Laura Stevenson and The Cans - photo by Finn Winter
Adventure! Mayhem! and Another DIY Show hosted a stellar night at The Maze. Kicking things off in troubadour style, Shankland chose to omit stage and mic to stand amongst the growing crowd. Playing his self-deprecatingly titled ‘monotonous folk-core’, his sense of humour and carefully messaged lyrics charm the audience, who sing along to nearly every song. ‘Wasting Time’, probably his best known, gets played for the last time ever, with Shanks’ reasoning ‘it reminds me too much of Agado’...
Union Station Massacre opened their set with 24, a beautifully progressive track where all members just go in. The band comprise two electric guitars (one of which sounds like keys), bass, drums, electric violin and female vocals. They sound like an amagamation of the Smashing Pumpkins, Cranberries and Dream Theatre and like nothing I’ve seen. Russian War starts with falsetto vocals, evolves into heavy rock and then comes back down to an Arcade Fire style finish. Playing just four tunes, they end on the Instrumental Epic 2 where vocalist Becky picks up an accordion. The classical violin amidst the grunge makes this a band worth catching soon.
Union Station Massacre - photo by Parisa Eliyon
Emily and the Martens, with double bass in tow, add a touch of jazz and folk to a clearly impressed audience. Her vocals, clean and soulful, show off Emily’s great lyric writing: "how about we make it interesting? I’ve got a pocketful of chemicals, a bottle full of gin." The Martens too are amongst Nottingham’s most talented: 1st Blood’s Tommy Jones on guitar, Tom Dempsey on drums and Lee Pellington on double bass.
Jody Betts took to the acoustic stage for a performance that enticed the comment he’s got "the Midas touch of music." Eloquent in many instruments, his natural apt for composition comes alive when it’s just Jody and Guitar. Playing mostly new tunes (even apologising for reading out his song book), his vocals were powerful, moving through an extensive range, and the guitar simple, not stupid. He even rearranged a Tray Electric song for acoustic purposes (video on Leftlion’s Youtube channel).
Jody Betts - photo by Finn Winter
Laura Stevenson and the Cans played a full band set with drums, acoustic and electric guitar, bass and the biggest accordion I’ve ever seen. Her voice is breathtaking, melodies enchanting and musically this is incredible to behold. Hailing from across the pond, Laura is part of Bomb The Music Industry’s family. Their 45 minute set kept the audience transfixed throughout as they played a mix of country, folk, indie, punk and blues.
Afterwards Laura congratulated all the acts for playing wonderful sets and gave extended thanks to Will Bailey and Shankland for a ‘thoughtfully curated show’. I agree, this was a strong line-up from a winning team.
Future Adventure! Mayhem! promotions include free entry to Captain Hotknives and Chas from Lightyear both at the Tap and Tumbler in November.
Laura Stevenson and The Cans website
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