Sinead is a bad influence on me. I was at work one day, happily minding my own business and pootling along with my day to day tasks and projects (and telling everyone I met - and a few people that I just shouted it at over the Campus Shop floor - all about the major speaker I'd just scored as part of a week I'm organising in the autumn) when my face book messaging service pinged at me.
I ignored it.
It flashed at me.
I considered closing it down but by then it was too late. I knew that there was something there, and I would be distracted until I read it.
It was a message from Sinead. It was short, sweet, and to the point. 'Chimney Boys playing tonight in Broadstairs, if you fancy joining me?'
Ooh, it was tempting. So, so tempting. It was also a school night. You can start to see why Sinead is a bad influence? It was alright for her - she had just come back from the Edinburgh Fringe and was still on annual leave. I, on the other hand, was very much still in work and had to be in on time for a meeting the next day. On the other hand, I hadn't seen any of the Broadstairs Folk Festival yet (I had been a coward about it over the weekend when the weather was bad and I decided that the sofa was too warm and comfortable to even consider entertaining the idea of setting one toe outdoors) and this was the last week of the Festival. I also liked The Chimney Boys, having seen them perform before at one of Green Diesel's gigs at The Ballroom.
Steve was going to be playing darts all night, I didn't have a rehearsal, so why the hell not. I threw caution to the wind, messaged Shay back and told her I was on, and we arranged to meet at the Wrotham Arms (which was handy as that was where the gig was).
The Wrotham Arms is well known in Broadstairs as being a major live music venue, with gigs held every weekend and some major claims to fame if you have a nosey amongst the posters gracing the walls. There is also a monthly Blues and Roots club. I have no idea what Roots are when combined with Blues, but I would quite like to find out! It's probably nothing like the image I have of a banjo strumming, porch reclining, bit of hay chewing country boy band (although I secretly quite hope it is).
I rocked up to the Wrotham Arms only to be scared shitless by Ben when he bounded up to me and startled me when I was looking the other way. Considering he and his band mates were on their 17th gig in about 10 days, they were looking surprisingly energetic; energetic enough to give me a minor heart attack anyway.
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed by now that the Chimney Boys lineup that night was looking remarkably similar to Green Diesel's regular line up. The bands around here have a habit of swapping members for one off gigs when numbers are a bit low. Sinead commented that seeing the Chimney Boys as an all male ensemble for a change (as none of the girls could make it) made a real difference to their sound.
The pub was packed - standing room only, and hotter than hell inside. Beer was required so we snuck off to the bar and stocked up on some pints of Whitstable Bay Pale Ale - a light, refreshing beer that is easy to drink and not too strong. It is brilliantly thirst quenching and seriously quaffable - perfect for a night like this.
We then squirmed our way to the front, threw our bags defiantly on the floor to mark our territory and engaged in conversation with the nice people around us as we waited for the band to finish warming up.
The Chimney Boys have just bought out a new EP, Everything That Rises (buy it, I did, it's good and you can also get Morality Rises on Spotify) and the gig was splattered with songs from this throughout, as well as old favourites.
There was a bit of a pause after the first 8 songs or so and a mass rush for the loos (all that beer) plus a mass rush for the doors (seriously, it was SO hot!) and predictably a rush for the bar and then we launched into the second half.
Inevitably, we had lost our place and were much further back than before which gave us ample opportunity to watch the antics of the sound guy as he got up every 2 minutes to check and adjust the levels again. The man resembled a jack in the box.
I've described their style before so I won't bother again, but you can listen to a couple of (incredibly poorly filmed) extracts from the night below!
I think what I enjoy most about gigs like this (other than the fact I am out midweek with my friends) is the fact that the band members themselves seem to be genuinely enjoying themselves.
Everyone also gets a chance to showboat. The drummer came up and sang in French (show off), the guitar players chopped and changed between various string instruments, and they all belted out the songs.
The atmosphere is joyful as well, with people who have come along simply because it is a live music night as part of the Festival standing, singing and dancing next to people who know all the words to the songs.
It's a good way to spend an evening. Even if I didn't get home until gone midnight.
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No I haven't just ignored the laundry for a while. Actually yes I have but I'm not about to post pictures of it in a blog post.
Do you remember me talking about the Ballroom all those many moons ago? You don't? Well just pretend that you did ok? That was the first Dirty Linen night, and it is now an official annual event!
Organised by Green Diesel, Dirty Linen is a roaming folk night where a plethora of folk bands from all over the genre spectrum come together for a night of fabulous, foot twitching musical energy. It was the Bank Holiday weekend. It was a Thursday night. There was no work (for most of us) until the following Tuesday. It was time to let our hair down!
The Ballroom had designed a cocktail specifically for this night, called the Apple Pie Moonshine, served in a mason jar wrapped in a brown paper bag, it was a mix of toffee apple cider, cinammon, rum and cloudy apple juice. I dove straight into a Prickly Pear, a delectable mixture of vodka, elderflower cordial, pressed pear juice, lemon, sugar and soda. Divine. I then spent five minutes gazing enviously at the group who had managed to snaggle the bathtub for the night.
We started off listening to The Chimney Boys, the 'finest satanic maritime cabaret band in East Kent'. I'll be honest, I'm not sure how many satanic maritime cabaret bands there are in Kent, or in the UK generally speaking, but that is neither here nor there. They are a dark folk band, eerie and mysterious and listening to them framed by the bleeding portraits behind them was an absolute pleasure. There is a gothic undertone to their folk music, it's the heart of a dark, Victorian funfair.
Sinead was explaining to me that the band don't actually get to play together as much as they would like to as the members are now scattered all over the UK, but if you follow them on facebook, you may get lucky and get to see them live, which is highly recommended! Fun fact -one of the members, Michael, was the 2nd choice to play Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films apparently. Personally I feel he would have been wasted there.
The Ballroom really is a brilliant venue for live music - acoustically it's not bad and the general layout means that it is an ideal space for dancing. I was outside at one point getting some air (it's really quite warm!) and there was what looked like a pub golf crawl of rather inebriated individuals who clearly wanted to come in but hadn't realised it was a folk night. They came up, ordered their round for this hole (Bloody Mary's, clearly slightly more adventurous than your average pub golf crawl) and the next time I looked at them they were all dancing their knee high argyle patterned socks off. Folk music seems to have that effect on people - even if you have never listened to it before or have a pre-conception that it is not for you, chances are you will love it. There is also such a huge variety of folk out there now, it is an incredibly broad genre so if you don't like one style, keep looking. There will be another one!
After The Chimney Boys, Green Diesel themselves headlined, showcasing a mix of the old crowd pleasing favourites as well as some of their new material from their brand new album. I will always have a soft spot for this band. Ignoring the fact that I am friends with some of the members, have shared a stage with them and had some of the best nights of my life at events where they have been playing, their music is just fantastic. I have two of their albums in the CD player of my car and despite the fact they have been there for months now, the music hasn't grown old in the slightest!
Green Diesel are a lot more rocky than some of the other folk bands and yet still maintain a traditional air. They blend ancient, almost forgotten melodies with modern original songs to create a sound that is hauntingly familiar to the ear and yet still fresh. They even starred on the BBC 4 drama Southcliffe and wrote a jig specifically for the show.
Folk music is also becoming more and more popular with the rise of local music festivals. In Kent alone there are a large number of them, Broadstairs has an entire festival devoted to folk music in the summer, it is a huge feature of the Rochester Sweeps festival in May and a lot of pubs will hold mini festivals with folk bands throughout the year. Have a look around your local area - you may be surprised what you find!
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