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| Barnet Mark outside The 12 Bar Club - Photo copyright Paul Slattery |
Well, sadly that was the last of
The Fallen Leaves Minimum R'n'B nights at the
12 Bar Club in Denmark Street and it was a rather emotional night it must be said. I have not seen the place so rammed before, testament to great work that Mark and the staff put in and to the affection that so many people have towards the 12 Bar. In fact the crowd struggled to get inside the tiny venue for a last taste of that legendary atmosphere and to see The Fallen Leaves final show in their spiritual home. There is some good news though, the 12 Bar will be continuing, Mark has now found a new venue in North London, it is
Phibbers, 203 Holloway Road, London N7 8DL. Things look to be moving on quite quickly so keep an eye out on the club's web-site or Facebook page for exactly when they will be up and running and booking gigs. It's still unsure what will happen with The Fallen Leaves Minimum R'n'B nights, whether they will move to the new 12 Bar or try and find a new more centrally located venue, of course we will keep you up to date as soon as we have some news.
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| The Fallen Leaves at The 12 Bar Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
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| The Fallen Leaves at The 12 Bar Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
The Fallen Leaves put in another great performance and even treated us to brand new song called "Good Man", which was an excellent catchy little number with some really memorable harmonies. The new songs the band have started to introduce into the set over the last few gigs such as "Motorcycle Girl", "Prodigal Son", "Lavender Girl" are all promising much for their next album, and I really hope this will see the light of day sometime this year. The rest of the set was crammed full of a selection of their crowd favourites such as "Passing By", "Shining" and "Trouble" and the singalong "Happy Days" from their debut album which made a rare appearance and tested drummer Bill's skills to the maximum. I just hope that the band can sort out a new venue very soon, especially as they do such a great job in helping other bands and giving them a chance to play.
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| Mandeville at The 12 Bar - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
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| Mandeville at The 12 Bar - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
One of those other bands well worth a mention was the support act Mandeville. They have been on the Blog's radar for a while but I'd never got round to seeing them play until last night and they were excellent. I don't really know much about them except they are based in Chelmsford in Essex and seem quite young, yes I know, a bit of a novelty for the Blog! First of all there's Jack who looks a bit like Steven Malkmus from Pavement crossed with Anton from Brian Jonestown Massacre, in fact there's a bit of a BJM vibe to the band overall. Anyway, Jack plays guitar and shares lead vocals with bassist Max who throws his bass around, at one point scraping it down the mic stand to good effect. Then there is guitarist Matt and drummer Caroline, who is really excellent, I like drummers who put everything into their performance and really feel the music rather than just bashing away at the kit. Matt and Jack trade some great riffs and there is a powerful punch to their sound which goes down well with the crowd. On occasion Mandeville do veer a bit close to The White Stripes but when they have songs as good as "Supreme" and "High Roller" in their set, this is no big deal at this stage in their career. Anyway, great band and I will certainly try and get to see them play again soon.
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| The 12 Bar Club - Photo copyright Retro Man |
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| Mandeville at The 12 Bar - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
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| The Fallen Leaves at The 12 Bar Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog |
Click
here for the Mandeville Facebook page,
here for The Fallen Leaves and
here for The 12 Bar.
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