String Driven Thing Gig, Scotland, 19 May
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Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Gigs, Tours and Festivals
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Topic: String Driven Thing Gig, Scotland, 19 May
Posted By: farflung
Subject: String Driven Thing Gig, Scotland, 19 May
Date Posted: May 15 2007 at 09:43
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1970's Charisma label reincarnation (The Machine that Cried etc) are due to appear this coming Saturday (19th May at 21.00) at the Beinn Inn in Glenfarg Perthsire Scotland. It still has original band leader Chris Adams plus others (he produced The Damage a few years ago) See http://www.beininnmusic.com/gig_details.php?id=295 - http://www.beininnmusic.com/gig_details.php?id=295
for more details/. ticket is 15 quid
I saw the Accoustic Strawbs at this venue 2 years ago. Its a quaint rural inn 10 miles south of Perth and with a capacity of 50. Unique - and you can mingle with the band at the bar (at least you could last time)
Delighted to have the chance to experience a 1970's legend again in such a great setting
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Replies:
Posted By: Man Erg
Date Posted: May 15 2007 at 09:53
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I wonder if Graham Smith (Violinist in both String Driven Thing and Van der Graaf) will be playing? He played on The Machine That Cried so,hopefully... ------------- 
Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb. |
Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: May 15 2007 at 10:08
| Great to see the name is still being used. Adams left the band of course after TMTC, with Smith assuming the band name. It will be interesting to hear if any other original members are in the line up, and what material they play. |
Posted By: farflung
Date Posted: May 15 2007 at 15:43
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Sadly no sign of Grahame Smith and more of an Adams Family thing. STD went downhill after TMTC and the subsequent albums were fairly dire (only have one). Chris Adams' stuff is quite mellow but sharp acoustic guitar.
Anyway the blurb from Beinn Inn says..
Back in the 70's, when there was no MTV, real music fans went 'underground' digging for gold, and found bands like String Driven Thing. Fronted by Glaswegians Chris & Pauline Adams, they were part of the famed Charisma stable, alongside Genesis, Lindisfarne & Van Der Graaf Generator and by the time they split in ‘74, they'd released three cult albums, the last of which, 'The Machine That Cried' was hailed at the time as a “staggering achievement” by the Guardian’s rock critic, Martin Walker. The 90's saw occasional String Driven reunions, one of which was recorded for posterity ['$uicide Live in Berlin']. while Chris' rare German solo album ['The Damage'] also surfaced on the esoteric Ozit label. But behind the scenes, his sons were growing up, infected by the same old music bug, and gradually he was drawn back into performing. Now comes the Thing's first studio album in 30 years. Entitled 'Moments of Truth', it features ex Zydeco Ceilidh Band rhythm section Andy Allan and Dick Drake, guitars from sons Robin and Mervyn and banjo mandolin and bottleneck from George Tucker of the Berlin lineup. The shows will feature material old and new, but anyone lucky enough to catch them will soon realise that acoustic folk this is definitely not.
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: May 17 2007 at 03:54
| I wouldn't describe the post Adams albums as dire, but SDT certainly continued in name only on them. "Keep yer 'and on it" was admittedly poor though. |
Posted By: farflung
Date Posted: May 23 2007 at 07:39
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This was a lively and endearing event. This intimate venue was near-full and STD's 4-piece lineup staged a lively two sets featuring material from all phases of their 40 year history. The new rhythm section of Drake and Allan was tight as a drum with youngest son Robbie on lead guitar and Chris Adams on guitar and vocals, wisecracking with the audience. Very relaxed but driving
Their starter and closing sets "Let me Down' and `Circus' respectively followed the Suicide album track. In between there was material from the first STD (Regent Street Incident, My Real Hero); plus Nightclub from the Machine that Cried and a couple from The Damage. Their latest album Moments of Truth is imminent and they played some samples which sounded fresh and deep.
A violin and Grahame Smithe was missed but it was still a great night out
They promised to revisit the Beinn Inn when the new album is available
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: May 23 2007 at 10:57
| Thanks for the update FF |
Posted By: farflung
Date Posted: May 24 2007 at 07:20
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I'll keep looking here for similar events across Scotland, northern England
A couple of postscripts. It was mentioned Grahame Smith now teaches `at a girls school near Bristol'!.
As for the post-Adam SDT, I listened to Please Keep Yer Head On today but considered it very poor.
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Posted By: Easy Livin
Date Posted: May 24 2007 at 13:46
That's in interesting mixture FF
If it was "Please mind your head", I'd agree with you. If it was "Keep yer 'and on it", I actually rate that album, but admittedly it is nothing like the Adams SDT albums.
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