This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
When it was announced that St James was staging a pirate themed ska party featuring well known Guernsey based band The Honest Crooks and visiting octet Slim Pickings, ‘complete with pirate ship,’ I expected maybe a few Jolly Rogers and some inventive fancy dress.
Upon arriving at the venue on Saturday night though, less than 24 hours after Phill Jupitus graced the same stage, I found it bedecked with not just a mast complete with sail and large Jolly Roger flag but also the full hull of a ship extending the width of the stage.
Closer inspection may have revealed it to be cunningly fashioned hardboard and cardboard held together with those most trusty of theatrical devices gaffer tape and cable ties, but it nonetheless looked very impressive and, with stage risers making the fore and poop decks, gave a suitably different feel to the venue.
After a selection of classic ska, reggae and dub from DJ Rob R, The Honest Crooks were the first to take to the stage with the drums located in the traditional centre back stage position rather than offset, in another change to the normal for this venue.
From the off the quartet drew the unfortunately modest but still growing crowd forward with a few dancing to the ska inspired sounds.
Getting into the spirit of the thing the band were all dressed in piratical fashion, except bass player Cheese who seemed to be going with a more Peter Pan pirate based theme channeling Tinkerbell – complete with green dress and fairy wings…
As the set went on the band’s familiar songs, along with a few well chosen covers from Gentlemen’s Dub Club and Reel Big Fish drew the crowd further forward and they were bolstered by a few brand new tracks, as yet without titles, that continued their trend for writing catchy, skank-along fare.
The quartet did suffer a couple of technical stumbles largely thanks to frontman Raddy’s guitar (though by his own admission one may have been more related to too much beer than anything more technological) but they carried on regardless and were as entertaining as always and seemed to have the crowd warmed nicely for the headlining visitors.
Despite being the headliners, and being a thoroughly friendly bunch outside the venue before the show and getting well into the piratical vibe of the night, it was clear that I wasn’t alone in not being familiar with Slim Pickings.
Hailing from Southend the eight piece band brought a more reggae feel than I, and I think several others, expected given the billing of the event but nonetheless as the set began and got going they seemed to be doing something interesting with the style.
With a pair of vocalists up front and a trumpet that led a lot of the music they drew people forward and, while they began to a smaller crowd, this was soon bolstered as those who had headed outside between the bands and were drawn back in and after a few songs many were grooving along.
During the first half of the set they did a great job of presenting a varied version of a sound based on reggae with more upbeat numbers and some slower and more laid back ones mixed in, but then around half way something happened.
I’m not sure what it was as, from my point of view nothing really changed except maybe the sound in the large hall becoming slightly lost and muddy. As it went on from there though the audience, already not the biggest it could have been, began to drift and while the band focussed their attention on those remaining at the front, their initial engaging presence also seemed to lessen.
Even though those at the front called for an encore and were treated to something of a bit more of a reggae jam and clearly loved it, it did leave the night on something of a flat and confused note.
As we head into summer festival season though, indoor gigs suffering can be a common trend each year, so maybe this was just the start of that rather than anything specific done by bands, organisers or anyone else.
