This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard
While we have been spoiled somewhat with notable and highly enjoyable live music events so far this year every now and then one comes along that stands out from the rest and St. James Presents… The Space Pirates Of Rocquaine is certainly one of those.
From the Lord Vapour’s Buds In Bloom to WaterColour Matchbox bands have taken the opportunity of playing the converted former church to add something more to their shows but, on arriving at St James tonight, The Space Pirates had clearly gone to the next level.
The stage was decorated with nautical and piratical ephemera (complete with ‘sails’ on each side of the stage) and behind the band was a large screen showing, initially, the rather excellent artwork by James De La Rue created especially for the night (and later specially made and filmed videos and animation).
Along with this the venue was also set up in a slightly different way with a mix of seating and standing and, I have to say, at first I thought we might get into a position where no one standing would move forward into the space in front of the stage out of politeness for those sitting down which would have left something of a void between the band and the audience.
Early on it was clear this wasn’t going to be the case and we didn’t get into a situation like we’d seen at some of the folk festivals with an antagonistic divide between those wanting to sit and listen and those wanting to stand and dance, meaning the night had a great atmosphere in the crowd throughout.
So, to the actual performance… rather than just a straight forward run through of the band’s many popular songs they matched the decoration of the venue by taking it in a more conceptual direction. This focussed on their songs about Guernsey’s folklore and history with added narration, written by members of the band and delivered, captivatingly, by Rand Brun, throughout the night.
This meant that the set list wasn’t quite organised exactly as one would expect with the occasional mood or tempo shift that, in a usual setting, could be a bit jarring but here was less of a clash thanks to the surrounding concept.
After some scene setting sound effects things began with the atmospheric Creux Mahie and the first set wound it’s way from tales of the Hangman’s Inn to The Beast Of The Coudre to The Fermain Boat before taking a brief jaunt over the water to Sark for a trilogy of songs inspired by the island; The Hunter, The Witch & The Duck, Sark Skies and Folk Everything, a song that celebrates the energy and fun of the best of the Sark Folk Festival with local references and name drops aplenty.
The first half of the show was then rounded off by a slowed down version of the band’s long time crowd favourite The Witch Of The Longfrie which brought a spookier vibe to the song and went down a storm to close the first set.
After a short break we were back into the mysterious folklore with Ring Of Stones kicking off the second half of the show complete with a video made especially for the night at the Fairy Ring at Pleinmont. From there we met The King Of Alderney (a song new to me that really brought out the band’s pop-folk side brilliantly), the werewolves of The Variouf, and Mr Le Goupillot and his troubles with mischievous spirits.
Edge Of The World provided a highlight complete with fully animated video matched to the song (that I hope goes up online in full if it hasn’t already) while the tales of shipwrecks the SS Briseis and Prosperity brought the history with the latter particularly silencing the audience as it’s tragic tale was told and the audience coming alive along with the thundering drums of the song.
This was then rounded off with The Space Pirates’ own version of Sarnia Cherie which had the crowd jumping and singing along leading to one of the loudest reactions I can remember hearing for a band in Guernsey and one of the most deserved encores I can recall as the band returned for another take of The Witch Of The Longfrie at its more traditional pace closing the show off in the best of ways.
Through all of this the band played the tightest I’ve ever seen them balancing the energy of when I’ve seen them in the corner of the public bar at The Imperial with the control needed to bring the stories of the songs to life.
With Lisa Vidamour driving the band from the front with a great energy, the rest of front line up of Mark Guppy, Chris Denton and Tim Corbett fed into this as well with one of the most engaging performances I’ve seen them give.
Nick Dodd’s electric guitar behind this moved from providing atmospheric backing to twanging country rock ‘n’ roll moments while Claire Moxie’s drums and extra percussion from Graham Duerden powered it all from the back.
On top of all of this the fiddles of Jess Nash and Sarah Van Vlymen added the usual extra sparkle but, when both were on stage together, they elevated this to something extra that really brought a special sound to the songs.
All of this, combined with the extra production which was all seamless (so credit to those unseen making that all work), made for a show that was genuinely something special.
It also proved (if it were needed) that The Space Pirates Of Rocquaine who can, at times, feel like something of a local novelty, are in fact a group of tremendous songwriters and performers that can generate a real connection with their audience and here also created one of the most complete ‘full production’ live music events I can remember experiencing in Guernsey.
