Gig reviews for May 2011

Diesel Park West at the Musician, 13th May

Review by Trevor Locke

I had been waiting to see Diesel Park West for many months. This seminal band is part of Leicester's musical history. When the chance came up to go to one of their gigs, I made sure I was there.

Photo © Harjinder Ohbi

This is an iconic Leicester band; they have defined live music in Leicester for decades. Their show at the Musician tonight was captivating, a real musical treat, a unforgettable moment in a busy round of gig-going. One of the few Leicester bands to have an entry in Wikipedia, DPW was formed in 1981. They now have an extensive back catalogue of singles and seven albums.

Their root influences come from the West Coast sound of the 1960s, reflecting bands like Moby Grape, Buffalo Springfield and Love. Described as " ... a nuclear fusion between the Small Faces and the Byrds", by Uncut magazine, they signed to Food Records (later to be acquired by EMI) in 1987 and changed their name to Diesel Park West at that time.

In the period 1988 to 1992, they got Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey behind them and they released their album "Shakespeare Alabama" (in 1989), which reached number 55 in the charts and sold over 150,000 copies. During the 90s they were picked by up Demon Records. Lead singer John Butler was adamant that Blur picked up bits from them. In his younger days John played in Widowmaker, supporting bands like Aerosmith.

Tonight, four musicians were on the stage, at least for the first set. This was a night with only one band and such is their reputation and following that they comfortably filled the venue. Some of the local rockerati were in the audience to appreciate this remarkable band.

The drummer (Rob Vom I'm told) was younger than most of the band members but has been with them for about ten years now. The band soon got into its set of fulsome songs with John Butler leading on the vocals. The crowd gathered in front of the stage; a wide range of ages were represented in the turn-out, showing that the fans were not just old-timers but many who were much younger than the musicians on the stage. Quite a few people had come from outside Leicester for this show.

Photo © Harjinder Ohbi

The vibrant, melodic songs were warmly received by the audience and lots of feet were tapping in time with the compelling rhythms. I got the feeling that a lot of people in the room knew their songs well. The first part of the show featured many of the band's beautifully constructed songs: Jackie's still sad, Blood and grace, All the myths on Sunday (Damned Anthems,1989), "I'm not broken", "Charlotte - it's all over" and "Here I stand, here, right or wrong." I thought I could hear shades of Dylan or of The Rolling Stones. Compelling and evocative and full of intensely crafted dynamics, sometimes with extensive instrumental sections, it was a sheer pleasure to listen to their music.

Even though I had not seen this band before, I was impressed by the strong presence that they brought to the stage. Watching John Butler at work behind the mic, you could see the concentration on his face. After thirty years of live music, this band still comes across as fresh and spirited, but also playing smoothly rounded music, tightly delivered with precision accuracy.

In the second half of their set they were joined by guitarist Rich Barton who was a full member of the band between 1988 and 1996. They started with 'Personal lives' (Blood & Grace Album, 2007), followed by 'Silver Girl' (Damned Anthems) and 'While The World Cries Decency' (Damned Anthems) followed. We also heard 'Like Princes Do' (Damned Anthems) described as "blistering" and 'Mr Soul' (Damned Anthems) featured the guitar of Rich Barton. I heard flavours of the Rolling Stones in this piece.

They ended with 'Waking Hour' (Damned Anthems) but the audience would not let them go. They were brought back for an encore, probably "When the Hoodoo Comes" (King of Ghosts, 2002), their indie classic.

The music evokes a variety of musical styles, sometimes folksy, at others more classical and even bits that echoed back to the days of psychedelia. Tunes that were laden with mood and magic. Always mesmerisingly good. I wonder if any of the young bands currently playing the stages of our local venues will still be performing in thirty years time. Leicester/shire spawns new bands continuously but most of them have a short shelf life.

Even though I won't be round in thirty years time to find out, I would love to know how many of the groups I see today will still be going then. I just wish that many more young musicians from our local bands had been in the Musician tonight.

Diesel Park West in the early years

Read about DPW on Wikipedia | Diesel Park West official web site