Baskery
John Peel Centre
It has been a while since I’ve been to a gig at my local venue, The John Peel Centre, in Stowmarket. I spent four years volunteering there once upon a time and have seen it grow from the knackered old cinema/pool hall it once was, into the fine venue it is today, albeit with some practical design quirks. For example, there is no backstage area nor green room.
The upstairs bar with its lovingly fashioned wooden bar top, made from the buildings original salvaged window frames and fronted by photographs of some of John Peel’s vast record collection (photographs, I might add, which I took!) became the green room and what was once a store cupboard downstairs converted into a bar.
Lest you think this is a case of bad planning, it is not. For ever since its conception The John Peel Centre had planned to occupy not just the old Corn Exchange, but also the adjoining building which fronts onto Stowmarket High Street – formally the NatWest Bank. It has taken time, but the keys to that building were recently handed over to the directors.
But I digress. To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive walking through the doors after so long. But I need not have worried. I received a very warm welcome from some former colleagues and bumped it people I’ve not seen for a long while. Like finding that forgotten comfortable jumper at the back of the wardrobe.
If anything struck me as odd, it was the age demographic. Given what we were about to hear I would have though to find a younger group – but then there was a football kick-about happening somewhere, apparently.
If you don’t know the band, they are three sisters Greta, Stella and Sunniva Bondesson from Stockholm. Stella’s job on double base is to keep her sisters inline, in-time and on beat. Sunniva leads on guitar while Greta is centre stage with her rasping banjo, guitar and drums. Which by the way, gives rise to some amazing facial expressions. To describe their style is difficult. Finding the right place to file their CDs in HMV or Bengans would give rise to lengthy arguments.
This was the final gig of a long year for Baskery. Over fifty dates in Europe including festival performances at Maverick and Maui Waui, recording new work and being ill along the way. They had every right to feel tired by the time they got to Stowmarket, but that did not prevent or diminish the show they put on.
Baskery unashamedly mess with musical genres – but these women are not to be messed with. Their sound is unique. There are hints of blues, country and folk interspersed by loud rock and stripped back prog rock. But only stripped back because there are only three of them! The ladies themselves use the strap line “banjo-punk”… I’m not so sure.
They grew up playing bluegrass with their father’s bands, they have appeared at FolkEast and the gem of Americana in Essex; Little Rabbit Barn. For nine months they lived in Nashville. They cover songs by Neil Young and Muddy Waters – and they get the audience to howl like wolves. (Apparently the Stowmarket audience ranks in the top three for howling in England and Wales.)
The girls had apparently popped out of the John Peel Centre to discover Stowmarket’s night life. Fortunately, they returned when they worked out that they were it! On Friday we were treated to many favourite Baskery numbers such as Cat Flap, Big Flo and Throw me a Bone. I was lucky to be on the balcony overlooking the performance when they sang a capella – the sound rising to the rafters.
They closed their show with a beautiful Swedish lullaby without a hint of punk or banjo. As we walked home I said to my wife that I would learn this song to sing to our new grandson. She looked at me bewildered, “But you don’t speak Swedish” she said. “No, neither does he.” I replied.
Esme Emerson
The evening could easily have been branded “The Sibling Sessions”, for supporting the three Swedish sisters were Essex based sibling duo Esme Emerson. For reasons of agreed logistics they were standing further apart on stage than they had ever been before.
We were entertained by Esme’s gentle vocals, sung in such a way that you found yourself so intent on her lyrics that it came as a surprise to hear Emerson’s harmonies as they crept in to perfection.
They opened with ‘Words’, a track from their debut EP ‘S for Sugar, D for Dog’ introduced us to some new material and, on looking at the age demographic, chuckled as they introduced us to a K-Pop cover ‘Smooth Like Butter’.
It is hard to believe that this profoundly confident pair have only been really performing for two years after being scouted from Tik Tok. I look forward to tracking their progress in the coming years.
