Tinny Bennett - Just NUMB3R5

I actually saw acoustic solo artist Tinny Bennett, who hails from the Teeside area, playing live in a pub in Northumberland several months ago. To my shame I wasn’t able to pay 100% attention as I was there on business but his name stuck in my head and I looked him up on Twitter, where I’ve followed him ever since........not like a stalker I hasten to add!!!  

As well as playing regular live performances, Tinny has an EP entitled Just NUMB3R5 which is available on Amazon and Itunes and that is what I’ve mostly been listening to over the last couple of days. 

There are 6 tracks on the EP, all well produced with a warm but crisp and clean sound.  

I’m guessing that the tracks were recorded at differing times and maybe differing places as I did notice that the levels vary slightly from track to track but this in no way detracts from the high quality of the EP as a whole.

Tinny has a strong voice and demonstrates a range of vocal styles that fit the individual tunes like a glove. He exudes a vague vulnerability in his somewhat wistful lyrics. The best way I can describe his voice is by doing so in the style of Jilly Goolden (the enthusiastic wine critic) -  I'm getting  Roger Daltrey with a gravelly dash of Bryan Adams, a pinch of Noel Gallagher and a Paul Young undertone.   

Photo (c) Tinny Bennett

As for the tracks themselves, Cold and Lonely has the rich but mellow taste of an Oasis ballad. It flows beautifully and I think this is my favourite track on the EP. Quite dreamy with a delightful cocktail of sounds - piano, light percussion and layers of guitars that masquerade as angel backing voices, this is absolutely perfect for a springtime Sunday afternoon, drifting down a river in the sunshine…..perhaps with a Flake?

Better World is, for me, the strongest sounding track on the EP. The guitar sounds everso slightly more rocky than the other tracks and the vocals are more robust. It loosely reminds me of another tune that is scratching round in my head and if I ever think of what it is, I’ll let you know! This is a long track rolling in at 4:42. As I said in my first review, I tend to tune out if a song is too long but this one kept my attention - nice one! 

Picture of You is a pretty little song, with a slightly hypnotic musical box melody and if I understand correctly, this is one of the first songs that Tinny wrote. This track only lasts 2:43 and the end caught me on the hop - I was actually wanting it to keep going and maybe develop further. But it didn’t. I’m not complaining,  as I am a lover of short snappy tunes plus it’s a great technique as it made me keep pressing the play button over and over again! 

I interpreted Set Me Free as a tale of love and longing. I could imagine this being the sort of song that would be listened to and cried over after a breakup. I’m sure Bridget Jones would love it and have it on her mixtape!!

The shortest track on the EP  is I’ve Got It All,  which stands at a mere 2:22.  This one puts me most in mind of the one of Tinny's influences, a certain Mr James Blunt. With a slightly harsher overall sound, it is the only purely acoustic song on the EP which gives you a good idea of how Tinny sounds live but enhanced with lovely multi tracked harmonies.

Photo (c) Tinny Bennett

Tinny’s guitar style is pretty impressive and the lessons he took, as mentioned in the biog on his website, have obviously paid off! I do like the clicky, slidey noise (technical term of course) that some guitarists make when they change finger position on the neck and this is pleasingly present. I know that some guitar perfectionists may criticise that but I prefer a bit of realism rather than clinical precision.

All round, this is a rather brilliant EP,  a most enjoyable feast of whimsical, uplifting, harmonious melchancholia!

Follow Tinny on twitter and go to see him play live! He sounds just as good as his recordings - evidenced by this video I found on YouTube!

I’m looking forward to seeing him again, hopefully in the very near future, and I promise I’ll pay full attention this time!

Upcoming gigs:

Charity Event at the Pot House 

May 28 @ 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm 

The Pot House, Croft Terrace 

Hartlepool, Cleveland TS24 0QX

Sunderland Summer Food Fest 

June 4 @ 10:00 am - 5:00 pm 

Stadium of Light, Sunderland Stadium of Light 

Sunderland, SR5 1SU United Kingdom

Miles For Men Live Music Event 

July 31 @ 1:30 pm - 9:00 pm 

The Sports Domes, Tees Road, Seaton Carew 

Hartlepool, Cleveland TS25 1DE United Kingdom

Peesh - Live at The Buffs, Ashington 19 March 2015

This was to be the first headlining solo gig for North East singer/songwriter Peesh. He’s primarily known as frontman of LoGOz – the powerful punk pop trio who have been gigging round the region and beyond for the last few years.

However, Peesh has also been making a name for himself as a solo artist. This kicked off back in January 2015 when he launched his AcoustiCalendar project. Amazingly, he wrote, recorded and released 52 songs in 52 weeks. I have it on good authority that each song was freshly written and never once did he dip into his song stash, which is quite a remarkable achievement.

He took AcoustiCalendar on the road in April 2015 and has gradually built up quite a following and now has several support slots under his belt but this was the first time he’d hosted an entire show on his own.

The venue was the intimate surroundings of the upstairs bar at The Buffs Club on Station Road in Ashington, which is Peesh’s hometown. I expected a relatively modest crowd no doubt made up of his friends and family and so was a bit taken aback at just how ridiculously stuffed full the room was! Every seat was taken so it was standing room only for a considerable number of people who were packed into every nook and cranny. I actually overheard the one-handed barman say that he’d volunteered to run the upstairs bar because he thought it would be an easy shift. Wrong!!!

Sporting what appears to be his trademark red check shirt, clutching a very handsome guitar and looking confident with a big cheesy grin beneath his peroxide crop, Peesh took to the small stage at 9pm to an expectant buzz. Taking a deep breath, he opened up with a song called The Ballad of the Disenchanted. This was enthusiastically received and was followed by a strong set made up mainly of AcoustiCalendar songs.  One man and his guitar - great! 

The mood swung from delightfully silly tunes like Kids TV to lump in the throat with Broken Heartstrings – about and dedicated to an absent friend. The shivers produced by The Church of the Lost and Forgotten and Paint The Town Red were washed away with the sardonic reflections of An Englishman Abroad – "parrots on bikes and a shit Elvis" made everyone smile and nod, we’d all been there!!

The first set lasted approximately 45 minutes and it was time for a breather. When I returned for the second set I realised just how hot and sweaty it actually was in there – even with the windows wide open – time to remove the jacket I think!! 

The room soon filled up again as Peesh launched into his second set. The man is a born entertainer. Not only did he deliver some fantastic songs but the banter in between was most amusing. In this set he played some songs for his family – I spotted Oasis and a great stripped down version of AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long, which was something I hadn’t anticipated!   There were several songs in there that I didn’t recognise which were apparently old songs from previous bands (The Blisters and Junkster) but they were still foot tappingly good and left me making a mental note to try and track them down for listening to at a later date.

With no signs of fatigue, despite playing for a good 90 minutes in a space akin to an oven left on gas mark 85, Peesh finished off the show with Old Punks Never Die, which is one of my favourites and is track 2 on the AcoustiCalendar 13.1 CD. He added in a medley of TV theme tunes at the end which everyone loved! What a great way to close.

Massive applause and loud cheers were followed by demands for an encore but I read in Peesh’s own blog that he felt he couldn’t top what he’d already done so we were left wanting more!! The scoundrel!!

Thank you Clemmy Scotswood for the use of this fab photo!

Hello and Welcome!! - Adam and The Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier

For my first ever review, I thought I’d go with something old and familiar….a bit like a comfy pair of slippers or your favourite mug.

So, as a wee young girly, at the tender age of 11, I fell in love with David Bowie. Big time. Massive poster on my bedroom wall (that got a kiss every night), photo clipped from the newspaper, glued to a piece of card by my trusty Pritt stick and ‘laminated’ with cling-film that I carried in my school pencil case, just so he could be with me all day. Ashes to Ashes single purchased and played so many times I’m surprised I didn’t wear it through to the other side really! Ah, sigh……….

However, this isn’t actually about him.

At the very grown up age of 12, someone else caught my eye. Who was this amazingly theatrical flamboyant creature and goodness me, wasn’t he delicious to look at??? David maintained his place on my wall but was joined by the one and only Mr Adam Ant. Despite being a rather die-hard young Beatles fan (devastated by the assassination of Mr Lennon), I was so taken by Mr Ant that I proclaimed “Long after the Beatles are forgotten, Adam and The Ants will still reign supreme”. Fortunately, in later life, I didn’t choose to pursue a career as a visionary. Anyway, let the review commence!

I remember my grandma bought me the Kings of The Wild Frontier LP from Littlewoods in North Shields. It wasn't even my birthday! I was completely delighted, particularly with the insert that came with it. I may add that, although I still have the album, I did have to buy a new copy of the insert on ebay as someone borrowed my original one and never returned it. If you’re reading this – you know who you are and I won’t ever forgive you!!

I’m pretty sure that my family weren’t as delighted by the gift as I was. I played it countless times and was constantly told off about the racket coming from my room. Doubtless that had more to do with my terrible singalongs rather than Mr Ant’s lyrical perfection.

So, what does the album actually sound like?

On the whole, the thing I noticed most is the drumming which is produced, somewhat unusually, by not one but two drummers – Terry Lee Miall (swoon also) and Merrick. I love the heavy, pounding, tribal drumming that runs throughout all the tracks.

Mr Ant himself belts out a cracking tune, although I’m not a massive fan of too many whoops and so a few points are lost there. Not sure what the alternative would be though.

The guitar and bass enhance, rather than dominate most the tracks and add to the overall vibe and richness of sound.

The average track length is 3.26, which suits me. Being cursed with a short attention span, I tend to drift off when a song is longer than 3.30. A couple of tracks creep up over the 4 minute mark. Ironically, one of my favourite tracks closes side A at 4.22. Goddammit!! Killer in the Home is the culprit.  “They cut you in a half with a gun; And they give you a band aid”. Top lyrics and brilliant song, even with the whoops.

Another other favourite track is Jolly Roger – I just love a good old pirate ditty and there’s some pretty good whistling going on there!!

Don’t be Square Be There is a bit of an odd one and almost has a 70’s disco feel to it but even so, it sits well on the album. ‘Ant music for sex people; sex music for ant people’. Yup. Indeed.

I don’t think the band could decide whether they were going to be Pirates or Wild West heroes so they put both in the pot and cooked up a delightful sonic casserole combining both flavours. It works for me!

These days I can’t quite decide how seriously this band wanted to be taken. The theatre and flamboyance were – to some - over the top and a fair step away from their early punk rock roots. This album was pretty commercial but for me, it sounds as good now as it ever did. It hasn’t dated and so whatever magical herbs were added to the casserole certainly did the trick and afforded them a UK number 1 album and 3 top ten singles, which can’t be bad!

Hmmm…this turned into a bit of a review of the band as well as the album. I’m not going to go through all the tracks because if I did, we’d be here all night.

If you haven’t heard it, I recommend buying a copy, plugging in your headphones and relaxing with a glass of pirate rum or cowboy whisky, turn it up and enjoy!

Mr Ant is still making music and, indeed touring. I have never seen the great man live (yet) and I’m unlikely to catch him on his latest tour as the gig most local to me is sold out already, which can only be a good thing!