Live - Mad Dog Mcrea and Sound of the Sirens

I have recently mentioned the various threats to live music venues and I shall come back to that sooner or later. There are equally some too-little known and this is one of them - The Lights, Andover - and I have mentioned it here before.
So here we are again, surrounded by the Tellytubby ambience that is worth a visit alone, and which headline act Mad Dog Mcrea immediately picked up on!
This was however far more than that --- for with a sizeable and enthusiastic audience this is really quite some treasure. I was unaware that there would be a support act until I arrived but I soon saw the signs -  as they flitted back and forth across the foyer - which happens to be between the Green Room and the venue itself.

Sound of the Sirens - The Lights, Andover - 20 March 2015.

Abbe Martin and Hannah Wood, from Exeter, played a quite extensive set of their variously interwoven brand of folk-rock with tinges of surf pop and country. Many were from the 2013 LP 'A Long Way To Fall' but others older and more recent too.

Following them was Plymouth-based folk-punk six-piece Mad Dog Mcrea, whom I mentioned just a week ago. I'm more than glad that I did post that; equally that I took my chance to see them live. Yes there were a few niggles with the sound, a tendency to feedback being the main one, but that did not detract to any real degree from a memorable gig. It was however a big photographic fail on my part and I have no excuses.  Looking on the bright side it is a very good excuse to go and see them live again and even if I had taken the most stunning photos I would be more than happy to do that in any case.
Here they are badly photographed and in apparently deserted Tellytubby-land...

This was pure fun, they got folks dancing, told silly stories and all.

Added 14 April 2015:

Sound of The Sirens performing 'Faith In Fire' at Annabel's, in Plymouth's Barbican, 11 April 2015.

New Music 2015 - Part 20 - Mad Dog McRea - Almost Home

At last I get to review a band from Plymouth.  I am going to see  Mad Dog McRea, trailing the latest album 'Almost Home', this coming week. More on that after the event.

It is released on d/l on 15 March and on CD 23 March 2013 in the UK.

It is perhaps appropriate to start with an introduction. Mad Dog Mcrea is a six-piece comprising the following artists:

Michael Mathieson  ---  guitar and lead vocals

Dan Crimp  ---  whistle and flute

Nicki Powell  ---  fiddle

Podmore  ---  bouzouki, banjo

Jimi Galvin  ---  bass

Pete Chart  ---  percussion

With much garnered from the ranks of the folk-punks that have come before, comparisons with the likes of The Pogues, the Levellers and others come all too easily but that they are indeed worthy of such comparisons does not necessarily follow.
The former is certainly no criticism and that they are worthy is certainly not the only thing to admire. What I like as much as the foregoing is that, with the flute and fiddle, one or two of the softer songs made me recall the very best of Jethro Tull.
I don't say that lightly. It may not be a fashionable comparison, to be fair, but it is a complement nevertheless.

Almost Home

• Almost Home
• Talking Through The Walls
• I've Seen Things
• You Can't Find Me
• Cher
• The Sound
• The Devonside
• Heart of Stone
• Whiskey Man
• The Juggler

That is the track list of the album.
Buy. Listen. Enjoy.