LUPEN CROOK & THE MURDERBIRDS – Live @ The Cellars, 25/01/09

I’ve seen Lupen Crook before, and I was mesmerised. There’s something of a wandering minstrel feel to Lupen and his Murderbirds, packed into their van and zipping from gig to gig to play their tunes. For those who haven’t had the pleasure before, and there were a few in the audience, it would be an interesting gig. Catching up with the band before the gig I was told they were going to be trying out a whole bath of new tunes, so it was a rare chance to see a work in progress.

To warm the audience up Tired Rabbit took to the stage, these south coast folksters played a rich mix of tunes that started the night on the right track before Kurt Cooder took to the stage to give us an idea of what Joe Strummer’s output may have sounded like if he’d been into folk!

Then The B Of The Bang took to the stage. One of the South Coast’s most exciting young acts, these guys have a knack for surprising their audiences. Lead singer Wit’s vocals sift hauntingly across a cornucopia of songs that veer from Radiohead -esque alt.Rock to haunting solo numbers and even a powerful duet with London based singer-songwriter Jessica Spencer.

After such high quality supports Lupen and band take to the stage. The songs are nearly all new, the names escape the audience (and this reviewer), but each track builds on the last and the haunting, slightly gothic (as in Bram Stoker, not Robert Smith) feel of the songs serves to transport the audience from a dark and windy night in 2009 to a timeless place, you can almost picture a log fire roaring and stout men swigging flagons of ale. Not that this is folk for people in chunky sweaters. Like other Medway dwellers (Billy Childish chief among them), Lupen beats a path that sets him apart from his peers. He has the perfect foils for his wild vocals and twinkling guitar lines too, the Murderbirds are certainly a well honed unit. Bob and Tom Langridge, on drums and bass/keyboards respectively, are the foundations on which these songs can pulse and grow and form the bedrock for Lupen and fiddle/mandolin player Craig Harff to duck and weave around each other. On the evidence tonight, these new tunes may be Lupen’s strongest yet… which can only be a good thing for anyone smart enough to get tickets for his gigs!

Thanks to Justin Parry (www.justinparryphotography.co.uk) for the photography.