Event: Crosstown Studios 15th year Birthday Celebration, featuring The Family Wash, Dorothy Bird, Joseph Roberts, Marc V, Ruins, Visions of Albion, and Mr Ted
Venue: EBGBS, Seel Street, Liverpool
Reviewer: David Nixon, Liverpool Acoustic
Crosstown Studios Liverpool has become an institution. On its third home in Old Swan Crosstown Studios has gone from strength to strength and everyone who finds themselves recording there feels comfortable from the first moment of arrival and returns to what often feels like a second home- only the coffee is better.
Crosstown Studios reaching its 15th year, owner/engineer/producer/guitarist as well as ‘coach’ in helping musicians old and new find their studio feet- Jon Lawton, decided to celebrate with an evening of music from the Crosstown Studios family and a chance for a broad spectrum of artists to meet up.
The Family Wash vocalists Naomi Campbell and Paul Dunbar opened with a strong country harmony playing songs from the recently released Dirty Laundry LP. From the country pop of I’ll bring the stars to you to the traditional country of Well Obviously! It was a great start to the evening.
Dorothy Bird, Berlin and Liverpool based singer songwriter with her piano/synth mesmerizing art pop songs and sweet songbird vocals reminiscent perhaps of Bjork or even Thom York but very much herself. Songs like Kaleidoscope and Belonging could be the backdrop to a mystery drama on TV.
Joseph Roberts was a revelation! Spoken Word artists can be difficult to get excited about for the writer, but the quality of the writing and the delivery to the pre-recorded soundscape behind Joseph was simply stunning. Brilliant word play delivered in such a way every word could be understood and every word was delivered with passion.
Marc V the ‘Offy’ member of ‘Offy and Coffee’ with Jon Lawton tells you about Marc’s session days at Crosstown Studios! Jon likes a coffee! Marc V dusted off his guitar and played live for the first time in quite sometime. Unreleased songs such as The Statue Song, ‘Should we build them up, should we tear them down’, Armistice Day about relationship battles and his paean to Joni Mitchell in Last Man Standing. Marc V rounded the original material off with crowd pleaser ‘A big boy did it’ and a super rendition of Sam Cooke’s ‘Wonderful World’. It was great to see Marc on stage again with his superbly crafted songs and silky soul vocal.
Ruins took to the stage next. Not the Japanese progressive rock duo of the late 80s through the 2020’s or the German band or the Australian band of the same name but it is the Liverpool duo with guitar and bass and the soaring falsetto vocals of Lloyd Rock reminiscent of Jimmy Somerville. Bass from songwriter and ex Ella Guru bassist Nik Kavanagh and between them delivering a haunting ethereal sound. They played tracks from their 2022 Pure at Heart album.
Visions of Albion took to the stage next. Daniel Ryan on guitar and vocals and Samantha Shields on vocals. Their acoustic folk sound with hints of Carole King and Crosby Stills and Nash with songs made to relate and emotionally hold the audience. Dan, clearly a fan of different guitar tunings, and Sam are currently working in the studio, expect more from them soon.
Finally Mr Ted hit the stage and if you don’t know them they seem like a nice bunch of guys with a punk sound and a mad take on subject matter. I wore my ear defenders for these guys! Loud! Songs like The Bean Song (Bouncy Bouncy), Rage Quittin’, Happy Song, and Naughty Call. I couldn’t swear these were the songs they played but they were great fun! I’m just glad they didn’t do Sea of Platelets with the delightful urination section on the recording that they blamed Jon Lawton for! :-).
Everyone went away happy having had a great evening in great company and all for free!
Review – David Nixon © 2023 Liverpool Acoustic – all rights reserved