We'd not visited Shaftebury for a gig before and I was very interested to check the place out, and was looking forward to The Neighbourhood Strange who always do a good turn. The Angola '76 is set in a side street in central Shaftesbury, and is a small bar/gastro type affair, with an upstairs seating area, with eating, drinking and performance area on the ground floor, as well as a good sized partially covered outside courtyard. Nice place, great for intimate performances, with friendly staff and really friendly clientèle; we'd only been there 5 minutes and people were chatting to us; that says a lot for a place. Yeah, really friendly folk.
The Neighbourhood Strange are a five piece: Marcus on guitar and vocals, Mark on guitar, Bob on organ, The Dazman on bass and Will on drums. Lead singer Marcus remarked that he had been a Mod in his youth, and you can definitely hear mod sensibilities in the bands sound, not just that warm 60's mod sound, but also the sharper sound of revivalist modernism of the late 70's early 80's. I was a mod too, and feel a particular love for those sounds; they resonate. The Neighbourhood Strange's sound is a perfect and skilful blend of both mod periods, at the introduction of acid and the psychedelia that spawned; it's a really great sound they've created and they dispense it perfectly. Every track worked, 'let's get high' has a solid early/mid 60's feel to it,
and sounded really tight, which songs like that need. Whereas 'Wythes Sky' is a nice mid 60's west coast flavoured
guitar and organ number and has a much more fluid vibe to it. And then there's 'one last chance',which is loaded with late 70's
mod/post mod feeling, (it's got a real 'Squeeze' quality to it). Their tracks are short and direct, well layered and packed with depth, not mention nice portions of psychedelic flare. Very listen-able, the audience were loving it. Short tracks mean lots of tracks in a set, which I dig just as much as hour long jam track, The Neighbourhood Strange performed 17 tracks, each masterfully delivered by a band of talented musicians who obviously love the music they perform. And why would you, it's freaking good. A top quality gig all round, I thoroughly recommend them.
The bass player was saying they were hoping to gig with legendary Californian psych rockers Cartlon Melton next spring, which when last we saw the on the same bill was a splendid evening of music, and certainly one for the diary. The band have also got a single out in autumn and an album out next year, both things to look forward too. The bands last 2 singles (both released on vinyl, which was nice) are excellent, and worth giving a listen here. I've seen The Neighbourhood Strange a few times now, they started off good and have kept on improving. Check them out, you'll have a good night. And if you're in Shaftesbury, check out Angola '76, it's important to support small venues.
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