In My Life
One of the perks of writing this column for the last 9+ years is that I get a chance to hear unique and new music on a daily basis that normally I would not have the opportunity to hear. Music arrives at my doorstep in many different ways. Publicists send me CD’s of the latest artists they are touting. Reading music publications helps me to keep up with the latest and greatest. Of course the best information comes from my daughter and stepson who tell me of the music they listen to and usually they are good barometers of cool and new music.
Another source of information that regularly comes my way, although not as reliable as my kids input, comes from my co-workers and friends. Usually, the young people I work with are quite reliable since the ones I speak to about music are pretty much the same age as my kids and just as knowledgeable. Where I sometimes find a less than fulfilling listening experience is when a friend or colleague will implore me to listen to his nephews’ new band or proclaim that his cousin is the next Springsteen. The most difficult moment however, comes when a good friend will tell me about a band that contains one of his/her kids and that I will undoubtedly love hearing the band. Yikes! Don’t want to kill the friendship, but it’s hard to find words to describe a musical act that you don’t like.
Over the years, I have been fortunate in following up to hear friend-recommended bands since most of my close friends who have relatives and kids in music are, in fact related to quite talented musicians. I think back to one of my dear friends who told me of his sons’ musical talents. My friend and business colleague, Arnie at one time worked in the White House, later became a successful banker in England and was somewhat older than me. I was a bit reluctant to take his advice and hear his son. When I heard Dave Nachmanoff and interviewed him for one my columns, it was one of the best listening experiences in my Jambands career for me to hear and speak to this unique talent. Dave continues to perform today and he is currently touring the U.S. with Al Stewart.
So when a very dear and close friend of mine spoke to me about his son who was in a band in England, I listened politely and attentively. After all, this guys’ son was a professor in the U.K. Not only that, but the band consists of seven other members, he told me. OK, an eight piece band and what kinds of music do they play? This friend of mine, who is usually quite verbose, hesitated and named folk, ska, rock, punk as some of the themes to describe the sound of the band called Warblefly. He then told me that in addition to his son, the other members of the band were PhD’s and during the school year they worked at leading Universities in England. I then asked what label they were signed to and he said they have their own label and through “Internet word-of-mouth” have developed a loyal following that buy their CD’s online and consistently attend gigs in England wherever they play. By the way, the description of what a Warblefly is and what it does is not particularly pleasant, but what’s in a name?
I contacted the band and received three of their albums. I began to listen to their latest, “Tenerife to Dover” album which is a collection of fourteen original songs. Two events prepared me for what would become one of the most entertaining and enjoyable 56 minutes of recorded music that I have heard in quite some time.
The first was going to see the movie; “The Departed” and hearing the Dropkick Murphy’s sing “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” which, in style is an apt comparison to Warbleyfly’s music. The second event occurred a number of years ago when on a business trip to New York; I wandered into Paddy Reilly’s Music bar on 2nd Avenue. There are bars in the U.S. like Paddy Reilly’s in cities like New York and Boston or wherever there is a significant Irish presence where you are magically transported to a U.K. pub where Guinness flows almost exclusively and music like Warblefly and Dropkick Murphy’s can be heard above the noise and mayhem. Songs about love, crime, women, fighting and politics hold sway against a backdrop of great beer, Shepherds Pie and lively conversation punctuated with a fist or two.
The music produced by Warblefly can be described as what you do and feel when you are just having fun at the pub. You cannot listen to this album and not tap your feet, probably get up and dance around the room and definitely have a craving for a pint of Guinness. Plain and simple, this is party music steeped in traditional folk roots. The titles of the first three tunes on “Tenerife to Dover” are “Warblefly in My Beer”, “Your Fist, My Face” and “Broken Body Parts” thus giving the listener a strong indication of what’s to come on the rest of the album. Any Irish bar, anywhere in the world, that does not have Warblefly’s music playing is missing the boat!
I love “Shoplifter” for not only the lyrics, “you want it, you grab it, you know you gotta have it, you’re a ….shoplifter’ but for the beat and the visual of the small town that has fallen on hard times causing some residents to try their hand at shoplifting, where the price of an item becomes more reasonable when “I put it in my pocket and the price goes down”. In the tradition of Ray Davies of the Kinks who’s most expressive writing was about the every day travails of the average citizen fighting government bureaucracy and trying to make ends meet for his family in grueling economic hard times, so too does Warblefly carry on the same poignant and humorous look at life. The theme of “Tenerife to Dover” speaks of a fictional journey away from a small, somewhat depressing town in Britain around the world and back again including the sights, experiences with friends made and lost along the way. And in the end, if we are to survive the politicians, unrequited lovers, high prices and a smaller house than our neighbors, we must make the best of it and by the way, use your spare time to have fun and party!
In listening to “Tenerife to Dover” and the other Warblefly albums, I kept going back to my all-time favorite song writer, Ray Davies, who like Warblefly wrote about the common man. In particular, I thought of the classic and often overlooked masterpiece “Muswell Hillbillies” album where Ray and the lads are pictured having a pint in a pub. Also pictured on the album is the street sign pointing to Muswell Hill in one direction and Holloway and Hornsey in the other direction. Ray and his brother, Dave grew up in that area and the group is pictured under the sign back home again, While Ray’s music is certainly different from Warblefly’s the themes remain the same. I truly enjoyed Warblefly and am grateful to bass player Andrew Beckerman for his e-mails to me and the opportunity to review the groups’ music.
Thank you to my MMBE (Mike’s Music Board of Experts) consisting of EricaLynn, Iain, Felton and Laura who have never let me down in pointing me to new music, thus broadening my musical horizons And now, an honorable mention to George who has earned the right to be part of this group with his Warblefly recommendation.
