'Ted Can't and Friends' - Tina
and Daren's Birthday Bash'
'The Waterman's Arms' - Wouldham, 6 January 2007
I drink at the Waterman's Arms quite
often having moved to the village of Wouldham last
year. A short walk from my house, it’s the ideal
local, and I find the Landlord Les and his wife Tina
very friendly. The Shepherd Neame beer is always
great as well (according to my husband, who assumes
he is an expert in all things beer!)
Over the last year The Waterman's
has had some great fun nights, including race night,
and murder mystery nights - a great family
atmosphere. There have also been a number of live
bands and duos and solo musicians playing there on
Saturday nights - some that if I am honest I have
found rather bland and a little dull.
In Ted can't hear ya's case I had
never seen this band with a silly name! I had heard
of them though. I remembered that they were featured
on BBC Radio Kent's Folk show with my friend and
presenter Simon Evans. I quite often get involved
with a medieval battle re-enactment group for fun in
the summer and the name was familiar to me - but
never had chance to catch them playing even though
they play many festivals and pubs including the
Sweeps etc.
Seeing as they literally came to
play on my doorstep, I thought I would go along. I
was speaking to Tina at the bar and she said that
the band played her party in the pub last year and
it was a fantastic evening. So I was looking forward
to the music. At the bar I met up with Paul Johnson
- (I only started talking to him because I was
admiring his pewter tankard - being into things like
that myself.) We got talking about music and he
informed he was the guitarist of 'Ted can't hear
ya'. He also explained that the gig on the night was
a kind of mish-mash of 'Ted can't hear ya' and
friends as a couple of the full time members were
unable to make the gig due to various commitments.
There was 50% full time members of Ted can't hear
ya' playing on the night though. This was him
(obviously) and bass guitarist and singer Lucy. The
drummer replacing Andy Baker (full time drummer) was
a guy called Phil Daniels - who was a friend from
Hertfordshire, and occasionally stands in for Andy
Baker. Phil plays full time in a band called 'Ecoute'
(who are apparently excellent, have a good following
and a my space web site if you are interested)
The fiddle and mandolin player for
the night (replacing Tim Sumner, the full-time
fiddle player) was an old friend of Paul and Lucy's
- called Richard Peats
All quite confusing really,
especially as I was fairly unfamiliar with the band
any way. I told Paul that I like writing reviews and
articles for the medieval society - so he asked if I
would like to review the gig for the 'Ted can't hear
ya' web site! So I am obliging!
The Gig...
The first song was a song I knew
'Go Move Shift' a Christy more cover' Very smooth I
thought and sounded great, Lucy was clearly
suffering from a cold slightly, but I was very
impressed by her haunting voice smooth vocal tones.
The second was a song I had never
heard of 'Shirt of Blue'
Paul explained the song in an
intro it was a song by 'The Men They Couldn't Hang'
(not a band I had heard of) and it was about two
boys growing up in the same village but taking
different career paths. A story of a mining town.
Strange thing to play in the village of Wouldham I
thought. This was very different - very fast paced,
powerful and almost punky in its sound. I loved it.
So the first half progressed and
there was a mix of what were traditional tunes, jigs
and reels, but I have got to say played with a lot
more vigour, speed and power than I have ever heard!
One particular song in the first
half stuck out to me called 'Alone By The River' it
was a very haunting mid tempo song and mentioned The
River Medway. That for some reason stuck in my mind.
I asked Paul about this song after the gig and he
confessed to writing it! A very good one it was to!
Second half...
The second half was a much
different feel again, electric guitar featured in
most songs that sounded like a really punky/rocky
sort of distortion sound that I must confess to
loving every minute of , being a bit of a 'rock
chic' myself. Ted can't and friends - did not
disappoint in that department - not your usual 'Folk
band' by a very long shot!
Through most of the second half
that raw rocky guitar sound prevailed, mixed with
Richard Peats’ electric mandolin that sounded great.
Better I have to say than the early fiddle playing
in the first half. I found that I couldn't really
hear the fiddle well enough.
The audience liked the sound. A
fair bit of dancing was done - myself-included! -
Much drinking - myself and husband included! and the
main memory I will take away is the last song /
encore they did - a mental version of The Pogues’
'Streams of Whiskey' like you have never heard it
before - punky/rocky guitar, heavy drumming and much
screaming from the band!
A great gig I thought and I will
be very keen to see this gang again - with the full
time members - but as a taster of that band I had
not yet seen - left me wanting to check their web
site (which incidentally is a really good site - but
I guess you know that already - if you are reading
this) for 'Ted can't hear ya' gigs that I can put in
my diary! Apparently a new album is on the way in
the summer- may well be worth looking into!
Ruth Strickland Jan 07 |
