Happy New Year Everybody! This year I'm going to endeavor to keep up this blog more, as I've been letting it slip lately. And it occurs to me that I've never actually done a post about David Devant & His Spirit Wife! I've always meant to, they're my favourite band, and I think Mikey Georgeson is one of our best, perhaps the best, songwriters. I guess I've always thought it would take forever with all I've got to say about them. Having flown back from the States yesterday in order to see them perform at The 100 Club, for my first New Year's Eve in London, today, despite being jetlagged and exhausted, I'm going to set that right and do the post now, start the New Year properly.
I've written quite a bit about them this year. And about a month ago the idea came to me that I should write a book about Devant and The Elevator Drops. Two bands, one from each side of the Atlantic, that I always felt should've been huge, and always saw similarities between, both being great theatrical pop. If anyone has anything to say about either for the book, please get in touch.
Living in America, I missed out on Devant in the 90's. Some great articles from that time here, here and here. But I didn't hear them until 2006. And was so excitedly blown away when I did! Having caught Mr Solo at The Windmill, I immediately bought his All Will Be Revealed and started to investigate further. Pimlico was the first thing I heard and fell in love with it by the end of the first verse.
With this on repeat, it was actually a few weeks before I got to anything else. And then it was Radar. That riff is just Awesome, insistent. And, as with Pimlico, the lyrics were extraordinary, evoking wonderful playful universes, really something very special. And the songs were so catchy!
The songs to me, like all the best songs, seemed instantly familiar but would slip through one's memory when you tried to place them, for they are in fact all their own. Last night at the gig, I was thrilled that they played the old B-side One Hand, which I'd never heard live before. Such a great song, it reminds me of the 60's 45s that my mom used to play when I was growing up, but for the life of me it doesn't exactly sound like any of them.
And the A-side of that single is Cookie. What an excellent tune.
There's so many songs I could name. The first two records, Work Lovelife Miscellaneous and Shiney On The Inside, I consider perfect albums (every song being great) and two of the best albums of all-time. The first time I ever got to see them live was the best show I've ever seen. And every one since then has been Amazingly Great. Sticking to the tunes they played last night (for now), next up is the classic Ginger:
And then Miscellaneous, the ending to the live version never failing to make one feel good, that everything, as they say, "will be alright". In 2009, I saw Devant play at a church in Brighton. The setting being perfect with the lush red carpet. During the chant of "Work Lovelife Miscellaneous" as the final song, Vessel led us all down the centre aisle and out of the building, across the road and into the pub. Where they proceeded to play four more songs acoustic with Vessel standing on the bar. It was AWESOME. They even did Life On A Crescent, one of my absolute favourite songs of all-time.
Miscellaneous live at The 100 Club, 2010:
Live at The Buffalo Bar, 2009:
This last performance is from the cult classic sitcom Asylum, starring Simon Pegg, Julian Barrett, and Jessica Stevenson, co-written by Edgar Wright and David Walliams, and which featured Devant as the "house band". Ginger was the show's title music.
And then there's I'm Not Even Going To Try, perhaps the most FUN song ever recorded. A song that brings Joy to an audience only too happy to chant "AUNTIE MABEL" and answer the brilliant lyrics with "HE'S NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY".
Ah, I'm very jetlagged and need to get to bed but hopefully this will provide a good introduction to a truly fantastic band. More to come...
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