Letter from London

One more look back at 2005 - here's a gig review from January, written in the 'Letter from...' style.

Maybe it’s the places I hang out in, but I just don’t get this idea of a ‘London sound’. The phrase gets bandied about but I have lived nearly all my life in London, I work in London, and I just can’t stretch this myth into any sort of reality. The acts that I’ve heard in London over the last few months have given me folk, country, blues, Americana, classic songwriting, rock and roll…but nothing that is specifically London.

I have read my music history. I know all about Swinging London, the King’s Road, Joanna Lumley, whatever. And around that time there were undoubtedly a lot of very British sounding bands – the Small Faces and the Who spring to mind. But of the tales from that period, the one that stands out for me was when Paul McCartney went into a fashionable London club, greeted a bunch of rock glitterati (I forget exactly who – Townshend, Marriott, Richards) and played them the Beatles’ new single, Hey Jude. His peers, so the story goes, were speechless – the Beatles had done it again. True or not, this anecdote sums up all that stuff about a London sound for me – even if there ever was one, it wasn’t that important. London is too big, it has too much to offer, for one type of music to dominate in any significant sense. It’s the same today – only more so. London is massive, cosmopolitan and culturally diverse, and that is reflected in the music on offer. London has history from every age, people from every country, and music from every instrument.

But if we simplify our geographical categorisations and comparisons, we can make things somewhat easier. Is there a British sound – distinct, if nothing else, from an American sound? There is. We have always had a particular way of taking those old blues and folk traditions and making them our own. But rather than wallowing any longer in such spatial definition, let’s get on and look at one band which quite naturally takes the American roots of rock and roll and adds that British flavour.

Amsterdam’s two (internet-only) releases to date feature a lovely blend of vocal and instrumental styles. They embrace the right punk influences – following the lead less of Oasis, who name check the Sex Pistols but sound nothing like them, and more of the newer British guitar bands, like Franz Ferdinand, which have the Clash and Elvis Costello as influences. Amsterdam’s frontman, Ian Prowse, writes the most beautiful melodies and heartfelt, personal lyrics – sometimes so personal that it is painful to listen to – Hatred is Wasted makes me want to cry and shout “Yes! That’s right!” at the same time. Add to this some decent experimental keyboards, and the basis of a good – and original – band is in place. But what really sets Amsterdam apart on the first two albums is Genevieve Mort, then the band’s other singer. Mort takes lead vocals on some songs and adding her gorgeous high tones to Prowse’s on others. For many bands, throw the combination of male and female singers, trippy keyboards, and lots of “Love one another” lyrics into the cocktail mixer and the resulting drink would be late-sixties long-haired hippy music – I am thinking Jefferson Airplane here. But Amsterdam retain their punk sensibilities and the result is unique.

Genevieve Mort is no longer in the band, and their sound is undeniably different as a result. I saw them the other day at the Barfly, one of many bad venues in Camden, and Prowse, a lively and combative musician already, has put two fingers up at the subtleties of the band’s former approach. The songs were familiar but the two-guitar attack – on paper nothing new for the band – was more vigorous, and the harmonies from Johnny Barlow, the bassist turned guitarist, gave the band a real rock drive which previously came solely just from Prowse. But hats off to them – this was another great London gig by Amsterdam. They soared higher than I've seen them before; Prowse himself seemed to be flying, his music taking him far above the dank and dingy upstairs room.

Unusually, they came on in unassuming fashion - an introduction which was a world away from the first time I saw Amsterdam, two and a half years ago, when Prowse came on punching the air like a rock star lost at a football match. This time, the travelling scouse brigade made a lot of noise, but the singer held back the triumphalism for when his music started. It’s a cliché, but he let the music do the talking.

This was a gig to promote Amsterdam’s debut single, The Journey. Many of the songs sound familiar to Amsterdam’s followers, because as Prowse made clear, they have waited a long time for this recognition. But the performance was somehow more emotional than I remember some of the other Amsterdam gigs I've seen - or was it relief that finally they are (nearly) there? I don't know, but certainly naked emotion was what we got from Does This Train Stop on Merseyside? and You're a Phoney. But this is not surprising, since between them, those two songs sum up some important aspects of Prowse’s attitude to the world. Does This Train… is a tribute to his home city, Liverpool, and if anyone thinks emotion can’t be gritty, they should listen to this song. It is immediately obvious that this is a song full of warmth for its subject; but nonetheless its images range from the depressing (“EasyJet flying in the sky”) to the disgraceful (“The blood of Africa on everyone”). You’re a Phoney, meanwhile, is even blunter and has none of the romanticism – it’s a song sung to Tony Blair. He’s let us down. He’s a phoney. Simple as that. These two songs display the honesty that helps make Prowse a really talented songwriter.

Amsterdam are not a one-man band – this is a tight unit, and each member plays a role in creating the band’s distinctive sound. It is heavy enough to be rock, but the tunes are melodic enough (and reach high enough) to sound like classic British pop as well. But what's in a definition? The Journey has that bluesy feel that marks out all authentic rock and roll – whether it is from Britain, the States or wherever. If you haven’t had the chance to catch these guys live, give The Journey a try – I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.