Well, that was a good night out… I only spotted this gig as Sean was wanting to do photos and the name of the band rang a vague bell. A quick look online and I found one of their earlier videos, an AC/DC cover which I vaguely recall watching some years ago. Can bluegrass and rock/metal mix? Erm… ask Hayseed Dixie. Yes. Yes it can. Can it work if it comes from Finland? As the audience tonight. Yes. Yes it also can!
The Cathouse was fairly well rammed, as I’m sure most of the UK dates on this run have been. Ticket sales have been “a couple left on the door” and Steve ‘n’ Seagulls are well worth the entry fee. There was no support band, which is unusual, but it meant that we had time for a beer and a pleasant chat before the band hit the stage at 8:30pm and launched into a banjo-fronted cover of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”. A song which even non-Metallicats recognise these days after its appearance in “that” scene from Stranger Things.
OK, so we know they’re a band with a focus on covers but what makes them special? Well, they’re good musically, for a start. This isn’t just “play someone else’s music”. This is “pick it apart, rearrange it, work out how we can do it on 8-9 different instruments and with four vocalists, then squish it back together again”. Some of the songs sound quite faithful to the original, just “with mandolin”. Others have had a complete refurb. Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” is a great example of this, but even that was eclipsed by an absolutely wonderful rendition of Gn’R’s “November Rain”.
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All members of the band seem to be multi-intrumentalists as well, hopping to and fro from guitars to mandolins to accordions to keyboards to banjos… Only the drummer seemed to get by with simply hitting things, and even he had a damn good voice on the songs he fronted.
Their original material, we had three of those I think, were pretty good but the crowd was definitely wanting to hear those rock classics. Talking of the crowd, I noticed one thing which may be “age related”. Hardly any mobile phones were in constant use. There was the occasional quick photo, or 30 seconds of video footage, but compared to other recent gigs I’ve been to where the average crowd age was maybe 15-20 years younger this audience seemed predominantly happy with just enjoying the live show that was in front of them.
The best nights out are often those which are unplanned, and this was a shining example. Ninety minutes of singing along to some great tunes, well performed. A good crowd, great company, and I also enjoyed a nice chat with Remmel a couple of days before the show to boot! Steve ‘n’ Seagulls seem to be on the rise judging by those ticket sale, and they’re in their element in the live setting. I know I’ll be in line to catch them again next time they breeze through town.
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Photos by Sean Larkin Photography
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These guys- are conquering the world. Every show should be a sell-out!
They’ll get there, I’m sure!