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Gerry McNeice Band

Venue: Topic Folk Club
Town: Bradford
Date: 29th November
Website: http://www.gerrymcneice.co.uk/index.html
Club Website: http://www.topic-folk-club.org.uk/

The Topic Folk Club is reputed to be the oldest continuously running guest booking folk club in the UK (and possibly the world) having been formed in 1956 by the recently sadly departed Alex Eaton - for whom the club held a tribute night earlier in November. Amongst luminaries who have performed over the years are Barbara Dixon, Billy Conolly, Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl, Ramblin Jack Elliott and The Ian Campbell Folk Group. The club has a proud reputation of booking local and emerging artists as well as established names and has a loyal local following - though in recent years audience numbers have sadly diminished, something that is hard to understand in a city of around 250,000 residents. Despite this the club remains vibrant and viable and is a Thursday night institution for many live music enthusiasts in West Yorkshire and beyond (one hardy soul often makes the trip across the Pennines from Stockport to visit the club!).

Amongst the regulars at the club Rahel Guzelian and Tony Charnock who perform as Otra can always be counted upon to provide reliable support for the guests and I was delighted to hear that Rahel had written a brace of new songs on a recent cycling tour. The first and most memorable of these, 'Clitheroe Lullaby', tells of the transient meeting with a fellow camper whose tribulations left such an impression on Rahel that they demanded transfiguration into song.

I first met Gerry McNeice a number of years ago when he performed as a floor singer at the Topic which was then based at the much missed Cock & Bottle pub on the other side of Bradford City Centre from its current (very welcoming) home at the Bradford Irish Club.

Gerry impressed me then with his own song 'Crazy World' which compared the parallel worlds of the safe and friendly environment of a folk festival and the somewhat less secure reality of daily life in our cities and towns. I must have seen Gerry perform at least a dozen times since then in a number of different line ups but this was the first time had seen this particular incarnation of his band which comprised Liam McNeice (electric bass), Chris Bunyan (cajon), Hannah Bunyan (fiddle) and Dave Turner (flute).

It was clear from the start that there was a strong rapport between the band members and this extended to the audience who quickly took up the chorus of Gerry's excellent versions of 'Braw Sailing' and Duncan McFarlane's 'Circle For Danny'. Later there was tangible empathy in the room for the characters in the story depicted in the marvellous song 'Home' which tells of a WW2 airman, lost on a mountain after his plane crashed, whose body was eventually returned to his home town. This to me has all the hallmarks of a perfect song - a moving story, a melodic hook and a slightly idiosyncratic structure - a thing of rare beauty and impact.

Gerry's version of set closer 'Bonny Hawthorn' was new to me - after an a capella beginning the remainder of the song was given a thoroughly modern treatment that Jim Moray would have been proud of!

After the interval (complete with the almost inevitable raffle) we were privileged to have a couple of songs from popular local duo Jon Palmer and Nick Settle. Their performance included a new song by Jon based on the encouragement by Nye Bevan to the doctors working in the formative years of health service - 'I stuffed their mouths with gold' followed by Jon's take on the current government 'Eton Mess' Further explanation of the position this song takes is almost certainly not required as its title says it all but having heard it many times I was reminded what an initial impact it made by the guffaws of those around me who had not heard the song before. As always Jon's excellent songwriting and lively delivery was enhanced by Nick's dexterity on guitar.

The evening's second main set opened with the driving 'Legend of Black Jack' which also opens Gerry's creditable debut album 'Small Town Boy'. This was followed by two covers: Boo Hewerdine's 'Three Quarter Time' and Richard Thompson's 'Beeswing' which has been in Gerry's repertoire as long as I have known him - and, unlike some other interpretations I have heard, he makes a fine job of it. Stand out song from the second set was, however, another McNeice original 'Home Harvest In'. It seemed to me that the band gelled particularly well on this song as they did on the only instrumentals of the night - two reels played in the well deserved encore. During these it struck me that some well placed instrumentals that showcased the undoubted talents of the individual musicians in the band would be a positive addition to what is already an excellent night's entertainment.

I made my way out into the cold night fully sated with great music and the excellent Mallinsons ale. Another happy night at the Topic - lets hope it survives another 56 years at least!

Postscript:

As I was writing this review I was delighted to hear another song from that evening 'Danger Sign' being played on the Mike Harding Show on Radio 2 - it is good to see that Gerry is finally getting the wider recognition he so well deserves.

Joe Grint