the vanguard on a wet monday night is not such a bad place to be
the catholics were officially launching their latest album
so a respectable sized crowd was in attendance
comprising a good number of friends, family and acquaintances i suspect
i'd had a not-so-good experience with the band several months ago
when they left me somewhat underwhelmed by their performance
though quite possibly due to my own expectations or circumstances
so tonight it was mostly a case of let's try that one again
there's no doubt this outfit essentially oozes with talent
the core trio of lloyd swanton, sandy evans and james greening
respectfully on double bass, saxophone and trombone
are all stars in their own right and augment any combination they appear with
tonight regulars fabia hevia, hamish stuart, bruce reid and jonathan pease
played respectively on percussion, drums, slide guitar and guitar
i really do admire the skills of all these musicians
they move so easily between styles and can cover a lot of ground
which i think is what i find almost irritating about them
it's quite difficult to settle into a set and stay with them totally
each tune is another fine example of their absolute versatility
at one point i was thinking they would make such a great party band
which may very well be the point of their existence
maybe they just want to have fun playing together
not to be taken at all too seriously
which may also explain the interlude music
an early album of ad/dc with a jimi hendrix dvd as a visual backdrop
a curious selection of between set entertainment
that had me wondering whether that was the band or the venue's choice
either way by the time they had returned to the stage
the first set had been all but forgotten
and we were then taken through another set of tunes
comprising some catholics originals and a few classic covers
done in catholics style as we were advised by leader lloyd swanton
this style seems mostly to be an upbeat caribbean feeling groove
quite loud and very dancey-feely though not tonight at this venue
at the end of the second set they received a rousing ovation
me - same kind of feeling as previous
they are really, really good at what they do
just seems to lack something
soul maybe
