So, here we are again back in Glastonbury, returned to the venerable King Arthur, tonight to see the renowned Here and Now band, supported by the Deviant Amps. I'd heard a lot of good things about the Deviant Amps, all good, and what I'd heard of their music I liked, although until now I'd somehow never gotten to see them, narrowly missing them on a couple of previous occasions. Well, that was certainly hugely erroneous on my part, wow, what a great band. Formed by Paul Woodwright in the early 1980's, I understand the The Deviant Amps have gone through untold line ups and guest performers over the years, as appears common with bands of the psychedelic genre, and Deviant Amps appear solidly in the space rock wing of psychedelic. The current line up sees a 3 piece comprising of Paul Woodwright up front and centre on guitar and vocals, you've Dave Onley on bass and drums are supplied by Keith Chenery. Woodwright and Onley are fine musicians, clearly seasoned veterans and masters in their art, clean and tight, both delivering wonderfully rich sounds. Though I'll be honest, for the most part it was drummer Keith Chenery who had my attention as he furiously beat his kit, pulling a range of contorted faces. I searched for a word to describe his drumming style. Then a friend suggested he looked tormented. I had to laugh, I thought, spot on. It was as if the drums were tormenting him, driving him, pushing him through a range of emotions, sometimes he looked tortured, battling the drums, at others times he looked elated. I tell you what though, he's one heck of a drummer, the band weren't playing parlour music, and it's his drums which were driving those tracks along. So, a solid three piece delivering the finest quality psychedelic rock. Smashing! Tonight though, a bonus, as on synths they were joined by Ozrics' Seaweed. Man, can Seaweed twiddle knobs and tinkle keys, or what, he's got form for it and tonight he showed why as he wove his sumptuous tripped out sounds beautifully into the mix, taking our rockers further out into space. Like Mr Chenery, you couldn't help become transfixed by Seaweeds performance, as you almost saw the music flowing through him and the buzz that gave him. I love it when you can see the musicians really digging what they're doing, it's an absolute joy to behold, their energy is infectious. I spent the whole gig head bobbing, feet tapping and with a huge smile on my face. All the band members played superbly. I don't know the titles of any tracks, I have no idea, what I can say though is that that was an thoroughly enjoyable, well executed set of top psychedelia, played at it's best with genuine passion by musicians who really know their onions. Bravo chaps! When the opportunity arises again I'll certainly do my best to catch them, and I recommend you do too. And in the meantime check out their Bandcamp page, you wont be disappointed.
No comments:
Post a Comment