AGONY OR HARMONY
It was late May. Bar was crowded with musicians, wannabe performers, singers and screamers. A friend – singer-songwriter himself – was enjoying the event while I was struggling to understand what it is with this scene that makes it so popular. On top of it, they all sounded exactly the same.
“We are too old”, my friend said laughing at my agony. “Along the path, somewhere in the past, we too wanted to sound like Bim Sherman and sing about lost loves, meaning of life and political propaganda. We had our share of it”. He was loving it all. I was doubting if I should say it out loud: I never wanted to have ethereal voice of Bim Sherman; Dolly Parton was the closest to singer-songwriter I could ever play on my stereo. The superficial research on the roots and the growth of the scene revealed names whose wisdom I could grow to appreciate. The same can’t be said about the melodic lines. Luckily, the most of my friends well versed in music making tend to disagree.
Thus, for their pleasure and your own enjoyment – and I know there are many of you out there loving singer-songwriters scene – I present Johnny Campbell, Shaun Hutch, Ash Victim and Dan Kemp. The four (plus minus four) will make your folk-punk loving ears grow like Dumbo’s letting you fly across the musical universe inhabited by singer-songwriters.
Johnny is a multi-instrumentalist performing new, old and traditional material including Scottish, Irish, Norwegian traditional folk music, mixing it with a punk edge. Shaun’s folk is a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs spiced up with his own songs giving praise to his beloved moors and mountains. If you like it, don’t miss a chance to buy his new five track EP. Ash Victim comes from England too. Expect some folk-punk. (Folk-punk seems to be the winning combination here). And lastly Dan… Autonoom Centre Den Haag gave it such a vibrant description that I couldn’t do it better for sure: Dan sings and plays wherever he gets the chance, whether it’s basking around Europe, performing at a punk gig or playing the fiddle at a folk session.
It’s all happening at the Autonoom Centre Den Haag, Willem van Outhoornstraat 17, Tuesday, 1 July 2014. Music starts at 8pm. Come one hour before for some soup and bread. And contribute with 3,5 euro.I might give this event a chance… And it might just be that today is the day to start appreciating the sound of singer-songwriters.