This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
For the second of their monthly St James Presents series the new managers at the concert hall, who have spearheaded something of a revolution in the concert hall, had booked Guernsey’s preeminent vintage style stoner rockers Lord Vapour.
However, in the lead up to show, rumour suggested the trio were working on something rather different as they announced a six piece, extended line up, of the band under the rather ‘flower power’ sounding name of The Buds In Bloom.
Upon arriving at the venue the suggestion of something unexpected continued as, not only was the stage fabulously decorated with flowers making it look (to quote support act Burg) ‘like The Chelsea Flower Show’, but St James’ rather famed Steinway & Sons grand piano was set up on stage along with the usual range of amplifiers and drums you’d expect from these riff monsters.
Before we found out what the headliners had in store though came a couple of other acts.
First was the aforementioned Burg, tonight without his Back Porch Band.
Seeing him in solo form is a rare treat these days as he spends most of his time delivering storming garage rock in the UK with The Electric Shakes and, as soon as he started playing his vintage Guild hollow body guitar through a classic Vox valve amp, there was no other word to describe the sound but beautiful.
Starting with some more mellow songs, Burg spanned various trademarks of Americana keeping the audience (at the front at least) rapt, building the energy as the set went on.
Highlights came with a ‘rag time’ type number, a murder ballad co-written with former Coalbox Generals band mate Shaun Shackleton and the closing Bangin’ On My Door which even featured some modest audience participation, and I hope it’s not so long before we see Burg (with or without the rest of his band) back on stage over here again.
After spending some time in the studio recently, and then the night prior to this playing possibly the most unusual venue on record, the island’s occupation era underground hospital, Balkan influenced upbeat folk five-piece, The Cor Damme Lars, took to the stage with some sense of expectation.
Unfortunately technical problems (which both band and crew did their best to fix and work through) meant they never quite hit their full stride.
As the set went on things did improve and they got a few moving at the front and some were clearly engrossed and enjoying it, but, despite the band’s best efforts, it didn’t make for one of their best outings and fell disappointingly flat.
After a bit of a break it was finally time to find out exactly what Lord Vapour & The Buds In Bloom had in store from us.
Along with the original three members of the band, Joe Le Long (tonight on rhythm guitar rather than bass), Henry Fears (lead guitar) and Christiaan ‘Squirrel’ Mariess (usually drums but tonight flute, extra percussion and occasional guitar), The Buds In Bloom added Lee Oliver (formerly guitarist of Stone Em All and Distant Shores but here on piano) and, from The Recks, Richey Powers (bass) and Moxie (drums).
As the performance began with a rather noodly, jam type number I have to admit I feared the worst having found Lord Vapour sometimes somewhat over self-indulgent when it comes to extended jams within their songs. As the set went on though, it became clear that the six musicians were throwing a range of styles into the mix giving, in many ways, something for everyone.
While there were moments that veered alarmingly close to Muzak to my ears, and a few of the tracks felt unfinished, when the band hooked into a groove, which happened more often than not, the whole thing sounded great and the addition of flute and piano really was something new and totally different for what was ostensibly advertised as a ‘rock show’ (of one sort or another).
Being so different from the usual Lord Vapour experience did make it somewhat hard to find a hook for the set as a whole, but it did remain rooted in elements of the 1970s revival aesthetic that the band have played on in the past and it was undeniably impressive that the entire set was made up of totally new material written specifically for this event.
The highlights for me came, it will probably surprise no one, in the more blues and rock influenced tracks, particularly one that saw Joe add some harmonica and a rockier number a little later in the set, meanwhile all of the playing was exceptional, showing new sides of all six musicians’ skills, but I have to admit that Moxie on drums possibly stole the show in that regard.
Added to this was a fantastic light show from the LH Events crew that built on the overall atmosphere provided by the music like few I’ve seen at local band’s shows.
As a whole the performance was something of a varied affair, at its best groovy and atmospheric and at its worst somewhat self-indulgent and disconnecting (though more of the former than the latter I must make clear).
So, for a special one-off (at time of writing) show, it felt like a true event with some genuinely impressive musicianship on display, while seeing a band take a risk like this on such a big stage is always good, and given the reaction from the audience there’s no denying it was a great success all round.
