Wheels in the woods

17th July 2017
secret woodland location near Canterbury

This was the sixth gig in the 2017 season of intimate, mostly acoustic, gigs I curated. Ellen Tasou played a support set, just her and an acoustic guitar. She opened with the ultra-obscure "Morning Sun" from Dave Bixby's forgotten 1969 album Ode To Quetzacoatl (a YouTube discovery, perhaps?). Along with a few of her own songs, the set also included Dylan's "Song To Woody" and the Clive Palmer song "Empty Pocket Blues" (from the first Incredible String Band album). The latter involved a whistling solo which a wood pigeon decided to join in with! Due to a couple of false starts, etc., Ellen clearly felt that she wasn't on her best form (despite the enraptured audience) and was going to cut her set short. Wanting to put her at ease (and hear more) I went up to ask if she could sing "Hallah", the Mazzy Star song I'd once her do as half of Bearded Sphynx. That would require Harry (the other half of the Sphynx), she pointed out... fortunately he was sitting nearby and happy to oblige. Having handed her guitar over to him, she was able to relax fully into her wonderful singing voice and this one was a real treat. They clearly enjoyed this little reunion and even offered to play one more. A great choice too: Donovan's "Sunny Goodge Street". Ellen has since moved out to Bristol to study songwriting at BIMM, and from both her own writing and the material she's drawn to cover, I think we can expect great things. I wish her all the best with that, and look forward to the next time I can give her some airtime in our little sylvan glade.
 

Ellen with Harry a while back, playing at Bramley's, Canterbury

Wheels were originally an electric quartet, Rew and Didi from up in Medway, plus Neil and Adam from Lapis Lazuli. After a hiatus, they've returned as an acoustic trio: Rew and Neil on guitars, Rew and Didi singing harmonies and Didi on descant recorder. This works beautifully with Rew's powerful, memorable, evocative songs. He really is a great writer. I've just been re-listening to my recording of this set, and the songs all seem totally familiar, despite only having heard them once before. The recorder adds a touch of the Elizabethan to the interweaving strings and stunning vocal harmonies. The melancholy atmosphere of the music was offset nicely by the daft, cheerful inter-band banter. Lovely music, lovely people...
 

Wheels, elsewhere: Rew, Neil and Didi