Open Mic @ Spice Of Life, 14 April 2008

I was brought up to believe that if you didn't have anything good to say about something then you should keep your mouth shut. In that spirit, I'm not going to rip last night's open mic to pieces. There were a couple of decent performances, but when I left early, at around 21:30, the venue was half empty and I couldn't help but wonder: what happened?

In the past I've been extremely complimentary about the standard of playing and singing at the Spice Of Life, but last night it felt like there was something missing. The rarefied creative atmosphere had gone.

So, what did happen?

After a little investigation on the wonderful world-wide web of misinformation I believe I have found the answer. When I noticed last night that the regular MC had changed and there was a second guy manning the soundboard it struck me as odd, but I didn't think too much about it. This morning I discovered that the "Up All Night" music team no longer run Monday nights at the Spice Of Life. They've moved their regular open mic session to another venue, "The Grand Union" in Kentish Town. Presumably their regular performers have also decamped.

I'm not saying the Spice Of Life open mic can't make a comeback, but it would appear that it's struggling to find its feet right now. Next time I have a Monday night free I'll be heading north to check out The Grand Union instead.

To be fair to the Spice Of Life pub, I should point out that it's just the Monday night programme that's changed. It's business as usual for all other nights, including the blues jam on Tuesdays.

Finally, I just found out about another open mic night, this time on Tuesday evenings at the Half Moon pub in Herne Hill, which is where we saw the Oli Brown Band play last Saturday. Ironically, as I sat watching the boys play I caught myself thinking about The Project and whether one day I might be up on that stage, performing... looks like that might not be such an unrealistic fantasy after all!

Spice Of Life Open Mic, Take 2

Well, I survived my second open mic at the Spice of Life! This week the standard was definitely not as high as last time. That's not to diminish the fact that each and every one of the performers had the guts to stand up and put their thing 'out there'. I was actually surprised how much focus this week was on the 'singer/songwriter' side of the fence as opposed to 'musician'.

Okay, so I actually took heart in the fact that one artist only knew 3 open chord shapes, changing key between songs by moving a capo up the neck. Unfortunately, with most of the acts, the singer/songwriter side fell short, too.

There were noteable exceptions including:

A duo called Maisy's Wake (pictured above), doing the two guitar harmony thing with one of them channelling Paul McCartney's look from the Sgt. Pepper days.

A cheeky chappie calling himself 'Tom on the Guitar'. He played really well, but did the 'showman' thing a bit too much for me, dangerously leaning towards cabaret.

Some guy over from San Fran who I didn't want to like... but I did. Kinda acoustic Neil Youngish... kinda not...

The standout performance for me was by a guy called Bobby Long. Charismatic stage presence, vocally think 'Ray LaMontagne' meets the wideboy character Noel (played by Tom Hardy) in the movie "Scenes of a Sexual Nature" (2006). Young. Given half a chance I think the boy might make it. He has a MySpace page here.

I won't be able to make the next Monday night offering, but on Tuesday 30th January they're premiering a monthly best-of-the-best evening at the Hard Rock Cafe which I hope to go along to. I don't think I'll be eating the food! Given my schedule it may be that these meetings may be the only ones I can make in the near future.

Open Mic @ The Spice Of Life Pub (Soho)

Last night I went to my first Monday night open mic at the Spice of Life pub in Soho... not to perform, as a spectator. I've been along to their Tuesday night gigs before, which are either a blues jam (mediocre ego fest) or a 'groove' jam (really good).

The format of the evening is that you turn up early, put your name on the list and then wait to play. Each artist gets to showcase two songs per session. It seemed like you were supposed to play acoustic guitar or piano, though there were also harmonicas and a cello in the mix.

The first thing to say is that overall I was really impressed with the quality of the performances, particularly in terms of the vocals. Most of the acts could really sing. There were a couple of stand outs for me, a girl called Amanda whose voice was just amazingly evocative: a hippie-chick with a rootsy folksy style. The other one was a couple of guys on guitar and cello. I think they were Karimi & Moore. Moore's cello work was fantastic, but Karimi's incredible voice was killer. A true talent.

My plan had been to go along and chat with some of the people, make contacts. You know: network. Not much happened this time around, unless you count that I was hit on by a drunk straight woman, but I plan on going back. What was neat about the open mic was the variety of songs and styles showcased. Their groove jam was similar in some ways, but not as structured. The blues jam, which I had possibly unrealistically high expectations of, was a free-for-all ego trip, with each musician competing with the others on stage for their 15 minutes of fame.

Although I didn't network as I'd hoped this time round, I did feel inspired listening to all that original music. I came out of the pub with a few song ideas of my own:

One Last Trick (Before I Settle Down)
The Only One (I Couldn't Get)
If You're Gonna Do It, Do It (Don't Waste My Time)

Okay, so there are no stellar ideas there, but at least my creative juices were flowing.