fact that the roof they would be gathered under was that of the Star and Shadow Cinema on the corner of Stepney Bank which, with the exception of its size, was more akin to a living room dressed up for a house party then any local band scene venue and it was clear this should be something special.

Fairy lights lined the stage front, balloons were scattered across the floor, sofas found themselves spread around the outskirts of the hall while chairs and tables, including single candles flickering softly on top of each one, filled the remaining floor space. Along with all of this was of course the offer of free entry alongside instructions to "bring yer own liquor". This certainly was not going to be any normal gig.

With two thirds of the Bear Bones team helping to supply a mix of backing music perfectly suited to kick off a quiet Sunday evening of beer and live music Jim and cowboys went about fulfilling their promise of "getting royally f**ked on whisky" to set themselves up for their top spot on the schedule.

The hall began to fill out shortly before the opening act took to the stage and it soon became necessary to make re-arrangements to the table layout in order to seat the crowd which was starting to build in anticipation of a good night. Having originally planned to play a set as part of Les Cox(sportif) Chris didn't let the absence of his intended drummer phase him as he took to the stage under the guise of Pea Sea with the cinema's projector poised to provide backing visuals at any second. With near perfection the backing visuals kicked into life as soon as the first notes of the evening rang through the speakers immediately silencing the audience. What followed was Chris' relatively short and surprisingly impressive set (I hope he doesn't take offence when I say surprisingly, its only meant as a compliment in reference to the change of plan regarding Les Cox(spotif)'s intended full appearance and the fact that I had heard nothing of Pea Sea before this event). This, accompanied by some stunning DVD video of slow rain drops amongst other things shot purely in black and white perfectly suited the general mood of the evening so far and got the gig off to a great start. It also made for a hard act to follow.

The man left with the responsibility of following this impressive start was Richard Michael Dawson. Any nerves which may have existed certainly did no show through during a set consisting of tracks from previous albums "Richard Dawson Sings Songs and Plays Guitar" and "Delight is Right" alongside newer songs which may well see the light of day in a future album including the potential future single "Eleanor". The particularly moving set was aided by the use of the backing video, namely the BBC's "Life of Birds", which in a feat likely to never again be repeated tied in the announcement of Richards final song to the images of pesticide being sprayed across a crop field while providing images of yellow birds during a song coincidentally about yellow birds - you couldn't have planned it with such relatively amateur equipment so how's that for luck!! The bar had now been raised further, the comparisons to the voice of Tom Waits and confusion as to how "such a small guy can produce such powerful vocals" continued. If Richard Dawson had been worried about how to follow up the Pea Sea set then next up would have an even harder task ahead.

Enter the stage, Nev Clay! In what was a more sombre Nev Clay set for the most part and missing a few of the more comical songs from his catalogue the banter between songs was all usual Nev affair. Nev's choice to take a fair bit of time out to tell stories and comment on the selection of backing video before even picking up a guitar only for the start of the first track to be greeted by an outburst of childish laughter at the projectors decision to show subtitles reading "They have big balls" as part of a conversation between two Inuits put a smile on the faces of most. The traditional pausing mid-song to tell a short story and an impromptu mid-set sing-along session kept everyone smiling throughout despite the lyrical content of the more subdued set list. The lack of comical songs in the set was soon made up for when an invite for Richard Dawson to come back on stage for the final song of the evening was offered, and when the reason for the offer is that they have a duet planned for a Slayer cover you couldn't help but smile again.

The clocks soon hit 11pm which became a signal for a number of people to head home through fear of an early Monday morning start but this did not deter the Bitesize cowboys who had been keeping to their previous promise regarding their amount of alcohol intake. Joined by John Egdell who had now fulfilled his other commitments which had prevents him from being able to perform alone earlier in the evening, madness soon ensued. Performing covers of the Bee Gees and Beastie boys in a country style while under the influence of alcohol and dressed as a cowboy can not be an easy task and that it was even being attempted before their very own eyes seemed to confuse one or two of the remaining audience. In a performance that ended with Country Jim himself rolling on his back while attempting to sing into a microphone which may or may not have been turned on (the soundboard seemed all but useless in attempts to balance out any input it may have been receiving) while Nev Clay even donned a cowboy hat in order to help out with guitar playing duties and other cowboys were left running circles round the stage with a harmonica the night slowly descended into a chaos of noise and confusion. That's in a good way of course - On a night when songs about little birds were coincidentally accompanied by video of little birds, Richard Dawson and Nev Clay team up for a slayer cover and Nev later returns to the stage in a cowboy hat nothing else would come as a surprise...unless of course the DJ decided to play "one last song" and finished the night with tom traubert's blues back to back with 'jump'.