MUSIC PREVIEW
‘We used to cover “Islands In The Stream” in the set, but now we’re doing some Velvets songs - which must have a strong Scottish connection, what with all the Postcard scenario . . .’ As a teenager in Perth, Australia, David McGomb would spend long hours aiter school In his local record shop. The shop’s thorough import service kept him abreast oi the sounds oi young Scotland and young America: .losei K, Fire Engines, Orange Juice, Pere llbu, Television, Talking ileads. Young David was inspired, The Trliiids were born. ‘I remember when the ilrst Postcard records came out, it was like, “Aw, .leez, these people have been listening to the same records we’ve been listening to all along!”.’
But somewhere along the way The Triiiids got derailed, took an inspired left turn. Possibly the blame lies at the door oi McDomb’s ever-present musical director, ‘Evll’ Graham Lee - ‘he’s head oi the country music mile in Melbourne,’ says McGomb. Whoever, however, over the 80s and a clutch oi inspired albums (recommended: ‘Born Sandy Devotional’ and their penultimate studio album, 1987’s ‘calenture’) The Triiilds walked a crooked country mile, bringing verve, melodrama and clever wee tales to periectly plangent pop. Eee, they were great.
Stray of the Triffids \
Tlndersticks are The Triiiids with london dinginess and bar-scuzz replacing Antipodean sunshine and majesty.
Ilow, iive years aiter The Triiiids’ split, and via side-projects like The Blackeyed Susans and The lied Ponies, David McGomb is on his ilrst solo outing. ‘Love Di Will’ is the album, and McGomb’s curdled heart and rich voice are the periect sparring partners they always were. ‘The very hardest thing is to write very simple songs that still sound okay,’ he concedes. ‘And I don’t think I’ve done enough oi that yet.’ (Graig McLean)
David McDomb plays King Tut’s, Glasgow on Mon 2.
um- Hex appeal
You could run yourseli in circles trying to encapsulate the sultry essence oi Dark Psychosis. In iact, many already have. They’re a dream challenge when it comes to exercising your critical vocabulary. See, they're so wonderiully out oi step with most oi their contemporaries - but not so iar out that they don’t throw you a line to grasp hold oi, so you can be immersed without ilounderlng.
Delving into the recesses oi my descriptive capacities, ‘a bit like Talk Talk’ seems like a ialr, pithy assessment, what with their ability to create epic, iluld, layered musical pictures with a minimum oiTuss, plenty oi breathing space, a shot oi sprung lazz rhythm and a ieatherlight tread. ‘llnderworld without the bleeps’ is another good one and ‘organic’ is best oi the lot. Vocalist/guitarist Graham Sutton bears this out by admitting their current (and debut) album ‘ilex’ ‘grew like mould’.
‘I like music that acts as a soundtrack to or milestone in your liie,’ he says. ‘I like music that’s visual, cinematic, a real adventure. Something that you can get your teeth and ears into.’
ile then mentions their latest single ‘Blue’ using the words ‘Pet Shop Boys’, ‘llapalm Death’ and ‘Ennio Morrlcone’ without drawing a breath between. ‘Generally, the next record is a reaction against the previous one. I’m not satisiied with anything we’ve done. I suppose it‘s to do with transitory tastes. I’m just into the idea oi being mischievous.’
Thankiully, Graham still rates ‘ilex’ so the group may air its milky murmurings when they play their iirst ever Scottish show, but now his ‘reaction’ to the year it took to make is to write quickly and disposably, and new material is predicted tor the May tour.
‘I want it to be a little edgier ior us,’ he explains. ‘We’ve always approached the live thing completely diiierently, trying to break down the tour-piece boy rock thing. ilecords are a lot more subtle; live, it’s more about impact and energy. It’s reiining it iurther and thinking oi what might make the greatest impact in any given situation.’ (Fiona Shepherd)
Bark Psychosis play the Old Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow on Sun 1.
Sweet as candy
Kenny Mathieson looks at the rise and rise of jazz- funk saxophonist Candy Dulfer.
Saxophonist Candy Dull‘cr's Edinburgh concert may be part of the Silk Cut City Jazz touring programme, but to describe her music asjazz would be stretching matters a mite. Certainly, there is ajazz element in there. and sometimes a strong one, but for the most part. she works with a potent brew of soul. funk and rock.
If you are looking for a comparison. then you would probably have to look to the likes of Maceo Parker or David Sanbom, two of the players which she ‘has taken the most from'. She has that same mix of a big, muscular-but- sensuous sound. admirable technical proficiency, and a feel for a slamming funk groove. and while she name- checks Charlie Parker in the same breath. he is a less obvious progenitor of her music.
‘l've been influenced by these players. and also by musicians on other instruments. especially Miles Davis.
For me. though. jazz is music of the 50s and 60s. and it is nice to match it with other kinds of music that are more of my own time, and make a mixture of jazz and funk and pop.
‘Singers are also important influences for me — I got a lot of my licks from Chaka Khan’s singing, and i try to think in terms of a voice when I play the saxophone. Vocalists can be really free — they are not held back by trying to make their fingers produce the sounds in their heads.‘
Making her fingers produce the sounds in her head appears to come readily to Candy. Bom in Ams.erdam in 1969, her father is a saxophone player who plays ‘the same kind of music as me'. She took to the instrument early. had her own band by the time she was fifteen, and juggled late-night gigs with school until she graduated with her certificate, which ‘everyone said was really important at 'the time, although now I‘m a musician no one ever asks to see it!‘
Her rise has been nothing if not spectacular, without the years of paying dues expected of instrumentalists. She has worked with the likes of Van Morrison. Aretha Franklin, Pink Floyd and, most famously. that notable collector of talented women side- persons who also happen to be glamorous. Pn'nce (her record company exploit the sex angle as well — check the sleeve of Sax A (In-Go ifyou think l'mjust being sexist). Indeed, she even received an on-stage apology from the
40 The List 22 April—5 May 1994