One of the positive aspects of this Leeroy Stagger tour is
that he’s packing in the dates and getting quite a few Midlands bookings as
well as the usual round of alt-country/Americana July festivals. On the back of
playing Taylor John’s in Coventry and teaming up with Dennis Ellsworth for an
all Canadian evening in Leicester, another stopping off point was the busy Hare
and Hounds venue in Birmingham.
Eclectic music promoters World Unlimited, who frequently include
Americana artists in their shows, arranged this date for Leeroy and pulled off
a masterstroke by adding Herefordshire based band The Misers to the bill. This
popular four piece combo from the town of Bromyard delivered an excellent
opening set in a style that perfectly complemented the sound of Leeroy and his
band. Another plus of The Misers booking is that their followers swelled the
audience figures with the added bonus of Leeroy having an ideal opportunity to
impress a ready-made crowd of like minded people.
The Misers is the latest musical project of Neil Ivison and
over the last four years have recorded two full length albums as well as
securing a supporting spot with The Proclaimers. Various explorative areas of
the music media have taken an interest in them and this was clearly understood
having now seen them deliver a ten song set.
The labels of roots rock, alt-country and Americana all sit
comfortably on the crest of The Misers who successfully combine ramped up rock
infused guitar amplification with a depth of composition associated with quality contemporary
singer –songwriters. Although they were virtually on home territory with the
audience, you could easily envisage the participation numbers ‘Lord Shuffle My Feet’ and ‘Give it up for Love’ getting an
enthusiastic crowd going in other non-familiar settings. As well as drawing on
material from their debut album AMPLIFIED LIFE STORIES and 2012’s A WEIGHT OFF THE MIND, the band were also previewing some new material and amongst these ‘All Night Long’ came over well on first
listen.
The Misers are definitely a band to check out and another
example of a fine group of singer song writing musicians plying their trade
away from the mainstream and who match up comparatively with the touring bands
active in this style of music. This leads conveniently to one such experienced
practitioner of alt-country and prolific record maker Leeroy Stagger. Not an
artist to rest on his laurels, Leeroy already has an eye on his next album
which is beginning to take shape with some work at his UK label Clubhouse
Records alongside promoting his current
release the Steve Berlin-produced TRUTH BE SOLD.
When seeing an artist twice in a week, there is a tendency
to look for slight variations in the set whether song order, general banter or
if a certain song raises its profile more on a second live listen. With one or
two minor exceptions, the set list was very similar to the Leicester show
reviewed, although one of the better songs from that gig ‘Mister’ was missed out this evening. On the plus side two other
tracks from the latest album ‘ESP’
and ‘Have a Heart’ elevated their
impressive status when projected from record to the stage.
Leeroy was extremely positive about the buzzing venue in
general, with bands playing in other rooms, and more specifically the format of
the evening, even displaying a little bit of sharp wit with some of the front
row. The band joined Leeroy on top form with Evan Uschenko switching between
electric lead and Mandola and John Lent and Nick Secz stoking the rhythm engine
room on bass and percussion respectively. Perhaps with one eye on returning
home shortly, the guys asked themselves whether the audience should be left
with a dose of Canadian rock before closing with Neil Young’s ‘Cinnamon Girl’. Although on this occasion
Dennis Ellsworth wasn’t present to join in on an act of Canuck indulgence.
