Tag Archives: The Carlisle

Dodgy at The Carlisle, Hastings (Fat Tuesday headliners 28/2/17)

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , ,

“Are you sure this is actually England? Are you in the Euro-zone here?” asks Dodgy front-man, Nigel Clark, as he surveys the Fat Tuesday crowd in The Carlisle pub on Hastings seafront for their third gig of the evening.

Indeed, there is something unique about Hastings as far as music is concerned, and not something most of us would expect to find in England. In my quarter of a century being based in London I had the joy of attending some very memorable gigs. But never could I stroll along to my local and expect to find a top-ranking act from the Britpop era performing a gig in the pub – and for free!

Now in it’s ninth year, Hastings Fat Tuesday ( a long weekend of endless gigs and celebrations) has been been building a formidable reputation. The grand finale night, Fat Tuesday itself, saw 24 bands play 3 gigs each across 12 different venues venues. Unfortunate timetabling on my part, before I’d got fully acclimatised to Hastings’ seemingly never-ending calendar of events, meant I had a long-standing engagement doing a talk at the White Rock Hotel on the same evening. But as soon as I was finished I was able to hotfoot it down the road to see Dodgy do their third and final performance of the evening.

Always a welcome part of the 90s Britpop scene when guitar-based, accessible tunes were back in vogue and back in the charts, Dodgy made some catchy, memorable, era-defining songs. Having reformed a decade ago, they were clearly loving being part of Hastings Fat Tuesday. And the crowd were clearly loving having them there, too. It might have been a freezing cold February 2017 outside. But inside the Carlisle, with the late thirty-somethings and forty-somethings dancing away as the likes of Staying Out For The Summer, So Let Me Go Far and Good Enough rang out, the sun was beating down and it was Glastonbury 1997 all over again.

Dodgy, it’s good to have you back and it was good to have you around for Fat Tuesday.

http://www.dodgyology.com/

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Motörpace (Motörhead tribute) at The Carlisle, Hastings 20/8/16

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , ,

My review originally appeared in the Hastings Independent 1/9/16

When there is so much excellent original music being performed live around the town should the Hastings Independent be reviewing tribute bands? It’s a moot point and for much of the past couple of decades I’ve been pretty dismissive of the whole tribute band scene; but two things began to change. Firstly, being exposed to world-class tribute acts, like Australian Pink Floyd, appearing on festival line-ups alongside original artists and experiencing first hand the sheer quality of the musicianship, regardless of whether it was original or not. Secondly, reflecting on the legacy of some truly iconic acts in the wake of a seemingly endless succession of rock star deaths in recent months, not least one Lemmy Kilmister at the end of 2015, and concluding that it would be a particularly severe case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face to refuse to celebrate and enjoy the music of, say, David Bowie or The Eagles or Motörhead in a live setting just because the instigators are no longer with us. No-one ever got sniffy about the artistic validity of the Royal Philharmonic performing an evening of Beethoven so should celebrating the music of some of rock’s greatest icons really be that much different?

So here we are at The Carlisle then to witness the Motörhead tribute act, Motorpace. First, however, the band as they put it themselves “are their own support act” and rattle through a number of heavy metal staples by the likes of AC/DC, Metallica and Judas Priest before doing a full second set in full-on tribute band mode. Wisely, apart from the bass player/vocalist sporting some Lemmy-esque facial hair and a vaguely rock n roll-ish leather hat, the band avoid the temptation to play-act the roles of the former members of Motörhead and instead concentrate on getting the sound right; which they do with devastating precision. All the essential ingredients are there: the fast and furious bass-playing rumbling away like some industrial power tool, the hoary, growled vocals, the blinding guitar solos, the power drumming. It goes down really well with the Carlisle crowd which has swelled significantly by the time the band come on stage to do their main set in tribute to Lemmy and co. Punters lap up the likes of We Are The Road Crew, The Chase is Better Than the Catch, Overkill and, of course, Ace of Spades as well as more recent material like Thunder & Lightning from Motörhead’s final studio album, Bad Magic.

I’ve certainly become far more philosophical about tribute acts. If your entire experience of live music was to be nothing but an endless stream of tribute acts, each aping the glory days of bands gone by, that would be rather sad indeed; but as part of a balanced musical diet I see absolutely nothing wrong with taking in the odd tribute concert. This is especially so when the quality of the performance is as good as that delivered by Motorpace this evening.

https://www.facebook.com/motorpacetrib/?fref=ts

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2016-09-06 12.43.50

Related reviews:
Motörhead – Bad Magic
Motörhead at Hyde Park

Diggeth at The Carlisle, Hastings 15/7/16

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , ,

The Carlisle pub in Hastings is the town’s premier rock venue, hosting a range of up and coming bands, more established (yet not major league) acts as well as various tributes to some of the big name bands (usually all free). After a trawl around Hastings old town with an old friend, we made it into the Carlisle just as the night’s headline band, Diggeth took to the stage. If you’re not familiar with a band already it’s sometimes a bit of a hit and miss affair: you are never going to like everything after all. But this band immediately grabbed my attention.

Diggeth are a Dutch three-piece who’ve been around for about a decade now. Loud, crunching bass, powerful drumming, some great guitar riffs and those austere slightly Germanic-sounding, slightly American-sounding vocals that Dutch rock singers can pull off so well. But, very importantly, they had some really, really good songs, too. It’s all original material but pays enough dues to heavy metal and hard rock heritage to give some of the songs the immediate air of sounding like would-be classic rock staples. In fact it’s a sure sign of musicians making an impact on their audience if a band that you’ve never heard of before, play you songs that you’ve never heard of before and get you enthusiastically humming and moving along to them while at the same time still sounding fresh and original.

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In terms of influences the band cite AC/DC to Metallica to Michael Schenker to Slayer, as well as many more. I was certainly impressed enough by Diggeth to fork out a fiver for their CD – Kings of the Underworld, released in 2014. No souvenir purchase that’s soon forgotten about this: I’ve played it at least half a dozen times in the three or four days since I bought it. Songs like the title track ‘Kings of the Underworld’ and ‘See You in Hell’ have already become memorable classics to my ears and this is a band I’m certainly pleased to have stumbled across.

https://www.facebook.com/Diggethmusic/#