Fri 29th September, 2017
8:00 pm - 10:30 pm (Doors: 7:30pm)
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CHAPEL ARTS CAFE IS OPEN THIS EVENING – last orders 7.00pm, to book a table please call: 01225 920256
With just an upright bass, two old guitars and a bucketful of aching harmony, THE GOAT ROPER RODEO BAND are preaching ‘Country Blues’ like you never heard… It’s up, it’s down, it’s soft and loud, it’s dark and lonesome too, there’s hurt and shame and some mean old pain but there’s love in what they do! There’s a hint of Gram, a sniff of Dylan and a twist of Waylon’s blues … Simply put, it’s exactly what it says on the tin.
Their new album ‘Cosmic Country Blue’ produced by Romeo Stodart (The Magic Numbers) is out now Aveline Records.
The Goat Roper Rodeo Band build on what The White Stripes began in finding the perfect fusion of original blues and indie folk … What Nirvana did to punk rock, I sincerely believe The Goat Roper Rodeo Band can do to indie folk….. The Indie Folk Music Review (USA)
Wonderfully executed acoustic country blues with two guitars, a double bass and plaintive striking harmonies, a musical landscape driven by old timey sensibilities …there’s a lot to like about the Goat Roper Rodeo Band – R2 Magazine
The Goat Roper Rodeo Band take a slightly psychedelic route to the finish line and include some serious footstompin’ rock ‘n’ roll along the way, Mix in a little gospel fire and a sprinkle of Gram and these boys ruled our last afternoon – Spiral Earth
Where the Goat Roper Rodeo Band score big is their innate ability to hone an identifiable sound and feel that is immediately recognisable as their own … “Cosmic Country Blue” a shot in the arm for the Americana genre as a whole… Fatea (UK)
The Goat Roper Rodeo Band are neither imitating or interpreting, they are pure inspiration, writing their own material, songs which are worthy of being covered by any of the great names in cosmic American music past or present …. Penny Black Music (UK)
The Goat Roper Rodeo Band sound as though they’ve been pickled in moonshine for generations, the harmonies flow easily, the songs sound like standards and as authentic as a sweat stained, sun bleached John Deere hat … A band that look and sound the part … Americana-UK (UK)
http://goatroperrodeoband.co.uk/– official site
https://www.facebook.com/GoatRoperHQ
https://www.facebook.com/TheGoatRoperRodeoBand/
https://www.instagram.com/thegoatropers/
Michele Stodart
“There was never a plan to start making solo records,” begins Michele Stodart as she reclines into the seat of a Soho caff and stirs the froth into her cappuccino. “But then something happens. The songs you’ve been writing just for yourself, whilst playing in a completely different band, take on a life of their own. Before you know it, you’re walking onto a stage where there’s just one mic stand, one monitor and no drums. And you’ve no clear recollection of what got you there!”
Not for the first time, Michele ends an utterance with a laugh that suggests she’s as interested to hear what she’s about to say as the person asking her the question. Over a decade since The Magic Numbers landed in the top ten with their double-platinum-selling debut album, Michele has taken temporary leave of the band she formed with her brother Romeo, to release her second solo album. Released four years after her solo debut, ‘Wide-Eyed Crossing’, the nine songs that comprise ‘Pieces’ confirm that, almost by stealth, Michele has turned into an artist whose work bears strong comparison to some of the touchstone songwriters that helped shape her outlook.
“With your first album,” she explains, “It’s very much a matter of planting your flag in the ground, assembling the best songs you’ve got, and saying, ‘Here I am.’ With this one though, I could start thinking about putting together something that felt more narrated and focus on the storytelling a bit more.” For Michele, it was a matter of getting tone and texture right rather than rushing into anything. One of the earliest songs to take shape on the record was ‘Something About You’. In doing so, it set the emotional temperature for much of what followed. It’s impossible to miss the aching vulnerability in Michele’s delivery, as she tells her younger self that “life waits for no girl/Who fears the dance of letting go” over a breathtakingly ornate string arrangement. “I think surrendering to an emotion, letting go of reservations and morality, to really feel something intensely, is actually a strength,” Michele argues.
Here and elsewhere, the bedrock of Michele’s writing is a reliance on rock-solid melodies that always stop short of outstaying their welcome. Keen to ensure that the tunes earned their place on the record, Michele wrote most of the songs on ‘Pieces’ away from her guitar – only setting them to chord sequences when they refused to leave her head. That would certainly explain the southern soul languor of opener ‘Come Back Home’ and the similarly tender ‘Oh By and By’. As Michele explains, the latter song is a good example of the unexpectedly fruitful restrictions that parenthood places on the creative process. “That was written when my daughter Maisie was still a baby. I was putting her to sleep and sitting next to her writing this song, which obviously I had to do almost silently. But actually, that’s not a bad way to write. Because if a song can sound good without even a hint of amplification, you know it’ll sound good whatever you do with it.”