All roads led to Gloucester Guildhall on Sunday 30th July as London based Xtra Mile Recordings celebrated 20 years of bringing the best of rock and folk to the masses. After a slow, measured start, things exploded in a frenzy of guitars and drums before a ‘Shanty Punk’ crescendo ensured the patrons gave the Guildhall’s sprung floor a good testing out!
Back in 2003, the label first signed the artists Million Dead and Reuben and subsequently released Frank Turner's solo albums after the split of Million Dead in 2005. Since the label's inception, it has continued to support and break new artists and bands. Xtra Mile has released numerous charting albums from acts including tonight’s headliner Skinny Lister, Colchester hot new punks Pet Needs, Sonic Boom Six, Berries and The Xcerts to name a few. In recent years the label has announced distribution deals outside the UK in countries such as the USA & Canada.
Tonight brought together a cross section of the current roster. Kicking off the night was Hannah Rose Platt, Xtra Mile’s newest recruit, hot on the release of her dark album ‘Deathbed Confessions’, which is steeped in breathless haunting vocals and layered instruments. Tonight however, it is just her with a guitar and double bass playing Freddie for a more stripped back feel. That said, Hannah‘s voice is the real asset here and it really suited the acoustics of a larger venue. Freddie’s bass really filled the space behind the acoustic and sometimes electric guitar work from Hannah but he was given a rest while Hannah played the wonderful ‘The Kissing Room’, a real highlight on the new album. A really strong start to the event.
Next up was Non Canon, the acoustic alter ego of Oxygen Thief, with, in his own words, miserable songs but cheerly chat in between the music. While the songs may not be full of happy subject matter, Non Canon was easy to warm to and with some exquisite acoustic guitar work wrapped up in denim shorts, pink DM’s, shoulder long blond hair and a shaggy beard. The ‘to the point’ lyrics meandered through little stories and fragments of life experiences with, at times, a lovely humorous perspective. Off to record album number three a few days after the gig, as long as Skinny Lister didn’t lead him too far astray on a warm night in the heart of Gloucestershire, the new and old tunes resonated well with the crowd.
After a gentle start, It was time to turn things up a notch. Deux Furieuses burst on the stage in a maelstrom of light, guitars and drums. It’s a massive sound from a two piece with Vas’s drums pulsating and driving the songs forward and Ros’s vocals and relentless but precise guitar work giving life to the politically charged lyrics. Their latest album, ‘Songs from Planet Earth’, released back in November is very much a product of the pandemic, echoing those issues and frustrations that continue to cast a dark cloud over the country, and while the recorded version of those songs are a little more measured and subdued on the record, they are given a renewed powerful energy in a live setting. Having seen the band a number of times, this performance came across much stronger, louder and angrier then anything that I have seen before and it was fantastic to witness. With five bands on the bill, all of these sets seemed to rush by too quickly and this felt like a breathless flash through all that is great about Deux Furieuses. Catch them live, you won’t regret it.
Penultimate band Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun hit the stage literally days after their latest album release ‘Colour’ and this was a very slick performance from a very tight unit of a band who’s first album ‘Atlases’ was released back in 2010. Emanating from just down the road from the venue in Cheltenham, they rattled through their set which seemed to be slightly abridged compared to the others on the bill, but those new album tracks sounded slick with some great musicianship and vocals from Jim and guitarist Chris Capewheel perfectly complimenting each other. Bassist Andy Oliveri didn’t stop moving and looked ready for anything and Simon Cripps on drums kept a relentless rhythm from start to finish. ‘Conditional Love’ sounded really good live and I look forward to giving the new album a really good listen in the coming weeks.
After a short break it was time for the headliners Skinny Lister to bring their unique brand of ‘shanty punk’ to the amassed punters (interestingly, also the title of their new album due out in the autumn) and they hit the stage with the frantic ‘Wanted’ from the 2016 release ‘The Devil, The Heart & The Fight’ before launching straight into the thumping ‘Georges Glass’ and the jaunty ‘Tragedy in A Minor’. Every track seems to have a different sing-a-long part and, if the number of Skinny Lister T-shirts in the crowd was any measure, many people knew exactly what to do. Time for a quick breather before we get to witness a few of the new songs. A song about arm wrestling in Dresden saw singer Lorna challenge members of the crowd and some pretty serious trash talking while the rest of the band performed the song.
Non Canon had already mentioned that the whiskey drinking shenanigans had started early (Lorna blamed this on the early load in!) but at this point in the show Lorna admitted that maybe she was a little drunk already. But then again she had already arm wrested half a dozen patrons, danced with about 20 others across the whole room and attempted to be shoulder carried over the barrier that nearly ended in disaster, we were not surprised by her admission. But this is what Skinny Lister is all about and the audience were loving it. New song ‘Company of Bar’ couldn’t sum this feeling up better. But the constant motion, drinking, incursions into the crowd by Max and Lorna does not impact the perfection that is delivered in the music. No beat is missed, no lyric fluffed or note misplaced. Like a good mullet, its business at the front, party at the back and the business is phenomenal, with Lorna looking resplendent in a red jumpsuit (is it? I don’t know, this is musomuso not Vogue) made that day by her mum.
‘John Kanaka’, now delivered by Max following Sam’s departure is always a highlight for me and Max’s energy and exuberance is contagious from the front, right through to the back of the hall. He literally doesn’t stop moving from start to finish. Party George (Lorna and Max’s dad) even got in on the act to sing ‘William Harker’ in his new Levi 501’s (“he thinks he’s John Wayne”) before the set moved towards a finale with ‘Cathy’, ‘What can I say’, ‘This is War’ and ‘Trouble on Oxford Street’. An encore break of about 30 seconds saw they Skinnies return with a rousing version of ‘Hamburg Drunk’ before they welcomed all of the acts back on stage for a final number of ‘Six Whiskies’.
And whilst the event did not sell out, maybe a Sunday night at the start of the summer holidays isn’t the best timing for such an event, everyone left the venue partied out and with a skip in their step. Skinny Lister does that to you. However good the songs may sound on the record, live, they take it up another 3 notches and then a couple more, and you can’t help getting caught up in the bouncing, drinking, party atmosphere that the world needs so much more of. I can’t wait until the next time.
Words and Pictures by GM Gig Photos