A new music venue is a rare and welcome happening these days. Mark McKowski recently started a collaboration with The Harrison Chambers of Distinction, an upmarket hotel in Queen's Quarter, Belfast, which sees him running a music lounge most Thursday nights in The Live Lounge, followed by playing records (with optional cocktails!) in the speakeasy bar. The Wedgwood blue and white restored Victorian interiors and candlelight of the Live Lounge provided a cosy welcome in the packed room when Northern Ireland’s Dead Goat foursome took over the club for the launch of their eponymous album on another cold and wet night.
McKowski himself is one of the members of this recent collaboration. Aka Mark McCausland, an Omagh native and one half of the now disbanded The Lost Brothers, he has adopted the McKowski moniker for his solo work which includes his solo music projects, music production work, collaborations with other artists including M Ward and Howe Gelb (Geckos) and a feature film, The Spin, along with his Boneyard Records shop in Omagh.
Lurgan’s Stevie Scullion (Malojian) gathered the other three musicians together in his studio last year 'to see what would happen’. They found they had an easy rapport and very quickly began to write songs together and the result is this album, and an occasional gig when they find themselves all available (which doesn’t happen very often).
The percussionist is Decky McManus, also from Omagh, who recently worked with Stevie in The Breeze, and earlier in The Basement with McCausland. The fourth member of this ’supergroup’ is the well established Hilltown, Co Down folk singer-songwriter, Matt McGinn, who has six well received albums under his belt.
From the opening chords of Any Way The Wind Blows, with its heavy sultry swamp vibe, it was obvious that we were in for a treat. Matt McGinn took the lead vocals on this one (as well as electric bass throughout), with McKowski singing close harmonies. Stevie Scullion and McKowski provided rhythmic and spiky guitar backdrops on their vintage electric Gretsch and Rickenbacker respectively. Another easy paced number, Broken Arrow, followed with the same vocal set up, then Stevie took the lead vocals on the sweet All That I Need, another laid back slow groove with a more acoustic musical backdrop, ‘meet me somewhere underneath the blanket full of stars …' repeating to beautiful fade out. Writ of the Lonely has a definite Malojian feel to it, with Stevie taking lead in his familiar falsetto. This one had a decided Beatles influence in its driving beat and guitar hooks. Prisoners of the Dark had a much darker tone, with Matt on lead vocals, with lyrics including ‘Desperate times, desperate people …. Holy chaos, Holy Orders’ hinting perhaps at clerical abuse.
It became clear very quickly that, to quote Matt McGinn, ’there are no real leaders in this band’, but refreshingly, also, there are no real egos. The lack of a set list provided some moments of humour but the relaxed vibe permeated the audience and no-one really minded.
McKowski led on an instrumental that had a decidedly South Western US feel, and Stevie added to the twang factor with his skilled guitar work. So Long John had a much heavier sound, with a driving drum beat, building eventually to a cacophonous conclusion. Death of an Actor was ponderous, ‘words between the lines/voices echo in time’, Stevie’s use of an eBow creating a mesmerising and eerie vibe. Nut Germs was clearly another Stevie Scullion-influenced number, with its sparse instrumentation and somewhat cryptic lyrics. Matt closed the short set with the folky Laughs for the Lonely, and Stevie pulled out the classic folk song He Was A Friend of Mine for the encore. Catch the band at a couple of appearances in Ireland over the next month and check out the new album, which I hope won’t be just a one-off.
Review and photo by Eilis Boland