Posted by Dave Having seen Nicks glowing testimony to the quality of his guest band 3 Blind Mice on the web site I had my appetite wetted in a major way. Delighted to walk in and find Jamie playing solo acoustic guitar, haven’t been here for over a month and he has taken huge strides in terms of his confidence and delivery. I enjoyed his take on ‘The Drugs Don’t Work’ which was drawing the attention of a few young ladies, go for it lad… It took a moment to sink in that there was a huge new backdrop for the club - several times during the evening I found myself trying to look behind the band to find a face I had missed. It’s one hell of a thing to find yourself portrayed amongst so many people you have come to know over the last couple of years. So on to 3 Blind Mice. Apparently one of the mice ended up chasing some different cheese and landed up in Eastbourne. His vocal part left the CSN harmony comparison a tad flat. His place has been filled at short notice by Ian Close on Sax, who plays some beautiful solos but holds himself in reserve for much of the set. Alex Grayson presents as the visual focus of the band with unruly hair and a Buddyesque smile. His lead vocals are top drawer and succeeds in animating his songs over and over again. Andy Herbert has got the bass job and loves it - he is clearly having the best fun of all, grinning wildly and dancing quietly to himself. Levi on drums is definitely a catch - you know, a drummer that plays the songs not just the drums. Vocally the blend of Alex Grayson and Lyndonn J Connah (who adds keyboards) makes for a very satisfactory sound. Not a million miles away from the Finn Brothers in fact. Their songs range from quirky engaging pop to MOR ballads. I’m nor sure if there is a songwriting divide that causes this but over the course of their two sets they did struggle to command attention with the MOR songs and resorted to a couple of cover versions that may have been less than fully baked but enjoyable nevertheless (can’t go wrong with I saw her standing there & Twist & Shout). Things got a boost towards the end when Big Tom Edwards hauled himself off the sound desk and joined in with some harmonica solos - could he join in more next time? I noticed a healthy trade was going on flogging the two cds they brought with them, always a good sign that a band has made the right connection - will have to try and bootleg one ! Cheers to the Mice and once more to Nick, you are doing the town a great service in putting on the club and you shouldn’t change a thing.
on June 4, 2005, 7:26 am
195.93.21.3
Nicks Birthday party at The Barn - Thursday 2nd June
As I hadn’t seen the Meece in their previous line up I was wondering what was missing. It could be that the missing mouse was a lead guitarist, which would explain the empty passages - certainly Alex’ guitar was too low in the mix to be of much use.
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