Ironclad Canute

This morning an ironclad mechanized Canute lumbered back and forth across the Southbourne sands engaged in man's timeless battle with nature and her elements. I've lived locally since I was four, and have seen man endlessly struggle to control of the intertidal, to stop the cliffs and sea being reunited. Periodically a huge and expensive campaign is waged, pumping sand from out in the bay on to the beach, building ever stronger, larger groynes to mitigate long shore drift, and building defences of rock and bolder filled gabion. It only serves to slow the inevitable. Every year the ironclad mechanized Canutes work tirelessly through the stormy months keeping the sand where man wants it, on the beach, a buffer between land and sea. Of course it's futile, nature has the upper hand, it's her playing field and the sand will soon be stripped. I wonder if the dinosaurs though they were all that, before they found them selves extinct that is. 

In memoriam

You may have noticed something blue in the bottom left of my recent photo of the pillbox remains. I checked it out this morning and it looks to be a painted stone, left by someone in memory of a much loved canine companion named Gilbert. I feel for them. 

Dark Sky

It was a mistake not to take a coat on this morning's walk along Hengistbury Head, a mistake which only became apparent at the furthest point of our walk. When we set off on our walk the sky was mostly blue and it appeared my decision was the right one. It wasn't until we reached the big groyne at the far end of the Head that I turned to see the horizon to the west, beyond the Purbeck Hills, was leaden. And, it appeared to be coming our way... at speed. You'd be surprised how fast the clouds moved, you could see the wall of rain approaching, it was upon us so fast that even running we only just made it to the Noddy Train (that's what the land train which runs from the Double Dykes to Mudeford Spit has been traditionally known as) shelter as a ferocious hail rained down.

WW2 debris

Hengistbury Head was a hive of activities during the Second World War, there was a Chain Home Low radar station, gun battery, pillboxes, anti tank obstacles, mines, trenches and entanglements, the whole WW2 set.  After the war these features were broken up buried or removed.  Just before the head rises there's a jumbled mass of concrete and bar protruding from the cliff face. It's been visible for years. Recently, and most likely due the elements, several large pieces of concrete have slid from their resting place near the cliff top towards and onto the pebbles below. On one of the pieces you can clearly see a firing embrasure with what looks like a steep angle of downward fire, suggesting it was once a cliff top pillbox.  It's a real shame how we've been so careless with, our World War Two heritage. 

Geoff

This afternoon we met up with some of Geoff's extended family at Kings Park. It was the first dog family meet we'd been too, and Geoff was a bit taken aback by it all. Well, it was quite a sight, there were 33 Golden Retrievers of various ages, all related to one another. Lovely hounds all (and nice people too). It was a sort of organized chaos, and the dogs all loved it. After good walk in the forest this morning and the excitement of the afternoon meet up, Geoff was wiped out. 

The Levellers @ O2 Academy Bournemouth 9.12.16

I wasn't going to go this evening, I'd got myself into that weird head space I can sometimes occupy, the cutting my nose off without rhyme nor reason head space. I'd had the tickets from the day they went on sale, the Levellers are a favourite band of mine, whose music is never off my playlist and they were playing their seminal album 'Levelling the Land' in full. Still, I wasn't going to go, damn those puppies of the black dog. But then I was told to go in no uncertain terms, though with love. I'm thankful for that push. I arrived late missing the first support and half way through the second. As I queued for a drink (long queues) I somehow got to the bar before the guy who'd been in front of me, so as is only right I let in front. And, he bought me a drink. Which was nice. I then made my way towards the front and the stage. The second support finished and as I looked about a woman asked me if I was looking for my friends, I said 'no, I'm on my own' to which she gave me a hug and suggested I join her and her group. Two acts of kindness one after another, I felt uplifted and even more grateful for that push to attend.

Then the main event. The band showed a short pre show film, a montage of news clips from the 80's to now, political, social, cultural, interspersed with adverts of the periods. The Levellers have remained true to their original values throughout their career, which is laudable.  If you know the album then you know the track listing, if you don't know the album you should, Levelling the Land. From the get go the crowd seethed, a sea of smiling faces, arms in the air, choruses joined in with on mass, the atmosphere was electric, the energy was fantastic, love flowed through the audience, it was brilliant.  Every track delivered with a passion undiminished, masterfully tweaked slightly here and there, but still to perfection; the band understands how cherished these songs are by the crowd. They didn't disappoint, each musician producing a faultless performance. An album, no matter how magnificent, doesn't last long and soon enough the final notes of 'Battle of the Beanfield' merged with fevered cheering. That was Levelling the land. Fucking marvellous!  All I'd hoped for, now even happier I'd been cajoled into coming.  Of course there was more though. Now a parade of favourites, 'This Garden', 'Carry Me' and 'Men a Tol' to name a few. All were delivered with the same level of gusto.  The first encore saw 'Julie' and of course 'Beautiful Day' had to have an outing. For the final encore some of Ferocious Dog joined the band for a rousing rendition of 'What you Know'.  What a fantastic gig, enjoyed with lovely people, memorable. Nights don't come much better.

Dumb Poets @ Dean Park Inn

Another local venue I'd never been to before, and another local band I'd not heard before. The venue was the Dean Park Inn located at the Bournemouth end of Charmy, it felt very local (if you know what I mean), though said locals and staff were friendly and welcoming. The band were a four piece, the Dumb Poets, Lance Riley Vocals and Guitar, Harry Skinner Lead Guitar, Joe Musker Drums and Jim Greenwood Bass Guitar, and this was their inaugural outing.  Inaugural outing maybe, although at least one of the band members, lance Riley, has been in other bands (and I suspect by the standard of musicianship the other members have too). Lance has been in locally legendary bands The Bewley Brothers and The Spoons. As I say, all the bands members were proficient in their art and created a nice tight sound, as they belted out some quality tracks. The audience loved it, every track receiving rapturous applause. The whole evening had a lovely atmosphere, created by a group of excellent musicians.  When seeing or hearing a band for the first time the brain automatically tries to categorize, I have to say I struggled to pin a genre on the Dumb Poets or say 'they're like', and that's no bad thing. Though, if I 'had' to say, I'd say their sound is in the indie rock pop ball park. I should mention DJ Will provide a fine range of sound before and after the bands performance. All round a great evening. I'll be catching the Dumb Poets next time they're about and recommend them to you too.

Os Noctambulos @ The Anvil, Bournemouth

A friend, who knows his music, had said I must get along to see Os Noctambulos as they were a nice bunch who played some blinding garage psych. Os Noctambulos are: Baldo on drums who provided some solid beats, Baldo was also part of a comedy moment when he discovered his monitor wasn't plugged in (you had to be there), the other half of the rhythm section is Coline Presley on bass, the anchor which kept the guitarists on either side her from blowing off into space, Coline's bass was right on the money, eyes closed for much of the gig as it appeared she felt the music as much as played it.  Now those guitars: on lead guitar is Valentin Buchens, who must have steel fingers because he shredded that guitar with a passion, and on vocals and guitar is Nick Wheeldon. Talking to Nick before the gig he appears so quiet and mellow (a nice fellow) but put him behind the mic and Nick transforms, belting out lyrics and some fine guitar. Together they bash out some mighty fine garage psych which has a real retro feel and sound to it whilst simultaneously being of the moment. The tracks are short and sweet which enhanced that retro feel. I really like them. I feel the Anvil with its low ceiling and basement are the perfect venue for a band of this type. It was a good call on my friends part, Os Noctambulos were certainly a band worth seeing. 

Check them out:

https://osnoctambulos.bandcamp.com/album/corsica-garden

Ouzo Bazooka @ The Anvil, Bournemouth

I'll just say from the start, wow! From the moment Ouzo Bazooka began to play and I heard Dani Ever HaDani hit the keys, I knew I was going to love Ouzo Bazooka. I wasn't wrong. Ouzo Bazooka are a four piece out of Tel Aviv who describe themselves as Mediterranean psych rock, I'll just describe them as bloody marvellous. Actually their description is apt, the markers of psych and rock are all definitely present, but also a very distinctive cultural signature which marks their psychedelic sound out as unique. Ouzo Bazooka are: Uri Kinrot on lead vocals and guitar who makes a great front man, Adam Schefflan on bass who delivers some stirling bass work, as does Ira Raviv on drums, who looked tripped out by the whole thing, and Dani Ever HaDani on keyboards, I really loved Dani's keyboard sounds. They're all great musicians. Every track was a perfect package of psych bundled up in a original way, with each track delivered via a clean tight sound. Many of the tracks were from their latest album 'Simoom' (of which I picked up a copy at the gig) which is pure bliss and has been played several times already. My only complaint is that 'Simoom' doesn't properly convey the energy of the band as I experienced them live. Though that's a regular complaint of mine, I do love the energy of live music. I will certainly get out to see them again if they're playing in these parts. Ouzo Bazooka, a really pleasant find, loved them.

Check them out:
https://ouzobazooka.bandcamp.com/

The Acid Valley Nomads @ The Anvil, Bournemouth

It's really awful to say, but too many times over the years I've either missed or ignored the support bands at gigs, I did say it was awful. Though this evening through a fluke of fate or maybe technical problems, I'm not sure, the bands were all running a bit late, as a consequence I got to see them all. And that's no bad thing as I got to see local band with loads of potential, The Acid Valley Nomads.  A five piece comprising of: Nastradoomus Nasos K (Vox/Guitar) Renniks (Bass) Fantastic Mr. Furr (Guitar) Bones Jones (Drums) Reverend Brother Raymond Ray aka the Pastor of Disastor (Keys). They belted out a succession of short, fast paced garage psych numbers which just oozed punk. I don't know how long they've been going, but they had a great sound and if their songs were anything to go by plenty of talent. They all looked like they were enjoying themselves (always good), especially Renniks who had the broadest cheeky grim you could imagine.  A friend pointed out that two of the band members father was in the audience, so I had pop over and tell him what talented sons he had and how much I'd enjoyed their set. Stupid really, I'm sure he already knew his sons had talent and he too had just watched their set so knew how good it was. Still. I was well impressed and shall certainly keep my out for them playing locally. I hope they get on, great performance, great songs, if they can do this so early in their musical career they deserve to! And to think I could have missed them, more fool me. 

Check them out.

https://soundcloud.com/acidvalleynomads