I arrived at What's Cookin' just after Gary Lammin had come on to play solo acoustic, it's been about 11 years since I last saw Gary playing a solo show, this one was a far fuller set than that one.
This is notionally to promote his Gary Guitar Lammin solo album that I reviewed when it came out in 2017 having been recorded with Dave Goodman and Alan Clayton between 2000 and 2003.
The first song I heard properly was the 21st Paranoid Blues which is something that if you don't have them there really must be something wrong with you, it was full of wry observations on everything that's been going wrong. I think it was Lost & Falling next as Gary took us on a trip into all that darkness and despair all around him, as the song slowly morphed into a verse and chorus of Who Do You Love his guitar was singing nicely as he found his was back towards the truth.
He then played a very cool version of Last Night I Dreamt I Met My Enemy (Parts 1 & 2) that allowed Gary to face his demons and let rip on his guitar. He then had a bit of fun at his old Bermondsey Joyriders band mate Martin Stacey's expense as he mentioned how much Martin hates acoustic music before he played the Bermondsey Joyriders classic single Brian Jones (Real True Leader Of The Rolling Stones) that featured a good sing along to the chorus as he really worked the packed room.
He then closed with a really nice version of The Rolling Stones 2000 Light Years From Home that was good and earthy.
Ramblin Steve then encouraged us all to bring Gary back for an encore and he gave us a stripped back very evocative version of the Bermondsey Joyriders Society Is Rapidly Changing, a song that now seems incredibly prescient considering how much Society has changed since it was released in 2012, the break down where the spoken word descriptions of what happened to the library and other stuff seemed even more stark when performed like this, as always a very thought provoking song, as Gary encouraged us to sing the chorus with him he left the stage and walked through the audience and out the door of the hall, carrying on singing before someone opened the door to let him back in to say goodnight.
After the break it was time for young Italian bluesman Gianni Tbay to play a delayed show as The Blues Against Youth, as part of his tour promoting his 6th album As The Tide Gets High And Low, he was playing solo on an acoustic guitar he bought earlier in the day on Denmark st with a minimal pedal played drum set up.
He opened playing a very familiar sounding rural blues instrumental that had some wonderfully bent notes set against his ever-buzzing amp. Nowhere To Run had a good groove to the blues guitar as this story unfolded. Tucano Bar Club took us deep into an Italian spit and sawdust blues saloon with the cymbals resonating like someone calling for the next shot of Grappa.
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Goin' To Chicago was more stripped back than on the album, it was pretty sparse originally. Gianni then asked who had troubles with diesel filters by way of an intro to Particle Filter Blues that made me think of the old cloud of black smoke I left behind me if I kicked down to clear the EGR valve on my old wheels before I went electric.
Gianni then went back to one of the old masterpieces with a great version of Hank Williams Lonesome Whistle that was a real treat to hear. I used to Love You was a good post break up song for the one that used to be your special one.
We then got a rather downbeat slow blues instrumental before he played what I think was Oblivion off the latest album. The Gianni was singing about how he hoped He Wouldn't Get Chased by anyone, well that could easily have been a song about Leytonstone for me, as I was forever getting chased by skinheads and other thugs in Leytonstone back in the late 70's and early 80's. I'd rather Hide Deep In The Backwoods, in this current locale that would mean hiding behind Alfred Hitchcocks house round the corner on the Whipps Cross side of Epping Forest, but I think Gianni was in a far more rural location than that.
He dedicated a deeply resonating Blues instrumental to his hometown of Torino it was shrouded in cool licks. The next tune was very familiar, I wasn't certain if it was Hey Crazy Mama or Blues Run The Game. He closed the set with the Mississippi John Hurt classic Black Spider Blues that was a real treat and great set closer.
Of course Ramblin' Steve encouraged us all to bring him back for an encore that opened with a nice sparse take on See That My Grave Is Kept Clean although in no way as great as hearing either Diamanda Galas or the Dream Syndicate playing this classic live was. Gianni then let us know that My Amigo was a Terry Allen tune that he loved and it sounded damn good before he closed the night with Spot Light that was sparse and cool.
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