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Kicking off this acoustic evening was an interesting choice of support in The Feuds; entirely unacoustic this band punched out a medley of punk rock interspersed with the occasional indie anthem to warm up the unfortunately sparse crowd. Raw sounding, with each member looking like five boys from down the road who get together to jam once a week, they faced the tough task of preparing the audience for Roses Kings Castles and admirably fought through their set giving good energy and never dropping short of giving it their all.
However, the acoustic night really got going with bluesy rock guitarist Raymond Meade. With a hypnotic element to his voice, and an obvious influence in the Pogues; this singer/songwriter knew exactly how to play to the growing audience – managing to warm them up more then the thumping punk had done mere minutes before. Finishing with a tribute to his muses The Pogues, the crowd were left on a high – anticipating the arrival of Roses Kings Castles to complete their acoustic night.
When Adam Ficek walked out, he lacked any of the pre-assumptions you would expect from the drummer of the Babyshambles. As a humble performer he played to the small audience keeping them hooked with his raw sound accompanied only by some sparse stage lights, a lighting decoration which looked accidentally left behind from Christmas' past and a solitary mic stand. Yet, Ficek still held the stage, kept the audience interested and showed a quiet talent for songwriting and playing simple and effective melodies. And his quiet talent for quips back to the more rowdy members of the crowd hide what could be an acid sharp tongue.
Cited as "somewhere between Belle & Sebastian's pastoral warmth and the hallucinatory six-string invocations of Syd Barrett", Ficek's work has a poppy charm to it you wouldn't expect from a member of one of the most controversial British rock groups of late and gives Ficek the opportunity to indulge his need to constantly write; be it folk-pop or larger scale arrangements. At the Admiral Bar however, he stays firmly in the folk-pop region.
Had the venue been more packed (or smaller) this would have felt like an intimate and special affair, and no doubt when the Roses Kings Castles moniker is better known, venues as small as this will be few and far between for the talented musician. Until then, Ficek has the time to build his reputation away from his day-job as the drummer behind Pete Doherty and into the position of front-man of Roses Kings Castles, no doubt with some more of his catchy tunes leading the way.
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article by: Clare Sinclair
photos by: Clare Sinclair
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| published: 21/10/2009 10:27 |
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