Max, Witchdoctor and Gneng

4th November 2016
Club Burrito, Canterbury
 

Max Martin started things off with a pleasingly shambolic set (including the usual Roky Erikson covers), this time with Jules on sax and Rachel on drums — all unrehearsed, but that wasn't really a problem. Herne Bay band Witchdoctor closed the night with their enthusiastic garage-prog mayhem, dropping three songs by their favourite band, the Cardiacs ("Inner City Lining", "Anything I Can't Eat" and "Arnold"), as well as a jokey "Loving You" by Minnie Riperton while adjusting their sound at the outset. In between was a short set from new local space-rock band Gneng, their first ever gig. Gneng are Harry and Ellen from acid-folk duo Bearded Sphynx, guitarist Pete Edlin from The Boot Lagoon (also on keyboards), former Zoo For You bassist Andrew Prowse and Richie Ryan on drums. Harry launched had the project just a few weeks earlier after hearing Gong's Camembert Electrique album for the first time. He got in touch to ask about possible drummers and I suggested Richie (who I'd seen playing guitar in Plume as well as drumming with the CCCU Scratch Orchestra and a new jazz-fusion band called Gorgonzola). Richie may have to move on soon, but he seems to be loving it for the time being — here's a little clip he posted after the gig.