March 8, 2009 by blogitdanceitshoutit
The Third Man
St Mauritz Soho, 28th Feb 2009
From the pebble beached city of Brighton, appears a group of individuals of what can only be described as an array of togetherness. The Third Man is comprised of Max Rafferty (former Kooks bassist) Andrew Newton (former Cat the Dog drummer), Adam Stockdale and Sean-Lee Duncan. Despite knowing each other for 6 years, it’s hard to believe that these men, together on stage, have only been playing as a full band for 4 months.
The venue is somewhat cramped with a small stairwell leading you into a dim room with a tiny bar. To the right, another small room with tables and chairs. Ahead, a 3m² stage is surrounded by people with an eclectic collection of musical tastes, which helps to create an exciting, non bias atmosphere. This is all further fuelled by the pre-gig tunes racing out onto the dance floor. Speaking to various members of the crowd, little of them understand the hype from some of the few people jittering something about “The Kooks”. Of course the natter of such inconsequential things is stifled by the majority of people in this particular venue simply wanting to hear good music, and this jabber of The Kooks doesn’t mean that much.
It’s not long before this small club is heaving with vivacious characters eager to hear what this new band has to offer. A few drinks later and the dance floor is jam packed with fervent eyes and excitable voices; “who’s this band again?” The crowd is hard to part, with the boys passing through ready to show what they have to offer.
An intense rhythm guitar sets us off with a darker than normal pop sounding bass. The drums accompany the bass so well that we hold our breaths before Max lets out some fresh sounding vocals “Living on death’s door, living on death’s door”. A dark but immense sound bursting from the stage sets the scene well, faces are pleased that they are not hearing your average sounding 4 piece, and we are more than ready for the next tune. A distinguished lively melody sounding from the amps takes a different turn with Sleep Easy. We are left begging to question in what direction these guys aim to move, and can’t help but attempt to sing along to “take my breath so I can sleep easy, sleep easy”.
The front man is soon deserted by his fellow band mates to play an acoustic solo ‘Sorry Today’; an extremely soulful solemn song which leaves you feeling sorry for whatever he might have done that day. A genuine uplifting cheer from the crowed makes way for Adam, Sean and Andy to re-appear on stage and let out a colossal of real rock and roll with Dangerous. These instrumentals are far from the average indie rock bands, with Stockdale’s guitar skills something to leave your jaw dragging on the floor and your eyes as wide as saucers.
The set is soon over and it now becomes evident that this isn’t just another pop spin off; not another guitar sing song follow on, these guys are accomplished musicians with direction and passion, they have soul, something which seems to be missing in the current scene. Their music is not defined by something which can be pigeonholed, nor is it something which should be compared to other artists. It is something that is written for “the now” and takes to different directions in which each member is influenced. So where exactly is this heading and what is The Third Man about? Rafferty explains; “It’s about having trust and faith in one another and playing something that we all believe in. It’s not about getting it out there for the sake of it, if you know what I mean. We don’t care if we play to 1 person or 1000, we just want to do something we love, and play from our hearts, something that means a lot to us”. With each member having had plenty experience in the industry, it’s apparent that these words are nothing but sincere.
As we retire towards the door of this small intimate club, a frank but honest individual from the audience airs his candid opinion stating “I just have to say, this is not usually my taste in music, I listen to Mo-town and the like, but I am feeling surprised at what I’ve seen tonight. You can tell that these guys believe in what they’re doing. If they sang a song about how amazing that stairwell was, I would probably believe them!”
Fuente : http://blogitdanceitshoutit.wordpress.com/
