Clwb Ifor Bach Gig 3 August 28th 2021
(or Date Night for Me and Mrs Jones)
The Wandering Heart gig popped up on my Songkick app https://www.songkick.com/ about a week before the date and I was keen to find an early gig that both Nikki and I could enjoy....this is going to be a long year for her, constantly wondering how many gigs I have in any particular week! The review on the App, described the band as 'harmony laden Americana' and a listen to the latest eponymously titled album, gave me enough Dixie Chicks vibe to get some tickets.
I liked the fact that the gig was at Clwb - https://clwb.net - it meant my first three gigs of the project would involve the three venues I would be spending most of time at. Clwb first opened in 1983 with a strict Welsh language policy and although much more relaxed these days they are a massive champion of Welsh language music and bilingualism is pretty much a prerequisite for working there.....as Megs, my eldest, does. The venue is based over three floors, though most of the gigs take place on the top floor and I've seen some amazing gigs there - Stereolab - American Music Club - Super Furries - (British) Sea Power and missed lots more - Coldplay (who I wouldn't cross the road to see these days, but I'll bet were pretty electric at Clwb) - The Killers - The Strokes - Foals. It's a venue that bands like playing and the investment they've made in the top floor in terms of facilities and the P.A sound system has been well worth it. Just before lockdown, I was lucky enough to see 9Bach, Pom Poko and the Jim Jones Experience, all electrifying live performances in their own ways.
Enough history, back to the present. Another balmy late summers evening, hard to believe the wind and rain we had experienced the weekend before. Oh wait a minute, that was Greenman weekend wasn't it! Anyway, we strolled into town and got got the gig at 20:30 and here is a cautionary note.....The Wandering Hearts were already playing when we got there. Luckily it was still the first song but I still couldn't quite believe that the main act was on at 20:30. In fact even though I could hear a band playing I still stopped at the bar to buy a couple of Camden Pale Ales and asked the bar staff 'how long has the support been on?' 'Oh. I think this is the main band' was the reply. So in we wandered and yep, it was the main act on stage. A decent crowd but not so full we couldn't get close to the stage and my first thought was .....'what a wholesome bunch of people'. My next thought was 'this is such a wholesome band of musicians, they play early so they can get to bed early'! No really, I thought I'd arrived at some fringe evangelical event and we were watching their front of house recruiters. It was all super clean flowing hair, flawless complexions and immaculately toothed smiles. I had to give myself a stern internal talking to and start concentrating on the music.
The Wandering Hearts are a three piece British band, augmented live by Lee Campbell an obviously talented multi instrumentalist, and they VERY obviously love American Country music. This was like the The Grand Ol’ Opry coming to Wales and in fact the band have played at The Grand Ol' Opry and are extremely well respected in the US. Their harmonies are stunning and they write great melodies to show those harmonies off. Sometimes reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac at their Rumours best but mainly, almost, authentically American country. I say almost because this is a British band and I found their passion for recreating that sound, just a little uncomfortable. They met Marty Stuart (a maverick Country legend in Nashville) who invited them to tour in the States in 2018, he's taken a real shine to them and even contributed a song to the latest album. The fact that the song turned out to be DREAMS, the song I liked least of all from the album I think gets to the heart of my discomfort with them. Authenticity, I couldn't seem to find it and does that matter, well it does to me.
A little history of the band reveals, I think, why I can appreciate what they can do while not appreciating the result of what they can do, does that make sense? AJ Dean, the guitarist was a founder member of The Bluejays a UK 50's Rock and Roll revivalist outfit (NOT the Aussie psych rockers) while Tara Wilcox and the fantastically named (and bone structured) Chess Whiffin, have backgrounds in musical theatre and voice coaching. These are people for whom music is a professional career choice, they don't do gigs, they didn't just pick up guitars and make a noise. They've trained all their lives to be musicians, they train to put on SHOWS. This shouldn't necessarily preclude them from achieving authenticity, I just personally don't feel it in this band.
They sing so beautifully and play so well I wish I could hear them produce a sound that was a bit more authentically British. But, hey...they seem to be making the right noises in the US so don't listen to me, go and have a great career. I love being wrong.
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