The Sesh 3 Compilation (3/3) By Michelle Dee

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

Brother and sister fronted City Ghosts, those with the paint stamp on every pavement and available surface throughout the town, bring us Awake. Since Greg decided to put all his efforts in to the Ghosts they have become one of the most talked about bands in Hull. Always with a large following at their lively gigs and many respected admirers, this song lends testament to their acclaim. The song has echoes of punk sweetened by a glorious indie vibe. The vocal mix is perfectly realised and engineered look out for new material coming from the Last Studios stable. Awake will have you jumping up and down before long.

After the beautiful Follow Me Down a favourite of mine from last year Windum Earl continue on the more atmospheric path, with Over your Shoulder. The opening is suitably eerie, creating a mix of distortion and misdirection. Then an exhibition of joyous guitars, herald the abandoned vocal. The clues are there. Louder more lively than Follow Me Down in parts, though the band sustain the dark epic feel, highlighted by a cavernous midsection that invites you to peer deep inside.

Next is the first recorded original track by singer/guitarist John Copley. I first saw the quiet unassuming artist last year playing a handful of good covers during open mic Mondays at Adelphi. I thought then, that he was a definite talent and brought something very individual to the material along with the guitar techniques and penchant for pedals and effects. Blue Light opens with a plethora of string sounds that make way for a mournful organ sound, inhaling exhaling pathos to touch your soul.

When he starts singing you hear the beauty and feeling in his voice. If John Copley doesn't get noticed by this time next year, then there really is something wrong with the music industry. He shows he understands how to create music how to put different sounds together to add textures and also to leave the purity and minimalism of man and guitar. If Blue Light is an indication of John's potential song-writing ability then watch this space. I found myself playing it over and over to try and catch every nuance, every shade.

The Vels, Saturday Night appears towards the end of the compilation. This song is raucous fifties rock n roll with a modern twist, with Danny Shenton doing an Elvis Presley all over the mic. The band have dealt with those inevitable line up changes and our ready to hit back with new material. Saturday Night however is taken from when they reached something of a peak at the end of last year. During the glorious months of last summer they created something of a cult following, who saw them winning Staks band competition, going on a UK tour that took in the capital and caught the eye of a certain Alan McGee. A great song, a fine year and a top band.

Those of you who remember Sesh 1 will recall the inclusion of the Violets other incarnation SouthSide Freedom fighters. In the same way Sesh 3 has a trans genre moment, this time coming from a remix by GST Cardinals laying down some sweet drum and bass backbeats and samples to About a Boy. Surprisingly good and a definite contender for the originality crown.

The last track is a demo version from The Paddingtons eagerly awaited second album, which is suitably spiky deafening with racing guitars and a striking bass line. The straightforward lyrics see the band singing in anthemic fashion about the pitfalls of rock n roll. A year on, a year older and hopefully wiser, Rat Race could be the song that takes them to the next level. I can see it going down a storm in every club and pub in the country. Wouldn't that be good if every club in the country had a copy of this compilation?

You can get a lot of the tracks here on individual band demos, so some of the tracks don't feel new. However there are some tracks that are not readily available that do appear on the Sesh 3 CD. It is those that shine on this glistening multi-faceted jewel from our musical family. As long as we have the Sesh in some form, with Mark Page at the helm we will stay in good shape.

Over the past two years the Sesh has become the linchpin of the Hull's music scene; the place to see the cream of Hull's bands and hear some great demos from unsigned acts from all over the town. There are times when I feel the Sesh has become victim to its own success and that the live music takes second place to the social aspect, but last week Mark tells me the lions did roar once more. So to quote Baggott it'll be all right.

Bands featured on the Sesh 3 compilation are: Last People On Earth, The Bonnitts, The Holy Orders, No Nothings, The Johnsons, Dirty Dreamers, The Chase, 59 Violets, GST Cardinals, Turismo, The Landaus, Random Lee featuring Mr Beasley, City Ghosts, Kill Surf City, Windum Earl, John Copley, SideWinder, Rednight Strip, The Blueslide Circle, The Blackouts, The Vels, GST. Cardinals, The Paddingtons.

For more details contact DJ Mak www.myspace.com/maks33onions

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