We’re discussing the differences between the flat vowel sound of the Belfast brogue in contrast to the more melodic tones of the Dublin accent. To our left, girls babble in excited Icelandic about Of Monsters and Men and the time they saw Jonsi running around in raven wings. A Polish couple have arrived late to the party bringing good humour and cheap cigarettes and somewhere in there is the softened Texan drawl of Jace Everett. We’re stacking the Guinness glasses high into the darkened South Belfast Sky and having our very own Tower of Babel moment… and by God we’ve experienced the hellish and the heavenly tonight.
If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11:6
The Real Music Club has played host to an astounding show, a pseudo-religious experience to round off a Holy Weekend where Catholics and Protestants have clashed and brought chaos to the city, where the right-wing Zealots have shut down our pubs, clubs and rock shows and where music has proven once again to be the opium of the people. Conchur White of Armagh based band Silences provides the prelude. For a twenty-three year old, this guy already has a fearsome repertoire of folk-pop tunes under his belt. He’s a little nervous in front of reverently hushed crowd but hunched over like Dylan with a voice not dissimilar to Passenger or Villagers’ Conor J O’Brien he’s converting followers left, right and centre. ‘Chase Me Home’ and ‘Oh, Father’ are finely crafted tunes and worthy endings to any set.
Jace has noticed we’ve shut down the city for Easter. That’s always a tad embarrassing for us more liberally-minded folk who view some of our own politicians in a similar vein to how those from the deep-south look at the Westboro Baptists. I’m a former churchgoing boy who identifies wholly with Jace when he talks of growing up a ‘right-wing, evangelical sociopath’. We’re all in agreement that we’re a little older, wiser and potentially still sociopathic as pews are pulled up and the suited and booted preacher takes the stage.
‘Terra Rosa’ is the new record from the Everett camp featuring several co-writes with Dan Cohen who accompanies on some groovy and dirty electric guitar. There’s a biblical theme trailing through the record although the Jesus-per-minute counters on CCM radio may not quite get some of the jams as Everett rocks out, stomps and grooves through familiar stories with changed names and universal themes. Jace opens with ‘Love Cut Me Down’, laying out the Biblical imagery but it’s not long before Cohen lets loose some dirty guitar licks and faith and fornication collide in ‘Burn’ with faint strains of ‘Ain’t No Grave’ carried through on the bluesy riffs.
There’s quick communion cheers with Guinness pints held aloft and then all hell breaks loose with ‘Lloyd’s Summer Vacation’. You don’t often get your dancing shoes on to the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. You don’t often hear “Lot’s Wife” credited with a name and you certainly don’t hear your average Nashville musician break out such an epic rock opera of a song. “Pennsylvania”, “No Place To Hide” and “Beyond The Wall” round off a trilogy of new material before we’re introduced to Jace’s old $200 guitar and a well-worn tune from an old record.
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
Psalm 33:3
Dan Cohen is a fine songsmith in his own right. He takes centre stage for a couple of tracks, both inspired by the downside of love; the kind of tune you get when a woman takes your heart and lets it drop. “Love Is Gone” is a beautiful pop tune with moments of genuine Lennon/McCartney understated brilliance and on that note everyone falls back into place and Everett adopts that Johnny Cash baritone sneer for a sultry bluesy set that would have the vicar’s wife a-blushing.
There’s a huge, expected, response to ‘Bad Things’ the theme of HBO’s ‘True Blood’ but other tunes tonight have outpaced and outsexed it. Everett penned ‘Little Black Dress’ with his soon-to-be-ex-wife and makes no bones about the fact that it’s a story of boy meets girl and all the unnecessary clothing that stands between them. Cohen unleashes some sexy guitar and minds are filled with writhing bodies and lustful intent. The devil still holds some of the best tunes.
We’re gonna get a little sticky; get a little weird.
Jace Everett – More to Life
In forty one years, a handful of records and two marriages Everett has learned a lot. With an alt-country swagger and a “c’mon c’mon” refrain borrowed wholesale from Jagger and Richards sometime around 1967, ‘More To Life’ nails it as a closing track and an autobiographical anthem. There’s no encore. There’s no need for one. There’s more to life than ‘True Blood’, more to life than religion, more to life than music; more to life than this.
Video by Gerry McNally – gerrymcnallyphotography.com