This is the church where it all went down.

Not a good start. Alasdair  (who has bought these tickets and is therefore responsible) and I are sitting on the cold, hard pews of St. Giles church and my buttocks are aching as very real pain creeps up my spine. Around us people are looking confused as the tortured tinklings of an Icelandic man dressed in black fill the room. This isn’t Jóhann Jóhannsson: Master of minimalist arrangement. This isn’t the man we’ve paid to see and as warm-ups go it’s positively shady. The music is OK. It’s like watching an Autumn breeze ruffling an old oak tree in the calm gloaming of sunset before realising that there are better things you could be doing like watching TV.

I last what I guess are two songs (it’s almost impossible to figure out when the pieces are over, as the piano just sort of dribbles to halt before starting up again with more clunky minor chords) I then rise from the wooden slats designed to remind church-goers of quite how much Christ suffered for their sins and I walk away, Alasdair in aghast tow.

“We can’t walk out!” he hisses as the man in black hammers away at the low notes.

The pub is a bit loud with a cover band lurching between Jason Mraz and The Sex Pistols but the wine’s cheap and it gives me a chance to vent. Alasdair reminds me that he paid for the tickets. I tell him it’s a moot point.

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Classical, Gigs / Concerts failed music critic entry, gig, johann johannsson, review

Click here to download the MP3 directly

I sit here with my tender young hands wrapped around a mug of joe so big that ‘Venti’ cups look away in shame and I pronounce the legendary GetJazzical interview with Bad Ass Brass is, finally, complete!  It may have taken weeks to do but by gosh…it’s beautiful. Well actually Olly sounds like a posh snake with a lisp and Alasdair sounds a little frightened child when you can hear him at all.  It was, in our defense, recorded on an iPhone which kept going flat.  Thanks Steve Jobs.

This interview was recorded at the Blagclub in Ladbrokes Grove during a bold, brash and brassy performance by the band and the interview features Gemma Moore who plays the Baritone saxaphone and Jon Stokes who supplies Trombone and sultry vocals.

It was our first live recording and we’d like to thank the band for having us.  Please don’t forget to check out the rest of Bad Ass Brass on their MySpace.

Interviews, Jazz bad ass brass, gig, interview, live

You know a band’s good when they get played on GetJazzical. You know we’re fans when we play them twice. Now, on top of all that, your favourite hosts are about to step out into the public eye to experience the live sounds of Bad Ass Brass. And we’d love you to come too!

Blagclub is the place to be on Saturday 23rd May, with some Bad Ass Brass and smooth cocktails to compliment these hot summer nights … that we’re expecting soon. More information can be found here, and at £5 a ticket, doors open at 20:00.  Saturday night is going to kick off GetJazzical’s Summer of Jazz with a night not to be missed!

Oh, and you can also e-mail them (badassbrass@live.co.uk) to get on the guest list. Stick with us kids – we’ve got all the hook ups.

Gigs / Concerts, Site News bad ass brass, gig