Tuesday 22nd June 2010

We played a hugely enjoyable gig at the Poacher in Portishead last Friday - and in contrast to England’s footballers (‘half-formed multi-millionaires, sluggish, thuggish, charmless’ - Steve Richards, writing in today’s Independent), who had just performed abysmally against Algeria, we were in vintage form. Don’t take my word for it, though – have a look at our Lemonrock reviews page, where Shayne had these very kind words to say:

‘Now isn’t that odd, just when I was beginning to think all the great songs had already been written and originality was going to be an increasingly difficult act to come up with, along come Sun Machine.

‘Take a pinch of Jefferson Airplane, add a spoonful of Led Zep, scatter an incidental portion of Siouxsie and the Banshees, smear with lashings of Cream, pick off the best of Chrissie Hynde, a wing of Doves and throw it all into your favourite psychedelic mixer, toss it in the air and it lands face up as an addictive dish served up with oozing atmospheric sounds and tightly composed, lyrically wonderful songs delivered by gourmets of their trade.

‘No kidding, Sun Machine don’t just rock, whether by choice or accident they have captured all that is good about the past forty years of quality music and turned it into something that now has their brand burned deep into its leathery hide.

‘Okay, I’m biased, these guys played original songs with a relaxed professional air that I doubt anyone else could pull off if anyone ever covered one of these gems. I like originality and admire talent that isn’t splattered with attitude and ego, and fortunately I got everything I wanted from the gig (as well as witnessing the amazing collapsing top hat).

‘If there was a bad song played last night then I never heard it; if there was a song played that I’d like to hear over and over again, I heard plenty. “(Hello to My) Demons” was four minutes of pure heaven, a memorable song with vocals that were made to sing songs like that and three musicians who were meant to play like that. The tribal poundings by drummer Colin Pearce were like a pulsing heartbeat knocking at the door of your senses and made you wonder why the drum kit wasn’t bouncing around the room. Fortunately the massive framework that caged him safely behind the kit ensured he stayed put for the entire set.

‘Looking at the huge Orange stack that Russell Cooze on bass had parked up against the wall and the beautiful bass he wielded you knew you would be listening to some serious bass playing, though serious is probably not the right word, it was dramatic and pulsating and, combined with Colin in the engine room, produced a perfect foundation on which to build good songs - and they built them well.

‘Guitarist Tim Clayton knows his stuff, his Les Paul knew its stuff and together with the aid of a platoon of footpedals, skill and a real feel for the music he played, covered this whole musical cake with a thick layer of icing that made you want to watch as well as listen.

‘Of course you can’t have a cake without candles and the candle that shone brightly on top of this cake came in the form of singer Bev May. Not so much a candle, really, more of a firework that would suddenly burst into life when least expected. Vocally suited to the songs, watchable and bubbling away all night, I think given a little more space to play in she would have been punching invisible clouds and kicking the pictures off the walls. Perfect.

‘Being unfamiliar with the songs wasn’t a problem because they accomplished their task: to hook you and have you craving for more; the songs work and they work brilliantly.

‘Wiltshire seems to be popping out a few good bands lately but Sun Machine are head and shoulders above the rest, not only for their insistence of playing their own original material in their own way and carving their own niche but for the way they make you wish the venue was bigger, the audience larger - and a good light show was erupting around them.

‘If you get the chance, listen to “Black Autumn”, “The Sign (Gone)” and “Not Only Gold”... Perfect.

‘It would be difficult to pigeonhole Sun Machine because there are so many tell-tale signs of different influences, yet they rightly haven’t made the mistake of clinging to any particular one and have blended their own sound beautifully.

‘A must-see band.

‘Shayne, Sat 19th Jun 10.’

Well! I don’t know where to look...

Russ