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| The Len Price 3 at The Half Moon - Photo by Paul Slattery |
Our latest Retro Man Blog night was at
The Half Moon Putney on Friday October 25th for the official showcase party of
The Len Price 3's forthcoming new album "Nobody
Knows". We were delighted to have the album on sale at the gig exclusively prior to it's official 2014 release on CD and
a glorious Deluxe Vinyl edition. The Len Price 3 were joined by very
special guests
The Fallen Leaves and
The Past Tense and we were also pleased to have
The Travellers, the St. Malo based band, who opened up the show with a short acoustic showcase of their own, to promote their brand new single "Stay".
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| The Travellers, Robert & Gemma - Photo by Paul Slattery |
The Travellers were over in the U.K. to play a gig at the Fiddler's Elbow in Camden the next day with their full line-up, so it was great that Gemma and Robert could come along and start off the gig in real style. They started off with the beautiful soul ballad "Can't Stop Loving You" and then played both sides of the just released single, the stunning "Stay" and equally impressive "Don't Look For Me". They ended on a spontaneous run through of "Summer With No Sun", which is in the running for Retro Man Blog's best single of 2013, and the set closed to appreciative murmurs about Gemma's wonderful voice. "Stay" is out now on green 7" vinyl, so check out their site for more details.
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| The Past Tense - Photo by Paul Slattery |
Next up were our regulars
The Past Tense and they put on a great show, also showcasing two new songs, "Remember The Days" and "What's Coming Next?" from their forthcoming split E.P. with The Loop. Warren and Ken again proved they are probably the best rhythm section on the scene at the moment, with some truly outstanding Keith Moon style drumming during the Quadrophenia tribute "Jimmy's Love Song". Singer and guitarist Andy, slashed away aggressively at his new guitar with that idiosyncratic left handed style of his and as always, looked a little bit bashful at the noisy and appreciative reception from the crowd at the end of their quite excellent set.
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| The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Paul Slattery |
Well, what can I say about
The Fallen Leaves that I haven't already said many times on the Blog recently, they are quite simply the best live act around at the moment. The Half Moon certainly seems to bring out the best in them too, and they put in a faultless display on how to pace and build a set to a perfect crescendo, ending with the Garage Rock epic "Trouble" as a well deserved encore. Their stage show is laced with their own brand of laconic humour. Vocalist Rob Green has the art of holding a crowd's attention down to a fine art, if it's not his elaborate English country gent act of nonchalantly blowing smoke rings from his e-cigarette to checking his antique pocket watch it's the set's showpiece, his tea ceremony with a thermos flask.
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| Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves takes a tea break - Photo by Paul Slattery |
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| Rob Symmons of The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Paul Slattery |
"These are simple songs for complex people" he announces and powerhouse drummer William Lewington cracks another set of drumsticks. It's dangerous at the front of a Leaves gig - after his burst of harmonica during "Passing By", bassist Matthew Karas flings the mouth-harp across the stage. But it's Rob Symmon's bashing and contorting of his guitar that tops it all. A truly unique and underrated guitarist, as he twists yet more impossibly catchy riffs from his Fender. Two new songs are played tonight including the excellent "Prodigal Son" and I'm already looking forward to a new album impatiently. The Fallen Leaves continue their "Minimum R'n'B" club night residency at the 12 Bar this Wednesday November 6th with support from The Past Tense, so if you enjoyed these two acts you won't have long to wait to see them again!
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| The Len Price 3 backstage before the show - Photo by Paul Slattery |
So, finally...the long-awaited return of
The Len Price 3 to the Half Moon stage to promote their equally long-awaited fourth album "Nobody Knows" and the anticipation was building in the venue. The band kicked off with three tracks from the new album "Words Won't Come", which has actually featured in their set for quite a while now, then the Punky singalong of "Billy Mason" and then one of the album's highlights, "My Grandad Jim". We're back on familiar territory with the classic "Rentacrowd" and it's scathing put down of trendy hipsters north of the river in Hoxton and Shoreditch. Then another new one "Preying Mantis" and the instrumental cover version of "Comanche!" Has everyone singing along, well it's not difficult to remember the words...
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Paul Slattery |
"Swing Like a Monkey" from the new album is excellent but then they throw a curve ball by dropping in "Shirley Crabtree" straight afterwards, this is usually their traditional stage invasion inspiring encore, but they plough on with "Wigmore Swingers" and it's tale of suburban naughtiness and follow that with a storming "Christian In a Desert". The pace is slowed down a bit with "Lonely", which is similar in style to their last single "Mr. Grey" and shows that the band are not afraid to put the brakes on occasionally. "After You're Gone" and the storming title new album track "Nobody Knows". The crowd go crazy during "Pictures" and "You Tell Lies" and the band then treat us to "The London Institute", the last song on the new album, which I think it will go down as one of the defining songs in The Len Price 3's hugely impressive catalogue. It hints at even better things to come from the band. Storming encores leave the band strewn across the Half Moon stage, exhausted and happy and so are the crowd judging form the rapturous applause.
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| The Len Price 3 in action - Photo by Paul Slattery |
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Paul Slattery |
After the show we had a P.A.
play-back of "Nobody Knows" and the band chatted with fans and signed copies of the album. The official release date is not yet fixed, but keep a check on the Blog and we will be sure to let you know as soon as we get the details. We also ran a little competition on the night, the first 30 people
through the venue doors got the chance to have a
rummage in our Len Price 3 button badge bag. All 30 got to keep
their "Nobody Knows" badge exclusive to the launch party, and then one
person who pulled out the special "lucky badge" won a great prize of a signed vinyl deluxe edition copy of "Nobody Knows", a Travellers 12" vinyl E.P. and CD, plus CD's from The Fallen Leaves and The Past Tense. I sincerely hope that Ann, the lucky winner is enjoying her prize!
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Paul Slattery |
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Paul Slattery |
Thanks to everyone that came along on the night, we were just four people short of selling out the venue so that was really encouraging. I'd
also like to thank, for the much appreciated support for the gig, the following Radio shows and Podcasts. I'm a big fan of all of these
shows so it is really nice to get a mention! Please do check them out,
click the links, follow, subscribe and listen in...
Andy Morten and Jon Mills at Shindig! Magazine -
Broadcast #2
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| The Past Tense - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
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| Rob Green from The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
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| Bill Lewington of The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
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| Matthew Karas of The Fallen Leaves - Photo by Zig Criscuolo | |
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
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| The Len Price 3 - Photo by Zig Criscuolo |
With many thanks to Paul Slattery - the only photographer who can play air guitar and take photos at the same time - and to
Zig Criscuolo, from the excellent
WitchDoktors, for the great photos. For more photos of the gig please head on over to the Retro Man Blog
Facebook page and hit
"Like" for access to the exclusive photo album...All photos strictly copyright as stated in the captions. Here is a video of The Len Price 3 with "Pictures" recorded on the night. There are also more videos of all the bands at our Retro Man Blog
You Tube Channel, please check them out
here.
You can hear a brand new Len Price 3 track from the new album "Nobody Knows" in this special Episode of our very own
Retrosonic Podcast, along with tracks from all the bands who appeared, both off stage and in the crowd, it's free to download from our
Retrosonic Soundcloud site...Enjoy!
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