The Water Rats, London
Friday, 9th August 2024
A fine meal with some fine people at the venue preceded this album launch gig for An Explosion Of Nothing, the keenly awaited new waxing (well in my house, at least!) by Jon Hunt. He is a bit below the radar is Jon, but his quality songwriting deserves more attention. So here it is!
MARTPAUL
The support act MartPaul are dizzy dazzy Essex boys washed up on the shores of Mersea Island singing the delights of the estuary. They regale us with a succession of surreal vignettes, hiding grains of sand in the oysters, and tinged with nostalgia in place of vinegar. These ditties were accompanied by slightly (deliberately) wonky instrumentation from piano and acoustic guitar. Imagine the sea-salty Essex offspring of Reeves and Mortimer barking from a whelk stall on Sarfend pier. Or not. Whatever, it was certainly different, and very entertaining.
“That was a love song to a dog. This is a love song to a doughnut. It’s called Pink Cream”. Or… “You don’t get a lot of subjunctives in rock’n’roll, do you?” That might give you an idea. Their song titles alone should tell you where these strange minds reside, also revealling an obsession with sea-dwelling fauna! A few straight thinkers just didn’t get it, but in my never ‘umble opinion’, the best comedy comes from the less obvious. Ah well, it’s their loss!
Testament Tables
Dizzy Orange Lollipop
Mersea Oysters
Are You Happy With Your Life?
Bernie The Invisible Salmon
Harvey’s Crystal Bream
Hullo Doggie
Pink Cream
Concrete Face
Baboon
My Biodome
Carpet Dog
Paul Kennedy – Vocals, Guitar
Martin Chapman – Wonky Piano, Vocals
LINKS: Facebook (Salad)
JON HUNT
A short break and without so much as a hello, Jon Hunt launches into Somewhere Else, and we are immediately transported into Jon’s world. This is a place where everyday concerns are given rueful exposure. That first song is not on the album, and is as yet unreleased, and as Jon would admit himself, being somewhat averse to self-promotion, perhaps an odd choice to start an album launch gig! It is “dedicated to everyone who said they would be here tonight”…geddit? 🙂 It always helps to have a sense of humour and Jon has it in spades. “I have suffered for my art…and now it’s your turn”. Boom boom! 😀
The people inhabiting these songs are you and me, living their lives as best they can. This is not prog escapism, but still the words and music combine to take you on a journey, stretching into the possibilities over the near horizon, that metaphor being reflected in the backdrop screen, which is taken from the album cover.
You may correctly guess that this is not dance music, but sat down at tables as we were, an intimate vibe is soon established with the small but involved audience. Interpreting the songs on a mostly unencumbered acoustic guitar, their basic strength shines through. The album is embellished with a much fuller instrumentation, and that also works, but this is a one-to-slightly more than one (thankfully!) experience.
For Doormats Of The World Unite! Jon is joined onstage by Marijne from Jon’s old band Salad, her voice lending a layer of colour to proceedings, especially when the two of them sing together. Jon is now into familiar looping territory and adds a soaring guitar break to the song. Venturing over to the keyboard for the last two songs of the first set, Jon is solo once more and we are again fully immersed in the storytelling realm.
The second set begins with Horse With No Name…ah…no, it’s Emergency Call (only kidding!) 🤣
In-between song banter again shows Jon’s sense of humour and no little self -deprecation. I can well imagine him opening a prog festival somewhere. If any festival organisers are reading this, heads up!
“This one is about the vivid colours of youth giving way to the dull grey of middle age” is the intro to Colours, and that got a laugh from the crowd, most of whom are well into that later part of life’s cycle. Cheers, mate!
Songs written in an inebriated state in a chain hotel in Newquay in February show no particular descent into morbid introspection as you might expect. In fact Gorgeous On The Periphery is probably my favourite song of tonight’s show. That might say more about me than the song itself, who knows?! It has a great guitar break in it too, which helps. 🙂 This is followed by a “life affirming ditty” by the name of Wonderful Life, the last track on the new album, and it is another one with a train in it. He likes his trains, does Jon. And yes, it is upbeat too!
After the raffle – everyone who bought a ticket to the gig got a raffle ticket – the main prize of which was a house gig from our host, and luckily the winner was up for it, the final song Resonance ended the second set, and the encore was I Wanna Spend My Summer With A Rich Girl, a glorious blast of summer pop that brought to a close a fine night’s entertainment.
Jon Hunt is worthy of more recognition, being a fine songwriter, and hopefully this gig was a small step in that direction. Oh…and buy the album!
[Photos by Rosamund Tomlins]
[You can read Phil Lively’s review of An Explosion Of Nothing – HERE]
SETLIST
Somewhere Else (unreleased)
Little Black Book
Bait & Switch
Wartime Spirit
Kelly (unreleased)
Dionysus Appears Close To The A36
Doormats Of The World Unite!
London Road (London Road pt.1)
Obvious But Oblivious (unreleased)
~ Interval
Emergency Call
Don’t Make Me Laugh*
Colours (London Road pt.2)
Gorgeous On The Periphery
Wonderful Life
Penultimate
Resonance
~ Encore
I Wanna Spend My Summer With A Rich Girl
MUSICIANS
Jon Hunt – Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Pedals
Marijne van der Vlugt – Vocals (on Doormats Of The World Unite!)