Chaplin’s Cellar Bar, Boscombe
Tonight there is the usual warm family-like welcome at Chaplin’s Cellar Bar in Boscombe, as well as some top quality live music as part of the monthly “Shindig” in the form of Portsmouth’s top-rated band Shoot the Duke and Bournemouth Country trio Stanford Road.
Stanford Road are up first and this band are no strangers to the Cellar stage having performed here several times before. The band features married couple Terry & Rachel Muller along with their ‘gooseberry’ bassist Matt Street. Their name ‘Stanford Road’ is taken from a place in Lymington near the Thomas Tripp pub where the couple Terry and Rachel first met. The set kicks off with the delightful “Independence Highway” from the debut EP “Open Ended” and the band’s simple set-up lets their quality of voice shine through. You cannot fail to be charmed by the sincere honesty of these songs and the near immaculate delivery. Each tune is delivered with a little introductory anecdote giving the tunes more depth. Using a mixture of acoustic guitars, mandolin and simple percussion they skilfully produce a rich accompaniment. They bring their set to an end with a couple of more well know tunes which include “Wayfaring Stranger” and the ever popular “Wagon Wheel”, which gets much of the Cellar Bar crowd up on its feet dancing.
Shoot the Duke is a four-piece band that I saw for the first time back in the Summer when they played a set at the Wonky Donk Festival in Lytchett Matravers. They really impressed the crowd that day with their youthful energy and well-delivered songs. Tonight is their debut at Chaplin’s and it is never easy playing to a new crowd, though this venue regular certainly appreciates good original music when they hear it. Kicking off with “Adelaide” the band show a deep-rooted Blues style with some exceptional intensive harmonica skills from frontman Bom. As the band get comfortable with the new surroundings they begin to stretch their legs and bring in their other influences. The four-piece feature Tom Bryan (Acoustic guitar), Neil Cripps (Electric Guitar), James Collins (Bass) and at the back on drums slotted into the small alcove is Rob Whale (Drums).
The next tune “He/She” brings in elements of Reggae, while things get all energetically funky with “Brother to Brother”. The four guys seem to have a real chemistry between them and most of the tunes seem to have a free-flowing “jam” to them, with the guys taking off into a variety of unpredictable directions. The Chaplin’s crowd cannot seem to get enough of them and soon the dancefloor in front of the stage is packed full of well-educated musos dancing along to this new noise they have discovered. The band have some new tunes out in 2018 as a follow up to their debut self-titled EP, one of these tunes “Strange Again” gives us a preview of what we can expect from the band moving forward and the future looks very bright indeed. The set ends on a high with a skilful mash-up of “Mojo” coupled with Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. The band end a little prematurely and continue to captivate the crowd with an improvised blues, reggae and funk jam lasting for around 30 minutes. They leave the stage with plenty of positive noises from the well-entertained crowd. Though this may be their first time here it certainly won’t be their last.
Set List
Shoot the Duke
Adelaide
He/She
Cash
Brother to Brother
Strange Again
Nicotine
Mojo Rising/Folsom Prison Blues
Funk/Blues/Reggae Jam
Stanford Road
Independence Highway
So Wrong
Black Coffee
Feathers & Stones
Drunk at the Wheel
Burning House
He Sure Knew How to Party
Wayfaring Stranger
Wagon Wheel
Videos
Link
https://www.facebook.com/shoottheduke
https://www.stanfordroad.com
Words, Pictures & Videos by Dave Chinery (Chinners)
