Access to Music End of Term Bash At the New Adelphi Club, Hull 22nd June 2004 continued By Jeff Parsons

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Photograph Gallery   Nick Minns Gallery   Einstein's Theory of Relativity Gallery   The Unbearable Lightness of Being Gallery   Swordface Gallery   Rachel's Gallery

A quantum shift in mood occurs as the mighty Swordface take the stage. This stage 3a band has become a seemingly permanent feature at Access to Music gigs, with their unique brand of food-oriented rock. Yes, you've got it, the entire Swordface repertoire consists of homages to the boys' favourite fodder! The vibe is tongue in cheek, but you can't help feeling that they mean it, maaan, and take their craft (or should that be Kraft), very seriously indeed.

James Lee (guitar, vocals), Rob Wingfield (bass and vocals) and Sam Burnham (drums and Star Quality), came together earlier this year whilst on the Access to Music CPM, and developed their manifesto way beyond its throwaway conception. Visits to the chip shop, plates full of sausages, and the best chocolate cake in the world culminate in the quest to find the semi-mythical Sandwich King. The style is in-yer-face, punky emo-with-attitude, and is delivered with a panache and verve quite rare in such youthful chappies.

The audience respond by singing along to most of the songs as if they are stadium rock anthems, and moshing frenziedly to The Sandwich King. The band is augmented for this performance by the inimitable Bob Stephenson on keyboards, cowbell and dancing, making his second appearance of the evening, and sports a natty thematic line in stagewear, featuring shirts and ties like you've never quite seen them.

Rob also follows an earlier lead and goes for a wig, which promptly parts company with his head as the adrenalin starts to flow. Another mood change is next, as the fabulous Rachel treats us to four sublime acoustic songs, featuring just her voice and guitar. Following Swordface is a tall order, but Rachel rises to the challenge and soon has the audience hanging on her every word.

During her encore (the only one of the evening) you can hear a pin drop, as the waves of emotion coming from the stage penetrate the hardest of hearts. The last band of the evening is the very fabulous Lauwine, featuring Sam Webb (again) on bass and vocals, Bob Stephenson (again!) on guitar and vocals, and Nick Minns (again!!) depping on drums for Steve Baldwin, who is celebrating his birthday elsewhere. It's a set of stadium-sized, anthemic powerhouse rock, with the Invention dial turned up past eleven.

The song-writing skills on display are awesome, and the level of musicianship staggering. The absence of second guitarist Luke James, rather than leaving holes in the sound, only serves to focus the attention on the consummate skills of Bob Stephenson, whose guitar screams, shouts, wails, pleads and teases with equal measure, and sometimes seems to be playing itself, (and with itself!). Sam's bass is equally dazzling, with a melodic and rhythmic grasp which is light years ahead of many more well known players.

His vocals have also developed considerably over the last two years, and the interplay between his and Bob's voice is another thing of wonder. Nick fills the drum stool vacated by Steve Baldwin with verve and aplomb, creating the perfect canvas for the paintbrushes of Sam and Bob to splash their rainbow of colours upon.

The climax of the evening comes as the boys from Swordface take to the stage to beef up Bob's backing vocals in Only A Walk Away, a song which, in an ideal world, would be playing on every juke box, radio, TV and stereo in the known universe. Which means it's pretty damn good. It's actually about as good as it gets. Amen. For more information on the range of courses available visit access-to-music.co.uk or email info@access-to-music.co.uk

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Photograph Gallery   Nick Minns Gallery   Einstein's Theory of Relativity Gallery   The Unbearable Lightness of Being Gallery   Swordface Gallery   Rachel's Gallery

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