Smokin Durrys, Tinned Fruit.
Dannys Bar Lev 1 Esquires TRhursday 26th March 2015.
The newly constructed bar stage was taken over tonight by the cream of Cornwall. Falmouth to be precise, a historical and scenic coastal town in the far west of that independent minded county. Added to this it contains a university which is rapidly gaining a burgeoning reputation as a breeding ground for up and coming bands and musicians. The town and university have produced some amazing talent in the past few years. The end of the last decade saw the rise of My Elvis Blackout as well as I Say Marvin. A few short years later Tall Ships emerged. Now the lovely harbour town is producing even more bands at a rate of knots, all thanks to Falmouth University and it's magnificent music department. These include Black Tambourines, Lost Dawn and Red Chords. Two more, Tinned Fruit and Smokin Durrys have branched out further and are embarking on a short nationwide tour of the UK. Tonight this self-financing 'adventure' arrives at Bedford Esquires.
Taking a break from their regular South West stomping ground at The Studio Bar in Penzance are TINNED FRUIT. They are Max Felts, Danny Withers and Dan Ledley, all studying BA (Hons) Popular Music. They formed a couple of years ago after being put together by their university lecturers for a module. The band purvey a retro garage rock sound with a strong punk flavour. The Sonics and Nirvana are obvious comparisons. Tinned Fruit also cite FIDLAR as an influence. They initially say little, preferring instead to let their impressive music speak volumes. With "Spit ghoul" and "Yours is mine" immediately seizing my attention, Danny announces "Cheers we're Tinned Fruit. We're from a long way away". "Like it want it" emits some woozy surf rock waves. They introduce a new one called "All my friends are packaged". This is a lot slower than the rest of the set, but it does feature the demented screamed vocals "I want to be your friend, until the very end" which does shake our tender senses. "Hands on my chest" detonates with some pulsing drum work. This song has a slight rockabilly vibe and a constraint shout of "gonna get worse before it gets better". Tinned Fruit utilise both their guitarist and bass player to provide the main vocals and this provides a good contrast of styles. "Alright / all eyes" finishes off a most impressive introduction to one of Falmouth's finest. A real treat for fans of the guitar.
Returning to Esquires are the original SMOKIN DURRYS, 'masters of blues rock'. The duo are Ash Caws on guitar and vocals, with drummer Max Felts making his second appearance of the night. This is their third show here as they had a slot at Christmas 2014 and also a gig supporting DZ Deathrays last September. A nice touch is provided by The Pad Presents as promoter Gareth Barber is here to support them tonight. With the local connection that Smokin Durrys contain, they do tease out a few friends to cheer them on, but on the whole it is a disappointing turnout on this Thursday evening. A shame for the bands that played totally original material and none of the dreaded covers that are becoming more frequent in this town. "Stomp me down girl" is played for a fan who specially requested this song after the last gig here. Following the bruising blues belter of "Should've known better" Ash takes time out to reflect. He says that they have been "on tour for a couple of weeks and it's been amazing, but you run out of things to say on stage". With merchandise to sell, he runs his eye along the table of band stickers before telling us to "put them on your car. If you haven't got one put them on someone else's car!".
"Done my brain" seems to contain a riff from a song that, for the whole three minute duration, I unfortunately couldn't nail! "Barking dog" sees the duo joined on stage by the bassist of Tinned Fruit. Ah, those canines, "They keep me up all night". With three EP's already under their belt, 2015 saw them release a mini album. Initially limited to fifty copies, it's called "Done do 'um". Without a shadow of a doubt, my favourite song from Smokin Durrys is the fast and furious "Feeling fuzzy". It is a great song and is fantastically exhilarating when performed live. With all the musicians due back in Cornwall on Sunday, the two piece end their Bedford show with "Walk right into the blues". With sweat dripping from them, Ash and Max both congratulate each other and leave us with a courteous bow. An excellent night and a real credit to Falmouth University. Mention should also be made of some fine sound, especially on the Tinned Fruit set, by Mr Derek Clark.
Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordalternativemusic.co.uk