The Beat Surrender

I wasn’t sure about the venue, its very small and really difficult to find (unless you know the way!) because of the shape and layout I felt a bit like I was sat in a bus shelter.
However the atmosphere was so relaxed, so much so that Scott Matthews was in the bar having a drink before the support came on. He was happy to chat to anyone, sign autographs and generally have a laugh. The audience was a real mixed bunch, couples, groups of lads, lasses, young and old, rugby types and even grungy looking hippie types. I felt quite at home and thought I could be in for a good night.

The Support was an Australian called Josh Pyke, he started the set with Memories and Dust the title track from his new album. It was a lively track with good acoustic guitar. Next up View of Park is the current single release in Australia. What I liked about this was the simplicity, just one man on stage with his guitar, no band or backing track. Dawns Hire moved to Baby Bye to Point of Education. Next up the new single Lines on Palms, which was the best of the night for me, the vocals had a nice twist to them with a good lively beat. However if I have any of the song titles wrong I apologise to all Josh Pyke fans, the sound quality wasn’t very good but it was particularly poor when he had to speak into the mic. Liked this chap very much, he really had a battle on to be heard above the noise of the audience but he persevered.

As Scott Matthews came on stage the whole of the audience went quiet, a courtesy they hadn’t extended to Josh Pyke. I’d moved twice in order to be able to hear him above all the very loud conversations going on around me. Best to get the main gripe out of the way before I start the review. In addition to the poor sound quality and the incredibly bright lights behind the stage, none of the tracks were introduced. I wasn’t sure of what I was listening to and as I had only ever heard of Scott Matthews the week before when I was fortunate enough to review his current single it was an uphill battle. My solution was to attempt to write some of the lyrics and hope I could work out the titles, sadly this only worked for two tracks.

However, the opening track was lovely, beautiful acoustic, very slow and mellow, the vocals so slow he almost sounded intoxicated, I nearly was! (by the music not the alcohol) Massive applause so the audience obviously knew this one well. I think the next track was Be Myself Again, lovely twinkling guitar, and soulful lyrics. Unfortunately as this ends Scott seems to have lost the plot somewhat, or at least the set list, it takes several minutes before he and or the band realise what’s meant to come next. However what does come next is worth the wait, very intricate guitar riff, complimented by strong vocals, whatever this was it was really good.

Scott then moves to electric guitar, which prompts massive feedback, I don’t think this was intentional as it hurt my ears. Once this settled we had one of the best tracks of the night, much more upbeat and a good rock number. By the time the sixth song was about to start I realised the sound quality was getting worse. We then had a bit of an interlude when Scott was asking and waiting for a drink (nice touch to sing this request with guitar accompaniment). Time for another gripe, it would have been nice to have heard what was being said but as whenever Scott Matthews talked to the audience he moved away from the mic, which meant only those in the front row could hear him, they were laughing so it must have been good. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. Another song had the sound and charm of a Beatles track during the hippy phase, no sitar, just drums, guitar and double bass but it was lovely. Moved between folk to slow melodic rock, I really liked this track.

Continue