Canford Heath Community Centre
Tonight we are on Canford Heath, a suburb of Poole which is home to one of the largest housing estates in the south of England. The place is like a small town and amongst its many amenities is the Canford Heath Community Centre, where local girl Becky Crothall-Brown and her young family are fighting to create a music scene with small funding and little help. Despite the obstacles, the hard work is really beginning to pay off. Tonight two young local bands Wave Chase and 27 Days are competing with “The X-Factor” on TV and a host of other events in town for music fans attention. The bands have drawn a sizeable crowd with the numbers considerably upon previous events.
“Wave Chase” take to the stage at 8:30pm sharp and get a warm welcome from the army of fans gathered at the front. The band is fronted by George Kingman formerly of Power Thief, who I was lucky enough to see when they performed at their senior school back in 2015. George has since left school and has been studying at BAMM (Bournemouth Academy of Modern Music) where he put together this current outfit. Kicking off with “Talk Tonight” it is clear that this four-piece has masses of youthful talent and the best thing about them is the way they infectiously enjoy performing together onstage. The guitar work is really impressive and the band effortlessly perform a string of songs which feature a good mix of originals and well-chosen covers, including an impromptu version of The Cure’s “Boys Don’t Cry” for a chap wearing a Cure T-shirt standing in the front row.
The band also feature Mickey Golicher (Lead Guitar), Tim Baldwin (Bass Guitar/Vocals) with Charlie Cane (Drums) who all together with George have an exciting chemistry between them that creates really relevant listenable music. Their original tunes like “Waste Opportunity”, “Fed Up” and “Fangs” all have a really fresh infectious appeal to them and would not sound out of place on the radio or on a TV/Movie soundtrack. We are treated to a great version of “T-Shirt Weather” by “Circa Waves” where I suspect the band got their name and a few influences as well. The band leave the stage after a thoroughly enjoyable 45 minutes and get plenty of deserving applause from the well-entertained crowd.
Tonight’s headliners have embraced the time of year and as it is just 3 days after Halloween have come in fancy dress. The drummer Phil has come as Telly Tubby ‘Tinky Winky’, the bassist Jayke is in a sort of Crocodile onesie while frontman Jordan and lead guitarist Stevie have come in slightly twisted Axl/Slash outfits. They kick off appropriately with “It’s so Easy” and throw themselves into their opening number with lots of swagger and plenty of energy. The band gives us a brand new original tune which opens with a cascade of cymbals, before a Richie Sambora – style guitar riff erupts on a tune with a western style feel to it. I am not sure if it is a mix of nerves, technical issues or what, but the band don’t seem comfortable tonight. I have seen this band before and they are so much better than they showing us tonight. They each have plenty of talent, but tonight it does not seem to be channeled in all the right places.
At times the band pull some clever stunts with great previously unheard and unique versions of popular songs which include a mash-up of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” and “Wonderwall”. There is a mix of the Zed Zeppelin’s classic Whole Lotta Love cleverly mixed with Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall. Also another with Ac/Dc’s ‘Thunderstruck’ mixed stunningly with Ray Parker Jnr’s “Ghostbusters”, these versions all are very much enjoyed by the audience who willingly sing along at the tops of their voices with the band. A great evening was had by all thanks to the hard work of one very dedicated music fan Becky, who continues to put on shows throughout the rest of year – for details check the Rock Regeneration gig guide.
Wave Chase
Talk Tonight
Grow Up
Addicted
How Can I Compete? (The Magic Gang)
Clean Bowled
Boys Don’t Cry (The Cure)
Fluorescent Adolescent (Arctic Monkeys)
Wasted Opportunity
Creep (Radiohead)
Fed Up
You Got me all Wrong (love song)
T-Shirt Weather (Circa Waves)
Fangs
27 Days
It’s So Easy (Guns N’ Roses)
Tell The Devil
Talk Dirty To Me (Poison)
Dead Man Walking
Fallen Angel (Poison)
Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry)
Crazy Bitch
Speed
Knockin’ On Heavenís Door/Wonderwall (Bob Dylan/Oasis)
Whole Lotta Love/Another Brick in the Wall (Led Zeppelin/Pink Floyd)
Death to All But Metal (Steel Panther)
Thunderstrick/Ghostbusters (Ac/Dc/Ray Parker Jnr)
Sweet Child of Mine (Guns N’ Roses)
Summer of 69 -With George & Tim of Wave Chase (Bryan Adams)
Links
https://www.facebook.com/27DaysOfficialPage
https://www.facebook.com/wavechaseband
Words & Pictures by David Chinery (Chinners).
