Review by Tim Marcus with photos from Sam Conquest Photography
It’s a case of back to my roots tonight as we’re in a venue, a brand new one to us, based in the very centre of my childhood home town of Camberley. In fact, as a schoolboy, I had a part-time job in my Dad’s office equipment shop just a dozen doors up from where we are now, in the premises of a former car audio shop located on a small slip road that joins the town’s two main shopping streets. The Cabin is a quirky, eclectically decorated, little café bar with a welcoming atmosphere, providing a safe family/community style meeting place during the day serving coffees, light lunches, charcuterie plates and cheese boards (so vast is the selection of cheeses that they have a page of their own on the menus!). By night it becomes a great little bar, still with a safe, friendly and welcoming atmosphere and also a live music venue. One evening a month The Cabin is taken over by the Midnight Special Blues Club which is what brings us here this evening for their presentation of a solo acoustic performance from the wonderful singer and guitarist from blue rockers Catfish, Matt Long.
No one who has ever heard him play will disagree with the assertion that Matt is a fantastic player and vocalist however not having seen him perform solo before we’re unsure of quite what to expect as we enter the already packed venue (via the back entrance as directed by a sign in the front window) to find some seats. As we enter, it quickly becomes apparent why we were directed around the back as we see the stage, with two of Matt’s acoustic guitars and a 12-string already in place, covering the front entrance area of the building. Before Matt takes to the stage however we learn that we’re about to be entertained first by a couple of the dedicated individuals behind The Midnight Special Blues Club.
Playing under the name of The Sepia Swing Show Twins, guitarist/vocalist Nick Hyde and guitarist/vocalist/harmonica player Dave Raphael (accompanied by Paul Taylor providing a little homemade percussion) give us around 25 minutes of traditional blues with a particular focus on covers of some great songs best known for being performed by Huddie Ledbetter, perhaps better known by his stage name, Lead Belly. Among the Lead Belly covers we hear tonight from the Sepia Swing Show Twins are “Goodnight Irene” which he also wrote and “Pick a Bale of Cotton” a traditional American folk song. Now I’ve heard covers of these songs before, very good covers too, by some contemporary blues artists and that’s how they came across. However tonight there’s nothing contemporary about what’s being delivered by Nick and Dave and even though these songs are some 90+ years old, tonight they sound as fresh as I can only imagine they would’ve sounded when they were first written and performed.
After a short break to refill our glasses (or in our case, our coffee mugs), it’s time for the main event as Matt Long takes to the tiny stage to perform the first of what’s going to be a two-set show. Our quandary as to what we might hear this evening from Matt is soon resolved as he launches into a mix of acoustic versions of some Catfish songs and some covers of other well-known songs as he kicks off with Catfish’s “Hit the Ground Running”. “: “Charley Patton’s 1929 Delta blues classic “High Water Everywhere” follows before Matt then gives us a great version of Pink Floyd’s “Money.”. Two of my Catfish favourites then follow (I have many) in the shape of “Archangel” and “Soul Breaker” and these are followed by a newer Catfish song which Matt tells us will be on the next album whenever that might be, “Time to Fly”. Two more covers are next; a wonderfully soulful version of “Mad World””…..inspired by Gary Jules’s 2001 cover of this Tears for Fears classic.”. This is one that I’ve heard Matt perform before, during some of Catfish’s lockdown livestream sessions and I love it. The first set closes with another cover, a version of Sam Sparro’s “Black and Gold” and what Matt describes as the only happy song he’s ever written, “Better Days”
After another short break, we’re into the second set of Matt’s performance tonight which again features several Catfish tunes including another new one, “Change My Ways” and also some great covers: insert “Chris Whitley’s much covered (by Joe Bonamassa amongst others) “Ball Peen Hammer”, an Alter Bridge song, “Blackbird” featuring some great Myles Kennedy like vocals from Matt which he dedicates to two wonderful souls who’ve both recently been lost to the world of music and in particular the blues scene, Rex Everett and Steve Beastie, Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” and a great version of a Tom Waits song, “Chocolate Jesus”. The second set is finally brought to a great conclusion and you can almost hear a pin drop so quiet and attentive is the audience as Matt gives us a wonderful rendition of another of my Catfish favourites, “Broken Man” which as he puts his guitar down and gets to his feet to sing A Cappella, then morphs into “In My Time of Dying”, first recorded by Blind Willie Johnson almost 100 years ago and more latterly by Rag n Bone Man. It’s a wonderful conclusion to a wonderful evening.
Not only has it been a great show but it was also good to see Matt back in action this week for the first time this year after what can best be described as a difficult and disjointed twelve months for him as he has battled illness and the effects of the treatment that goes with it however while there’s still a way to go, thankfully, he appears to now be on the road to recovery. We’ve very much enjoyed our visit to this intriguing venue and whilst it may’ve been our first visit here I’m fairly confident that it won’t be our last.
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