This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
Twice last year Guernsey Gigs put on nights that presented something entirely different to a normal gig under the banner of their Jam Nights.
For the first of the new year the format remained the same with musicians being invited to put their name in the ‘hat’ (actually a selection of buckets) and become part of a randomly selected band who would have twenty minutes on stage to see what they could do.
As the night began it was encouraging to see many new faces to these events at The Fermain Tavern, along with some regulars, ranging from some who we don’t see on stage very often to members of bands like Lord Vapour and Rentoclean.
As well as the interesting mix of band members the other thing these events have become known for are some of the more interesting names the groups have chosen and, as we started with Obesity Boys, it was clear that trend was continuing too.
Featuring members of Clameur De Haro and Burning at Both Ends along with drummer Jon Sandilands, vocalist Andy Duchemin and bass player Grant Sharkey, the five-piece mixed everything from hip hop and punk to bluegrass to created some interesting music highlighted by Silas The Assyrian Assassin’s Wheelchair Blues being morphed into a twisted country jazz rock odyssey.
With a notable component of the band missing Where’s The Fucking Singer were second up and created an epic grunge blues jam that lasted the best part of their 20 minutes and, in particular, showed off the guitar playing of Chas Cole (more commonly seen behind the sound desk).
More blues rock jams came next from The Mysterons, but this time bolstered by the violin of Greg Harrison and the drums of Jon Sandilands that seemed to have more interesting ideas than just the usual.
With a nice rhythm and groove throughout they really hit their stride as the set reached its climax.
With members of Brunt and Lord Vapour on the main three instruments it’s probably not surprising that The QTs had a strong classic rock vibe to their sound but, with Dennis Allen’s sax, it had something different to their usual as well.
On top of this Rentoclean’s Dan Gilbert added his freestyle vocals to the mix and it was great to see him riffing on what was going on in a genuinely free and creative way.
Initially announced as Satan’s Erection, but later changed to slightly less pronounceable, but more socially acceptable, BrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbpOi! brought some deeply psychedelic grooves to the night as different Lord Vapour and Rentoclean members shared the stage once again along with the vocals of Jade Grace.
While we don’t get to hear Jade sing very often when we do it’s always a treat as she has a strong voice that, at its best, merges the kind of styles of Fleetwood Mac and Purson in fine fashion.
Shattered Illusions of a Twisted Mind did their best to out do everyone with band names and, by combining funk, punk, power pop and free jazz also seemed intent on going for the most bizarre combination of sounds of the evening, but when it all clicked it worked well, making for exactly the kind of moments that make these nights so special.
Harking back to the first Jam Night last year the final band, which was really made up of simply as many of the night’s performers as could fit on the stage, took the name of The Nick Farnham Experience Relived featuring Grant Sharkey.
Given the number of people and the time of night it probably isn’t a surprise that this descended into a fairly chaotic, but still funky, jam complete with duelling saxophones!
While its hard to capture a flavour of these events in words given the variety of sounds and performers, what really makes them special is how they give us the chance to see and hear musicians we might already be familiar with doing something totally new as well as giving the performers the opportunity to step out of their comfort zones and play with new people they normally wouldn’t, and in some cases with others they don’t even know, and it’s just a great chance to celebrate the breadth of live music and musicians that Guernsey has to offer.
