Last Saturday we rocked on up to Chesterfield Labour Club and helped raise a veritable tonne of money for Pathways - a charity for the homeless and those at risk of homelessness in Chesterfield.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that honestly, we had very little to do with it other than turning up and singing for half an hour, and can really take absolutely 0 credit whatsoever. So, to start on a more serious note, we would like to mention the wonderful Matt and Mel McAteer that worked so hard to organise the whole shindig. Mel works at Pathways, so dedicates all her time to the cause and Matt also organises the wonderful Indie Electric nights at the Labour Club (we really recommend you get yourself down there on the 31st, as our vicar (the Very Revered Fordzy) is performing alongside some other excellent talent and is set to be another AMAZING night).
Now on to the puns - and you don’t get to know how much was raised until the end of the blog - it’s a bit like the medal at the end of a triple marathon, the oasis at the end of the desert, the cake at the end of that kids party you really didn’t want to attend.
We will set the scene - it was a Saturday, it was HOT. Hotter than Kevin Bacon’s bum dropped in a volcano. So hot he had to change his name to Kevin Fried Bacon. Hot.
A lovely sugar pill had been set up for - what? A what? You said a pla- oh I see. Apologies, a lovely GAZEBO (not placebo) had been set up to provide some well needed shade for the acts. A beautiful mix of spoken word and music - sometimes both at the same time.
It was 3pm and Mel shook her bucket for donations as Matt MC’d and kicked off the event. Kieran Smith (AKA Ichabod Wolf) played quietly in the background as Matt set the tone for the day with some fantastic spoken word - nothing could epitomise roots art like Matt’s words, spoken at a labour club, all in aid of a homelessness charity. Beautiful stuff.
Next up was The Wolf himself. We are not sure there are words to describe Ichabod Wolf, so bear with us as we try and take you on a journey of the senses. Ichabod’s complicated and fascinating guitar riffs are like sweet meringue, his intricate lyrics a tantalising mix of sweet strawberry and bitter blackberry, his dulcet baritones like smooth dark chocolate - leaving one with a sort of working class Eton Mess. A Chezzy Mess, if you will. Interestingly, heralded as a sort of music-deity in these parts, Ichabod Wolf is often celebrated on December 25th. ‘Merry Chezzymess!’ The children will jeer as they exchange gifts round the local holly bush.
Realistically, the only thing missing from a really warm day is reggae - and Mr Bunny did not disappoint on that front. Again, the loop pedal envy was real, and we started to wish we had four sets of hands to play different instruments at the same time. The lyrics and loops lead to questions like ‘what is the meaning of life?’, ‘what are we really doing here, man?’ And ‘do you think we could fit a double bass in the back of the three door VW Polo?’.
Next up we had Alan Brown. A sort of musical homage to the spaghetti junction - and we mean that in the BEST way. We stared to get loop pedal envy with the most amazing psychedelic tunes coming at our ears. He is 1/3 of music fusion/prog band Hitiro - look them up if you get the chance, you will not be disappointed.
Next was Kworyl. We got a little sidetracked at this point by a man asking us what our favourite ABBA song was (the answer is ALWAYS Does Your Mother Know) but not enough for us to not notice another loop peddle and us turning green with envy. Another fantastical mixture of spoken word style lyrics (which is basically any lyrics deeper than ours, fol-de-rol day) with guitar underpinning everything behind.
Of course as the bands/ acts progressed the sudden ‘oh my gosh, we have to follow these people!’ Started to just creep in our subconscious slowly like waves upon the sand - right up until the band before us where it crept more like devastating tidal wave. But we are skipping ahead.
The Honest Poet was up next. You could tell this meant a lot - with Pathways having helped her in the past. She stood with great confidence and gave us lyrical insights into her life and the struggles she has overcome. Monsters under beds and in mirrors, dragged onto the page and released to help others in their healing processes.
This next start might seem like a bit of a ramble but bare with it - it will make sense. So, you know in the Superman movies where we all laugh because essentially Clark Kent’s disguise is the adult equivalent of them glasses that kids have that have a fake nose and ‘tache attached? Well, next up to play were Poke O’Swedgers - a band we had met on multiple occasions that Dean failed to recognise because one of them had, you guessed it, grown a ‘tache. We had a good laugh about it when Dean finally realised we weren’t speaking to a stranger, and had a really good chat about gigs, musical life, the closing of Chesterfield Folk Club and what we got up to during our lockdowns. The band were excellent as always. There was a lyric in one of the songs describing a man at the pub whose crisp crumbs were falling and collecting in his jeans turn-ups. That resonated with us a lot, we felt seen. Dean suggested it is a more like a bib for adults, and were Beth to adopt such attire it might actually save a lot of hoovering around the house.
Now, let it never be said that we don’t appreciate when a backing dancer takes over the show. My Pleasure was a brilliant act and was complimented beautifully by the most amazing dancer we had ever seen (and beautiful to boot! This gal had it all, we tell ya!). My Pleasure, again, with amazing musical talent from funny lyrics to complicated riffs - certainly someone that you wouldn’t necessarily want to follow because he is just THAT GOOD. Which we presume is why we were next up.
We played in our usual style - in and out, no messing. Bit Like Boris Johnson, really. Beth has the hair for it and most of the audience were on the verge of tears by the time our ‘time in office’ was over, and we probably left some lasting impressions on people, but nothing a little counselling couldn’t fix.
Next to our bits and bobs we noticed a guitar case that probably weighed as much in stickers as the guitar inside weighed. Joe Solo greeted us with a massive smile, a hand shake that could mix paint it was so vigorous, and shouts of ‘comrades!’. Joe is a force majeure - having worked all day and then travelled all the way from Scarborough to do this charity event, his personality was contagious. The conviction in what he sang was really uplifting. They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes - but if Joe is one of yours, we highly recommend it. He also dealt with a heckler with great humour - this is what we believe to be the pinnacle of folk music. That and fol-de-rol day.
The last two acts of the evening were Restless Spirits and May Days in Barcelona. Matt took the front of Restless Spirits and weaved his beautiful words around pillars of lilting music. More peddles than a millipede’s push bike - we were starting to wonder if we had missed some kind of peddle memo, or a pedalo as they are called in the ‘biz.
The sun began to set and May Days in Barcelona took over. He described the scene has ‘beautifully distracting’ as Rusty from the labour club brought out the most amazing sparklers we had ever seen - really top shelf stuff - top shelf, we presume, so they are out of the reach of children. May Days in Barcelona did a hauntingly beautiful set that was just really well offset by the sparklers flying around - really emotional stuff.
All in all, the fantastic team raised £357.88 to help Pathways. As always we are so humbled to have such beautiful people in our lives and the opportunity to meet new comrades. Mel and Matt are constantly giving their all to people who need it, but they never really speak about it - the work they do speaks for itself.
