Lennon’s – Newcastle

Tuesday 13 June 2006

Black Mother Cap, Castro & Cut Glass Accent

We called to Lennon’s to see 3 bands, Black Mother Cap (BMC), Cut Glass Accent (CGA) and Castro and having seen 2 of the bands before I was looking forward to a good night of music. As CGA and Castro are reveiwed elsewhere on the site, I have restricted this review to Black Mother Caps set.

Lennon’s is situated near the Gate in Newcastle and has been a music venue for a lot of years. John Smiths was £1.70 per pint so prices were good if you were after a drink or 2.

The venue was supplying the PA and the bands were sharing the backline equipment. The PA was driven by a Peavey XR800F powered mixing desk and matching Peavey speakers which coped quite ably on the night. The bands were setup in an area which gave the feel of a stage area, although I would have liked to see the area itself raised even if it was only by 6 or 7 inches so that it would be easier to see the bands once the crowds gathered round. Unfortunately, the engineer was late so instead of BMC starting at 8:00pm, it was after 9:00 before they got going.

BMC are

Craig               -           Vocals, guitar

Simon              -          Bass, vocals

Michael           -           Guitar, vocals

Dom                -          Percusion

BMC started the night with ‘Roll over and beg for me’ which is one of their many songs which have a hook line which you can sing along with even on first hearing. A good raunchy song to start with. Much the same can easily be said for the following song, ‘Good day for waking up the neighbours’ with it’s catchy hook still ringing in my ears as I write this review. This track had a neat bass solo by Simon followed by a bit of twin lead solos by the 2 guitarists Michael and Craig. I come across Craig every so often at gigs and festivals and on this particular one his hair was blond (ish). More often, it is black, or blue, or orange, or green. I may well give it a go myself one day………….

The 3rd track was a rocky little number called ‘Misery’ and Craig was backed a little on vocals by Simon. ‘To the bone’ required a quick retune as the song requires a ‘drop d’ tuning and was followed by a song (which I think I got right) called ‘The Chain’ – a nice upbeat, grungy song. Michael was singing backing on many of these songs, and doing so very well and this sounded really good.

 At this point, the band threw in Weezers ‘Buddy Holly’ with most of the crowd joining in with the chorus. Craig announced that the next song was about a friend going off the rails and wanting to help them get back on track. This song was called ‘Addict’. Yet again they have come up with catchy hook lines and riffs which put many more well known bands to shame and leaves you singing the chorus on the way home.

‘Apology’ starts with Craig on his own as I believe it is initially and acoustic track, with the band joining in part way through. ‘The awful truth’ again had Michael backing on the vocals to great effect. The night for BMC was finished off around 9:45pm with ‘Adrenalin’ and yet again the song’s chorus of ‘I’m livin on adrenalin’ echoes through your head long after the song has finished as previous ones had. BMC have the skill to write songs with great hook lines and riffs which leave you thinking that you have known the song for years. Simon plays bass as if it were an extension of his hands and is a skilled played. Craig is a brilliant front man, singer and guitarist but it would be unfair not to point out the skills of Mike at the other end of the stage. His vocals matched nicely with Craig’s and his guitar playing was superb. Dom on drums, is as Craig tells everyone, by far the best drummer in Black Mother Cap but in truth it goes without saying to anyone who has seen his playing, that he is one of the best in the area.

As mentioned above, Castro played on the night as well. A brilliant set - if you get the chance, go to see them - they are a well polished outfit with catchy tunes. There is a bit more about Castro elsewhere on the site. In the meantime, here are a few photo's of the band from the night.