‘Cosmic, Sci-Fi Desert Warriors’ is the selected dress code for the crowd from tonight’s headliners at a lively Fleece. And their audience haven’t let them down as upon arrival you could be forgiven for thinking you’d walked onto the set of some sort of burlesque Doctor Who episode. Atop the stage the majority of the band is in some pretty imaginative drag with sparkly necklaces and an odd array of hats and accessories. Frontman Willy Brothwood dons a black leather jacket and a feather head-dress, Invisible Circus legend Doc Francisco puts in an appearance sporting menacing face-paint, a Saxon cloak and trilby with a large pointy tail. Multi-talented singer/musician Sarah Fielding has a comparatively quiet costume were it not for except for the inclusion of a fluffy badger on her head.
Anyway, enough about costumes. This band of top musicians has travelled the world as house band for the Invisible Circus and impressively scored over 50 live shows; they’ve become a real standalone draw where the only thing for sure is to expect the unexpected. What you know you’ll always get is variety, theatre and fun as anyone who has ever seen them at Carny Ville can testify. At one time they’ve described themselves as a ‘Stomping Swing Circus Show Band’ and it’s clear from tonight’s performance that there’s more to the quirky ensemble these days than merely their circus roots.
They open with ‘Down To The Ground’ the lead track from the new album which is an entertaining tale of a prison break to the tune of yet more frantic violin, thumping double bass and punchy horns. ‘Trouble On The Green’ is a hilarious take on 1960’s married life in a well-to-do Kent village where an overburdened housewife finally snaps after catching her cricket loving husband playing away, “she cut up his shirts and then burnt down the shed, she swallowed the goldfish and sledge-hammered the piano, shoved the baby under the grill and the cat in the fan oven.” Ouch. ‘Poond Fafteh’ continues the humour as it opens with a Scottish(?) circus narrative and a ska-fuelled jam that sees Brothwood’s blazing trumpet and Leo Hess’ possessed violin make the floor bounce in a curious funk of Cuban and latterly Balkan rhythms.
There’s a real craft to their multi-instrumental breakouts and the kind of live energy that most bands couldn’t sustain as proven on best track of the night, the fantastic ‘Trial Of Henry Jones’. Two covers end the night’s proceedings and they couldn’t be further away from each other, again testament to the band’s ability to surprise. First up there’s a breakneck folkfest for Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’ takes the roof off before a bonkers version of Reel 2 Real’s ‘Move It Move It’ invites a stage-invasion. Show band music can really grate after half-an-hour or so once the novelty of nostalgia fades but this group are different. When you think you’re an extra in the latest Boardwalk Empire series this band turn the tables with some banging ska or some Eastern European turbo-folk that’s just, well, lots of fun. Be sure to check them out the next time the circus comes to your town.
Best track:
The Carny Villains - 'The Trial Of Henry Jones'
Buy album here;
The Carny Villains - 'Why Am I Here?'
Huge Carny fan, gutted to have missed this gig. On the upside, the new album has arrived and am doing the housework to it now... lots of dancing, not much cleaning!!! ;)
ReplyDelete