So – I’m now 23 and Project 22 has finished.
And it was mostly a success!

22 Gigs – Completed
22 Books – Completed
22 New London Pubs – Completed

The 22 brands didn’t get finished – it was forgotten about until two or three weeks before the end of the project. And I spend all of my working day talking about brands – it was a poor choice last year!

The 22 albums also didn’t get bought. I bought 4. But I’ve been using Spotify – it’s changed the way I listen to music. So I’ve summarised the music I’ve been listening to this year instead.

22 Gigs

1. Ryan Adams
2. Kings of Leon
3. Goldfish
4. Scott Matthews
5. Willy Mason
6. Nizlopi
7. Hanson
8. Duke Special
9. Andy Oliveri
10. The Great Last
11. Jake Morley
12. Rich Robinson
13. Andy Oliveri
14. Willy Mason
15. The Staves
16. Scott Matthews
17. Duke Special
18. Ryan Adams
19. Alabama Shakes
20. Johnny Parry Chamber Orchestra
21. POB
22. Lunar Festival

Now to Project 23…

It’s beautiful.
What I love about the Fender brand – is that it’s built on providing for real hard working musicians.
And so half of their communications show battered instruments.
And you know what – they look better than the new ones.
Half of me wants to knock my bass around just to get it looking like the old beauties.
Yet again – it’s a brand that’s built around providing great products, not providing fluff and nonsense.
J.Wilshire’s ‘Make things people want > Make people want things’ strikes again.

The final gig.
And a complete punt.

With little time left before the end of the project, and with only one gig to go – I went rogue and bought two tickets to the Johnny Parry Chamber Orchestra. Blind.
You know it’s going to be a strange one when you’re buying tickets because of the venue, rather than the band.

Nevertheless – I sat back on my pew and listened to the support, Dan Michaelson.

Wow the guy has a low voice. So low that it’s pretty damn hard to figure out if there is a tune at all.
The guitar work was basic and the songs uncomplicated – nothing too eye opening – but his dry stage talk was his saving grace. He won round the audience with his sarcastic drawl before exiting sharpish stage left.

Returning from the bar, I see the stage is now populated with 20+ musicians. The orchestra has arrived.
As has Johnny Parry.
Johnny Parry looks like a cross between Tim Minchin and Jack Sparrow – falling somewhere in Duke Special territory, but without the eye makeup or dreads.

The room is half empty – I quickly do the maths and check that there are more people in the audience than on stage. There are. Just.

The strings start up and they sound wonderful in the chapel.
The bands sound is huge – awesome in a church.
The arrangement was tight, the drummer superb and the opera singers impressive.
Arthouse films play on the projector behind the band and Johnny Parry sings in a TomWaitsEsque drawl.

Without his voice, the sound was incredible – a delicious blend of Elbow and Mercury Rev.

But with the voice – it just didn’t click with me. If I’m honest – the songs need a little work too.
Have it my way and the orchestra would break away from Johnny.
Find a new leader.
Revolt.
Rise up.
Be free.
Take up with a new singer songwriter – and earn a few bob.

Going back through my journal and my blog, I seem to have had split objectives on my 22nd birthday last year..

In my notepad, I’d written see 22 gigs, visit 22 new pubs, buy 22 new albums and read 22 books.
On here, I appear to have written see 22 gigs, visit 22 new pubs, buy 22 new albums and write about 22 brands I like.
Obviously the thought of 22 books scared me enough to change the objective at the point between copying from my journal to the blog. However – with only one book left to read – I’ve just realised I haven’t started talking about brands.
So here’s my starter for ten. Or twenty two.

1) Ginger Joe – I only got to know this brand in December last week, and it’s disgustingly hard to find the product in the shops. But the branding is excellent – with a flaming ginger moustache on every bottle and a solid block font that helps it stand out on the supermarket shelf. They do some fairly me-too stuff on facebook (tache-yourself etc..) but the product is great, and the product branding suits it perfectly. If only it could sort out its goddamn distribution!

2) Heinz – Ah the great British institution. Obviously it’s a brand I’ve grown up with over many years, so there’s too much to say about it… But AMV are doing some hearty work  – especially their ‘magic beans’ fairytale TVC that’s on at the moment.

3) Tommy Hilfiger – I’m not a big designer clothes buyer. In fact, I’m more likely to buy clothes from a charity shop than from New Bond Street. But I quite like TH’s product, and I really like the american vintage college outfitter vibe they manage to communicate through their photography. Nice.

4) Jaffa Cakes – It’s nice to write about a brand I’ve worked on. However – I have to say there were very few things I managed to get out of the door that I was proud of whilst I was on it. The late, great 90s advertising is no more – but built the brand to what it is today. It’s a great product, and the mischievousness that people know it for is something I’d like to see return.

So after a long time comin’, Lunar weekend finally arrived.
Unfortunately so did the rain.

Clicking the heels of borrowed boots and looking a bit like a toddler that had been dressed by an overprotective mother, we headed to Lunar. The festival was hidden away in the Umberslade Farm Park – with only half moon signs to guide you to the site.
Once there, the (lax but very friendly) security wrapped our wrist bands on and we headed to the beer tent for a pint of Purity…

Over the weekend – we saw a number of nice bands and a number of not-so-nice bands and got thoroughly drenched – but it was bloody brilliant all the same…

Nice
– Scott Matthews – As ever, was incredible. Backed only with a drummer, but on home soil, he really took the house down. For once, I didn’t miss City Headache. And he played all the hits. Was fantastic.

– Fionn Regan – I haven’t seen Fionn for a long while, but really didn’t need to worry. He was great as ever – an Irish Bob Dylan, with a mean talent for guitar and a distinctive voice. The songs were fantastic, but as we approached the encore, disappointment dawned as I realised he hadn’t played my favourite track (The Underwood Typewriter.) After an encore of Be Good or Be Gone, I started to leave – elated but with a tinge of sadness. Next thing I know – a (drunk) organiser walks up on stage and asks him to encore for a second time. And he plays it! Fantastic.

– Michael Chapman – Really great, older guy. Fond of a swear word, but fantastic acoustic player with a gravelly but great voice.

– Goodnight Lenin – The band that pulled the most people all weekend I think.. After the rains increased, people started to leave! They were really tight, comfortable and charismatic.

– Boat to Row – Much tighter than when I saw them at the small beer festival a little while ago. With violinist in tow, they played well and despite some dodgy banter, were well received.

– Ashley Hutchings and Blair Dunlop – Father and son duo. Father being ex-Fairport Convention. Son being shoved into limelight by ex-Fairport Convention father. Actually a very nice set from the two of them – but the poetry felt a little bit pretentious.

– Jim Moray – Thought he was interesting – very traditional folk but brought the crowd along with him. Including two uber fans. They loved him. Peg n’ awl.

– Duotone – I thought the whole loop-pedal thing was over now, but clearly some people are still going for it! They produced some great layers and despite a couple of timing issues, were really quite impressive.

Not so nice
– Hannah Peel – I just didn’t get it.
– Rapunzel and Sedayne – Tone deaf wizard and wife.

Alabama Shakes are a rocket heading for stardom.

Brittany Howard, the band’s lead singer has that old school rock voice that the UK has been waiting for. At its most energetic, it’s a blend of Caleb Followill and Aretha Franklin. At it’s moodiest, it’s a clash of Amy Winehouse and Janis Joplin. And it all sounds like she’s singing through a 50’s tube mike – beautifully crackly, beautifully rocky.

The band, consisting of a tight rhythm section, a modestly playing but oh-so-complimentary keyboardist and supremely talented guitarist stand near-rigid, rarely moving their spot. It provides the perfect counterpoint to Howard’s Jagger-esque stage manner. She really goes for it, whipping her head back and forth like Angus Young and walking around like she has all the experience and confidence of the Rolling Stones singer himself. She drags everyone along with her – you can’t help but think she’s great.

‘Hold on’, the track currently getting most airplay off of their album ‘Boys and Girls’, came early on the set. At first I thought it was an immature ploy to just get it out of the way – as if they were sick of it. In fact it was just there to set precedent for what was to come. The entire set was fantastic – blending Otis Redding with Kings of Leon. They not only live up to their hype, but they surpass it. Knowing the UK’s penchant for Americana blues-rock, they’ll be doing an arena tour within the next year or two. I bet ya.

‘Twas electric.

Last time I saw the Staves, they were playing at Union Chapel (TimeOut’s venue of the year) and left everyone in the audience open-jawed – bringing the house down with only two tracks.

It was therefore with a mixture of excitement and worry that I entered the (beautiful) Tabernacle. Excited because I wanted them to be as good as the first time I’d seen them. And worried incase they weren’t.

This time they had a (very tight) rhythm section with them and when they all took to the stage and hit the first note of the set – I realised it was going to be different to the first time I’d seen them. Luckily for me, they were better.

Headlining the gig had obviously done wonders for their confidence and coupled with playing on home soil, they really went for it.

Soaring three part harmonies, reminiscent of Dixie Chicks, set to well constructed folk pop made a soothing elixir – and a very marketable one at that. It’s little wonder they’ve just signed to Warner and have Ethan AND Glyn Johns lined up to produce their album.

The set was short and sweet – each song punctuated by witty banter. The full band line up does an awful lot for their sound – it’s clear they’re rehearsed, having just got back from a VW campervan tour across the states with record label Communion. I can’t help but think the next time I see them, it will be in a room three times the size. And maybe, just maybe – the band will be bigger too. I can’t help but wonder what the addition of a string quartet would do for their sound. Even just a cello would bring it into Scott Matthew’s league.

Brilliant gig and brilliant band. They’re gonna be big – just wait!

I’d been to the Palladium as a kid – it’s a beautiful theatre and a gorgeous venue to listen to some music.

The Lexington is a great pub in Pentonville – light and airy downstairs with a cool music venue upstairs.
The upstairs venue is completely different in feel – you wonder if you’ve wandered in to a late night jazz club rather than a pub’s first floor.

First up was Foreign Slippers – a female vocalist/keys player with a guitarist in support. The guitarist – we found out later – was also an accomplished drummer, playing sensationally in Duke’s band.
Foreign Slippers played a nice set of acousticy folk pop – punctuated by the guitarist tuning his 1950’s semi acoustic between each song.
‘We tune because we care’ the singer said in her thick Dublin accent. ‘It’s bloody annoying though isn’t it’ someone in the crowd shouted back.
They played a short set and departed – allowing Duke Special to take centre stage.

Duke Special was testing out tracks from his new album ‘Oh Pioneer!’ and kindly explained the meaning behind each track in his own nervous, disarming, hands-in-pockets manner. It’s not an act – he really is quietly charming and within minutes has the crowd in the palm of his hand.

At one point, he missed his cue for the chorus and apologised profusely to the audience as he asked the band to start again.

The set was warm and rich, the songs well written and the performance solid. His band (drummer & keyboardist) provided the perfect rhythm section to his voice and keys playing – making a surprisingly full sound considering the number of musicians on stage.

The few solo tracks Duke played showed everyone why this was the case – he is an unbelievable pianist with a talent for creating a full band sound from two hands, stride arrangement and one keyboard.

Finishing the set with a crowd please ‘Our Love Goes Deeper Than This’ – Duke left the stage with everyone clapping and smiling. The gig was truly (Duke) special.

Walking into Assembly Hall – I’m struck by the beauty of the place – it’s gorgeous. I have a theory that Scott is actually a bit of a diva – he refuses to play anywhere that doesn’t have one or more chandeliers.

Beth Rowley is on stage when I arrive. I find Wist and we settle down for the night’s festivities.

I’ve seen Beth play before – at a festival I was working at a couple of years ago. Back then, she was playing with a full band. Tonight there was only a guitarist on stage to back her.
Her voice is really strong – so many great female singers spring to mind when you hear her that you begin to imagine a delicious choir. Unfortunately – her greatest strength is also her greatest weakness – she could be one of any number of singers. She doesn’t sound different, or groundbreaking or original. Her harmonica playing was great – proving herself to be a very talented musician as well as singer.
I recognised a couple of tracks – but as expected – it was a mostly new set. Certainly enjoyable but I can’t imagine myself actively seeking her out to watch another Beth Rowley set.

Scott came out to huge applause – it turns out there are other people more obsessive than Wist. Who’d have thought it. Scott was in high spirits – cracking a smile on more than one occasion… considerably more than we witnessed at Bush Hall earlier on in Project 22.

It felt like ‘his’ gig – he owned the set and subsequently owned the room. The band were unbelievable and Scott was gracious – allowing each of them their own space to embellish and riff. Hugely talented musicians – they not only understood when it’s best to just give the track some space or when to fill – but they also somehow knew what the other members were also going to do…

There was no cello this gig – but it didn’t matter. Scott’s voice was thick and warm and filled the space once filled by cello perfectly. U
Unfortunately I popped outside during my favourite track – city headache – and only caught the final chorus and verse. He played for an hour and a half – a huge set – but it all felt over too quickly. Outstanding.