lunchtime jam at the ray davies curated meltdown festival, rock n'rolling on the south bank!
some of the cool modernists amongst the blog cats are probably repulsed by the fact that an out and out rock-a-billy combo is appearing amongst these pages.
firstly, let me give you a history lesson, not that i think you need one or will benefit from my lay man's knowledge of the roots of the modernist culture, but take it from me, alot has been written, re-written and manipulated to fit an image.
most of the mid-60's mod bands would have grown up listening to, learning from and playing out and out rock n'roll. the beatles early albums are a mix of their current (at the time) influences and music they played in the cavern and in hamburg as the savage young beatles! the kinks, the small faces, the who and them all included rock n'roll standards in their sets, some longer than others (the who - summertime blues).
which brings us nicely to the caezars.
i don't profess to be even the smallest knowledge of rock n'roll, rock-a-billy or 50's music fans but i hope that i do know good happening music whatever the genre. the caezars are exactly that, a very good, jiving, rock n'roll band.
as the first band of ray davies meltdown festival they played a difficult lunchtime crowd of the familiar, the curious and the passing. but they played with menace and skill, with a vibe about them. we could have been a load of teddy boys, not many of us were, the caezars owned this festival hall lunch time.
it's a joy to see a young band play with an attitude and enjoyment of their art form. the singer scanned the audience looking for victims, his delivery screamed 'are you paying attention', the guitarist reigned you in with his rock n'roll ray gun chords not allowing your attention to deviate, the drummer played with a precision beat, keeping the combo close and tight (and boy are they tight!), then there's the bass player, traditional stand up, thumping to the core of the songs.
for the joyous three quarters of an hour they took to the stage for, not once did the pace drop, you had to remind yourself it was actually lunchtime and at the end the majority would disappear back to their metropolis desk bound existences.
the caezars are no one trick revivalist band, they're way too young for that, this is their references brought bang up to date with a sharpness and reverence to the modern world!
they look the part, definately sound the part, check them out for yourself, but leave your parka and prejudices at home!
good music is good music!
good music is good music!
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