Kenny Young and the Eggplants gig review

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Brides, Edinburgh
25 August 2013

It is almost 15 years to the day since I last saw Kenny Young and the Eggplants play at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. On that occasion they were appearing at The Famous Spiegeltent which was situated on top of the Waverley shopping centre at the east end of Princes Street. I had seen them once before at a venue near the university which I seem to remember was a late night affair with a fairly small number of people in the audience. The Spiegeltent gig, however, was earlier in the day and they attracted a good crowd. At the end of that show Kenny stood by the exit to thank us all individually for coming and we were each offered a free Eggplants badge. But that’s the kind of band they are – they care about their fans.

Fast forward to August 2013 and the guys are booked to play four nights at the Acoustic Music Centre at St Brides. I get a ticket for the final night. The band are introduced by a St Brides’ staff member and they appear from behind a curtain at the rear of the Back Room, it being the smaller of the two rooms at the venue. The first thing I notice, not surprisingly, is that they’re looking older. Sadly not even living in the Eggplants’ alternative universe can save them from the passing of time. Kenny also looks different – is it his hair? Looks a bit darker than I remember but then I realise it’s probably because he’s wearing glasses. He and drummer Eddie Logue are pretty much instantly recognisable but it takes me a while to recall Gil Shuster’s face though this is perhaps because you’re more likely to remember him for his on and off-stage antics and his, ahem, vocal contributions.

As I only have a copy of their Toxic Swamp & Other Love Songs album, most of the set is new to me though I do vaguely recognise their song about a mutant cheese monster living in some guy’s flat which meets a sticky end courtesy of a giant mouse. Gil provides suitably alarming vocal effects as the creature meets its demise at the end of the song. So the highlights for me are the songs I already know including their stadium rock number ‘Earl the Squirrel’ and their paean to fast food, ‘The Kebab Shop’. “We’ll rest in the shade of the kebab tree.” That lyric says a lot about the band. It may be plain weird but, hec, it appeals to this reviewer’s sense of humour.

Other lyrics that stick in my head include suitably zany Eggplants fare such as a scientist working on a gnome genome project, an alcoholic grouse (Kenny mentions the grouse on a large poster at Edinburgh airport which they saw on arrival) and ghosts and werewolves being scared away by a morose singer songwriter who moves in next door.

Throughout the hour-long set Kenny is a calm friendly presence front of stage (reminding me of Emo Phillips when he pushes his hand through his hair between songs), Eddie moves between his electronic drum kit and a seat at the front to play various percussion instruments and Gil lurks around the stage playing some neat bass lines and singing, shouting and interjecting the occasional primal scream which is what we have come to expect from this slightly deranged looking individual. But I mean that in a nice way. He is the band’s loose cannon but an essential part of their stage show. Members of the audience are in howls of laughter at some of his shenanigans and as I leave at the end of the night I wonder if he was related to Spike Milligan.

Gil’s piece de resistance, however, is when the band play their theme tune and Gil is asked by Kenny what ‘instruments’ he will be playing tonight. On the Sunday night he chooses a small butterfly net and a tool used for picking up litter and such like. During the song he proceeds to bang these together and hit the stage with them and, inevitably, by the end of the song they are in pieces. These are then distributed among members of the audience.

As the gig reaches the 60 minute mark, we are asked if there is anything we want to hear and someone on the front row shouts out ‘Uncontrollable Urge’, a Devo cover which they recorded on their Even One Is Quite a Few album. I suspect this was one which they were half expecting so we get a spirited version with Gil and Eddie shouting, “He’s got an uncontrollable urge” with Gil pointing his thumb over his shoulder at Kenny, the sweat dripping off his face onto the floor. This brings proceedings to a close with Kenny encouraging people to sign up to their mailing list, buy the inevitable cds and t-shirts and come up and say hello as, he said, they get lonely up on stage.

So thank you Kenny, Eddie and Gil for transporting us to your world for an all-too-short but wonderfully entertaining hour. Hopefully I won’t have to wait another 15 years before I see you guys again.

Safe homeward trip to New York City.

The Folk and Acoustic Music Show playlist 12th August

Here's the playlist from the last show. I'm taking a break for the next few weeks as both my parents are unwell so I'll be in Edinburgh helping mum and visiting dad in hospital.

You can always catch up with old show on http://www.mixcloud.com/cmbertram/

12 August playlist

Nancy Kerr & James Fagan - I Am The Fox
Madison Violet - Never Saw The Ending
Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts - Fleetwood Fair
Oh My Darling - Roustabout
Annlaug - Ord Som Fell
Show of Hands - Cousin Jack
Sheesham & Lotus & Son - Lazy Lazy River
Ben Glover - Whatever Will Happen
James Duncan MacKenzie - Anna MacKenzie's
KT Tunstall - White Bird
Madison Violet - Haight Ashbury
Annie Keating - Cowgirl in the Sand
Chris Bradley - To Your Darkness
Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Cars
Kate Rusby - Elfin Knight

The Folk and Acoustic Music Show playlist 5th August

Tonight's show is dedicated to a very good friend of mine, George Drever, who lost his battle with cancer last month. He loved his music and I can thank him for introducing me to the music of Fairport Convention and many other bands. So George, this one's for you...

Runrig - Protect and Survive
Michelle Shocked - Come A Long Way
Proclaimers - Shout Shout
Dick Gaughan - Erin Go Bragh
Bert Jansch - I Cannot Keep From Crying
Rosanne Cash - September When It Comes
Ted Hawkins - Watch Your Step
Fairport Convention - Sir Patrick Spens
Oysterband - After Rain
The Levellers - Fifteen Years
Richard Thompson - Happy Days And Auld Lang Syne
Ian McNabb - When It All Comes Down
Tomorrow - My White Bicycle
Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears

The Folk & Acoustic Music Show
Mondays at 9pm / Tuesdays at 2am
Listen online at acoustic-spectrum.co.uk
Listen again at mixcloud.com/cmbertram

Show for George Drever

I've been away on holiday so was unable to post the playlist for the 22nd July but it's up on Mixcloud. I've recorded a show for this coming Monday which is dedicated to a friend of mine who died last month.

His name was George Drever and I first met him in 1982 when we both worked in a Civil Service office in Edinburgh. Although he was just over 10 years older than me we struck up a friendship as we found we shared a love of music. We went to quite a few gigs together over the years ranging from Runrig and Oysterband to James, Asian Dub Foundation, Smashing Pumpkins, Ian McNabb and a memorable gig at the Assembly Rooms seeing reggae band Misty in Roots. The only time we really disagreed over music was one occasion when I mentioned Crosby, Stills & Nash. George had been into the psychedelic rock bands of the late 60s and early 70s like Pink Fairies, Hawkwind and The Pretty Things. CSN summed up everything he disliked about the hippie dippy scene of the time. But that was the only time I saw him getting worked up about music. Mostly we shared whatever music we were listening to and I have a number of mixtapes which are a tangible reminder of our friendship.

So this Monday's show will feature some folk and acoustic artists who we were both fans of. There will be tracks by Edinburgh singers Dick Gaughan and Bert Jansch though neither, like George, were born in Scotland's capital city but they spent most of their lives there. From America I have selected tracks by Rosanne Cash, Michelle Shocked and Ted Hawkins and from England, The Levellers, Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson.

You can listen to the show here - http://www.mixcloud.com/cmbertram/the-folk-and-acoustic-music-show-41/

Here's a track by Ed Sanders of The Fugs who was one of the many less well known artists whose music George introduced me to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2gQfgPfkvo