The Wood Demons / Storm Deva

Camden Club, London
Sunday, 17th November 2024

Another Sunday afternoon gig in the familiar surroundings of the Camden Club sees the faithful turn up in droves for this matinée concert. Due to various accumulating problems in the hours beforehand, that can happen when joint headliners have their own set ups, Storm Deva were still soundchecking as the audience filed into the venue. As a consequence there were some initial minor problems with their sound, that were quickly ironed out by Camden Club’s resident sound magician Tamara, and the band quickly got into their stride with a great rendition of Carpe Diem.

Having only seen the band previously in the core duo format, the main attraction for me was this full band line up, premiered this afternoon. Carolyn’s Eden’s voice remains the centre of attention, and it seemed to a few of us in the audience that Stuart Clark’s guitar was rather low in the mix, but the overall sound was fine, once those initial gremlins were given the boot.

Throughout, the harmonies supplied by cellist Meg Ella were sublime, and the backing vocals from Meg and bassist Pete Clark (no relation) gave a new dimension to the previously witnessed live sound of the band. This was probably most apparent on the second song Alchemy, and later, on the slow and reflective Come Back To Me.

Carollyn was so getting into it, she says she wanted to see us all dancing, something rendered impossible by the now packed club, and the tables and chairs in the way. I had never considered Storm Deva’s music lending itself to bopping anyway. Maybe I’m missing something?! 🙂

Stuart did the band introductions after Come Back To Me, and then asks “Who’s up for some prog?”, to which some wag replies “Is it 30 minutes long?”. “No, we’ll just play it twice” comes back Stuart, to much merriment. Garden Of Wisdom is the song in question, and prog it is, but Storm Deva approach the symphonic prog pigeonhole a little differently to most, which is why they float my coracle. The obvious classical influence on Carollyn’s writing marries well with her optimistic and upbeat outlook, her lyrics finding hope in adversity.

Before the song Believing, which we are informed had evolved as Carollyn looked out at the night sky from her then home in Forest Hills, she reminds us of the healing power of music, something I am sure we have all experienced at low points in our lives. The harmonies on this one were again spot on.

Being something of a rocker at heart, I think that if there’s anything missing from Storm Deva’s repertoire it’s a bit of good old rock’n’roll. Answering some of these questions are the last two songs. New Horizon is more upbeat, and the meaty rhythms supplied by drummer Rob Brian, whose impressive CV includes stints with Siouxsie Sioux, where he was filling the formidable shoes of Budgie no less, changes the dynamic. More of this please! We end with another rockier number, The Journey, and Stuart gets the chance to let rip, although he still seemed a bit low in the mix to me.

Despite occasional and understandable signs of nerves, this being Storm Deva’s first full band showcase, and the sound gremlins, the set went down well with the punters and was thoroughly enjoyable. We can only hope for more full group shows from Carollyn and Stuart in the future.

This was one I have been looking forward to since Simon Carberry first mentioned it as a possibility months ago. It had the added bonus of being a new venue for me. What’s more there was a promise of a secret early way in for the price of buying a burger at the venue, so that I could be first in line for the unallocated seating promised. I got there over an hour before doors time, bought the obligatory burger and got let in to find the front centre tables I’d had my eye on to take photos from very much “allocated” and about twenty patrons already in the venue… I’ve credited myself with considerable personal growth in that I confined my tantrums to just a few minutes and that I didn’t really stamp my not quite so tiny feet for that long. Actually, in all fairness, the burger was very decent, and I spent a pleasant forty minutes chatting to some decent proggers in the small burger joint that adjoins the venue. The venue owner was very personable as a host for that phase too.

Anyway, I eventually shoehorned myself into a seat off to the side and resigned myself to the usual set of yoga positions required to get centralised shots without getting in people’s way, well at least as little as possible. Storm Deva performed a fine set, another first for me, and it was time for The Wood Demons! The band started off in fine form, and they kicked off with two new songs in I Told You I Will and Gentlemen It’s Time. I believe that the band were hoping to have more to announce about the new music and a new album, but the good news is that it should be out in the first half of 2025. Although I’m guessing there’s a “with luck and a following wind” attached to that prediction. The new music stood up very well, Gentlemen It’s Time seemed to contain all the positive elements we’ve come to associate with the band. There was some seriously neat fiddle and keyboard work with Rick and Naomi playing off each other in style. The song flowed smoothly, quite mellow in parts, with excellent instrumental breaks and a cracking guitar solo near the end. Unfortunately, in what was to be a repeating theme, technical problems struck with John’s bass cutting out mysteriously. The band soldiered on well throughout coping with a number of issues and even treated us to an impromptu bonus rendition of Big Game Fishing while a particularly awkward problem with Rick’s keyboard rig was sorted out. I must at this point make mention of Tamara on sound who had a very hectic afternoon with all the gremlins that struck outside of her control. The Camden Club is a nice space but with metal pillars and a low roof to contend with I was impressed at the quality of the sound overall… well at least while everything was working! The static red lighting was a shame though, particularly with a decent crowd in.

The setlist, as a whole, was well judged. There was a great mix of older numbers including strong representation off the Angels of Peckham Rye album and plenty of the new music. Underground Rivers which is the “likely” title track of the new album had a spacey, almost ambient sound. Plenty of soft keyboard noodling with Naomi’s violin allowed to soar overhead. It was a real contrast to the preceding track Star Struck which is a wonderfully discordant rattling deviant of a track. The staccato riffs and drums make it feel like the band have thrown away their instruments and started playing on a set of power tools. It’s just great crashing fun until it too descends into a sumptuous ambient section. Even that builds and builds in tempo and urgency while the violin again excels and takes you on a journey there and back. I’m not really sure where “there” was but it was a long way from where we started, and it was beautiful. Then, as if realising what they had been playing just prior the band switch the power tools back on and we crash and grind to a wonderfully crunching finale.

Other highlights included a debut for parts of another new track called Nothing Between Us & Heaven for which the lyrics had literally just been written. The band went for a very strong finish featuring songs from Angels of Peckham Rye. There was a cracking rendition of Arithmomania, a strangely satisfying song of numerical chants that is blessed with a luxuriously soft and floaty lyrical break about the voices of angels… “a million notes” and a bubbly, jaunty bassline that carries it and elevates it. Then to finish a corking version of the title track from Angels, a song which thoroughly demonstrates so many of the positive aspects of the band including their lyrical inventiveness. In fact, The Wood Demons do a hell of a lot right as a band in this genre, they aren’t afraid to experiment with many different influences and different song styles and structures. Not just the common ones like folk and classic prog but particularly their vocal can carry real flavours of alternative rock. I would say there is an argument to suggest that while fine on studio tracks their vocal ambitions might stretch their on-stage capability at times. However, I’d rather see a band stretch their limits than play within them any day. Maybe additional vocals would help but I definitely wouldn’t want them to constrain their imagination or compromise the chemistry as a result.

The band then got an impressively enthusiastic ovation from a full Camden Club and returned to play an encore. The choice of the encore was by “popular demand” stated Simon which actually meant that I’d asked him for it. I’d say opinions in the auditorium were fairly evenly split… I wanted Indian Summer and everyone else probably wanted something different. We got Indian Summer, and that’s my idea of democracy at work. 🙂 And to be fair I don’t care what anyone else thinks, it’s a perfect song to finish with even if Simon did suggest if was written in 1893! It’s superb, starting with a brisk guitar intro reminiscent of Alex Lifeson before the band settle into an incredible Hawkwind-like groove. They top it with vocals that manage a wistfully melodic charm that the lords of space rock seldomly, if indeed ever, managed to achieve. And something else that Hawkwind never had are those soaring violin lines. As the chorus goes “It’s more beautiful than anything before”…

SETLIST
I Told You I will
Gentlemen It’s Time
Interminable Beige Thing
Starstruck
Underground Rivers
Nothing Between Us & Heaven Parts 1 & 4
The Odd Particle
Big Game Fishing
Arithmomania
Angels of Peckham Rye
Indian Summer

MUSICIANS
Simon Carbery – Lead Guitar & Vocals
Rick Startin – Keyboards & Vocals
Naomi Belshaw – Violin
John Silver – Bass
Ed Kontargyris – Drums

LINKS
The Wood Demons – Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube | X | Instagram

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