Todmordon, with the Newborn Seal of Approval!

Set up and ready to play. Soundcheck courtesy of the excellent Cyberwaste.

The first gig of July led me back along the M62 in the teatime sunshine up to Todmorden, for Dave Walker's excellent EMOM upstairs at The Golden Lion. Can you believe it has been three whole months since I lugged Libby and the rest of the kit up the stairs to the performance space? Neither can I. It feels like about two weeks.

The evening began a little late because Dave had been downstairs to alert people to the fact that there was actual live music about to happen upstairs, but people were eating and pudding waits for no EMOM!

When we began, it was to a pleasantly full room, with younger audience members sat on the bar at the back. One woman even had a newborn baby swaddled to her. Hopefully, this is the start of the next generation of EMOM performer!

First up was The Other Languages. Seated, and starting slowly with single notes, his set gradually developed and morphed through mellow Eastern plucks into a strong finish. An overall very filmic set with some intriguing programming. 

The Other Languages. A very considered and thoughtful set.

The Cottage Children took a while to set up a VERY complex set of kit, ranging from keyboards to stomp boxes. It's difficult to describe their slow, flowing, ominous sound other than to say it would work perfectly against one of those appointment-to-see detective shows, especially set in the Highlands of Scotland. The ones that people become obsessed by. The Cottage Children's sound would be a perfect match. TV execs really should be looking to EMOM for soundtrack ideas.

Picture stolen from Dave Walker, who takes FAR better pictures than I can.

 

We were next onstage. After the usual "doot-doots" for level, we began the set, and after a few bars the sound became much louder. As he said later, Dave, who was manning the desk, knows our set is nicely balanced, and so he had no issue with turning it up to 11! The balance is in part probably down to Ozone 11's Stabiliser module on the output of the master channel, preventing any untoward resonances. I was worried that the newborn baby might wake up and compete with us in volume, but it seems we had the Newborn Seal of Approval because it slept through the whole cacophony! 

 

Another picture by Dave Walker!

Which King was next. His act was slightly unusual for an EMOM in that his music was pre-recorded and run through the PA from Dave's laptop. Dressed all in white, he sang live over the top from in front of the stage, where he could move about as the music dictated. His styles ranged from slower soulful numbers, thorough UK Garage to Jungle. 

 

Time was pressing, but I had just enough for one last act: Cheryl Holland. I'd heard of Cheryl, but I'd never heard her perform. Despite one or two teething problems with Ableton and Roland Cloud, we were treated to perfectly produced 90s vocal house and even some classic euphoric trance. I'm not sure who had more fun; the audience or Cheryl, bouncing about onstage and clearly enjoying herself immensely! And she said she liked our set, so she's alright by me!

The inimitable Cheryl Holland giving it her all!

And then it was time to go. I missed Astrofaun, who I've been wanting to see live for a long time. I also missed Amy Valentine's act Still Forever. Amy was one of the first people I met after Dave Walker the evening I attended my first EMOM at Bleep, and I have yet to see her full act. One day! 

And, of course, I missed Mho himself closing out the show!

And so it was off back into the night, dodging late night boy racers on the M62. Marjorie expertly navigated me off the motorway before the roadworks, and we were back home in good time for a 6:30am start the following day. 

Next time, gigging with the ghost of Martin Hannett!