Hove Folk Club

Swill : 3rd December 2009
Report by Terry Arganpride.

What at first could have turned out a disaster was turned round into a memorable evening of high quality music at the Lord Nelson.

With only 10 days to go to the meeting at the Eclipse, the management announced it was shutting the pub for two months for a refurbishment. Lots of phone calls by our host and lots of rearranging publicity by the hard-working Roger managed to secure the Lord Nelson in Brighton for the visit of Swill, front man of The Men They Couldn’t Hang.

The Nelson is a splendid pub with a conservatory at the rear which was our venue for the night, although it had a glass roof and a stone floor the acoustics were really quite good and the 40 plus crowd plus one dog (Kitty) who turned up soon made a close up and friendly atmosphere for the musicians to perform in.

The evening started with a splendid couple of numbers from our host Robb Johnson who played the first track from the recently released Christmas Album “The Ghosts of Love” which will be performed in full next Thursday at the Komedia in Brighton. He followed this up with his new song of the month “This used to be a Rock and Roll Town” which I thought was an absolute cracker and am sure will re-emerge as an electric Irregular number.

Next up were Paul and Dave from a group known as the Gutterhearts.  I have always liked the sound of the twelve string guitar and the catchy tune “Simple Man” really showed its worth. Check them out on MySpace. I hope they come back soon for another visit.

Swill played the first half solo, mixing his own works with those of fellow MTCH members as well as a song with words from our very own Robb.

After the break things were started off by Lomans, a real hero of the Hove Folk Club who braved the August weekender in the public bar and lived to tell the tale.  Two lively songs from him smoothed the way for Jonathan to sing an a capella song. Our final floor singer was the legend of Brighton, WOB, whom I think is one of the most underrated performers around; restrained by movement because of the tight packed crowd and the fact that Robb’s borrowed guitar had no strap, his voice was unleashed on the members to stunning effect.

Swill took the floor in the second half with fellow MTCH man Paul Simmonds, and if you like the music of that band you could ask for no more; before a finale to savour. Iron Masters played with our two friends from Gutterhearts, followed by “The Green Fields of France” (you can watch a recording of that number, and other videos of Swill and Paul at Hove, here!) played by all four musicians; Dave on pipes really added to the poignancy of this song, and with WOB on harmonising vocals (aided by the willing audience) it made you glad to be there and nowhere else.

Robb described the club as on holiday; well, perhaps we were, but we are bringing home the landlord of the Nelson (Graham) to the Eclipse (or “Poets Corner” as it will be called) and if he can make it like the Nelson was this evening, it will be fantastic. Still one more month of holiday, though, on 8th January when the club's very own Mike Reinstein will play his first headline gig. See you there!

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