Doors opened, the crowd flooded in and the floor was full.
Local Blackwood
hailing South Wales duo Into The Ark took to the stage. Immediately warming to the
audience with confident performance talk and bringing us into their first song
of their set. Showcasing from the beginning their well worked harmonies and integrated
lyrics. The crowd gained a quick reception to the boys. The first track with
its well written carefully collated lyrics and beautiful acoustic accompaniment
set this Welsh duo apart and onto something a little stronger. After some more
banter the Blackwood boys led us into the next track of the evening. Dane’s
vocals slightly verging on a Kooks style chorus, brought us nicely into more
well worked harmonies and lovely acoustic riffs before leading into the third song
of the set, standing out with a fantastically covered, Bob Marley classic ‘Is
This Love’, showcasing both Dane and Taylor’s strong vocal ranges again
bounding off of each other to re-create this Bob Marley classic in true ‘Into
The Ark’ style. The audience were captivated by this and had the room of all
ages singing and joining in to this Marley’s time-honoured record. Two boys,
two guitars continued through the night to the end of their set. A great ending
to the set with strong vocals and a lovely melody. This dynamic duo did their business
and did it well, in warm up to the headline act of Dan Owen. The wittiness, confidence
and talent of this emerging Welsh duo definitely did not disappoint and are definitely
worth a listen and a live view. They also love their press attention and looking forward to gaining more followers as they tour venues across the UK this month, and I
quote “we’re doing pretty well, we’ve had out debut on the front page of the
Rhymney Times newspaper”
Next brings us into the headline act of the evening.
Standing in a gig in 2015 you do not think you’ll be escorted back to a blues
gig in the 1960’s but Dan Owen does that very thing and he does it well.
Kicking off his set with foot stomping ‘The Walking Blues’. I must say I was
taken a back from the strong vocals and the gravelly tones which this boy eludes
through his voice. Getting the audience dancing and away from the still stance,
they were immediately drawn into this fast paced set. After showcasing these
young Bob Dylan vocals mixed with the grittiness of Bruce Springsteen we were
brought further into the 60’s vibe with the use of a melody on the harmonica
and the twang of the acoustic guitar, mixed with his mature voice and blusey
vocals, brought you into contact with these interesting and well written lyrics
before emotionally evoking empathy with the audience and myself in his third
track of the night. Bringing us in closer to understanding Dan, he told us the
story of training to be a carpenter in college and his fellow carpenter friend who
sadly passed away. This thought provoking track brought us closer into his
world and through cleverly created and crafted themes throughout the song a story
was told. Lyrics such as “he grew up with a hammer in his hands” and “keep you’re
eye on the nail” metaphorically collected an emotional output and was evoked
further with the bluesy guitar riffs and cut throat vocals creating this intriguing
ballad.
The talented song writer no doubt showcased further with his similar songs
such as ‘Parachute’, ‘Drowning Man’ and his released single ‘Fall Like A
Feather’. This song in particular
holding interesting themes and delivered so gently and meaningfully evoking
emotions again but in the sense of a lost relationship. Later in the show he
clued us into a new EP he has coming out very soon, playing a track ‘Splinter’
from this. Intriguing us into what this talented young artist has to offer in
his next release. Following the range of emotions throughout the set we saw
some interesting fast paced songs also, a song in particular about avoiding the
fact one day we will all die but with upbeat and fast dancing riffs to disguise
the inclining meaning to the song, to finishing with an explosive performance
of ‘Little Red Rooster’ formerly performed by legends such as The Rolling
Stones and Howlin’ Wolf “and now me” as Dan jokingly put it. We were all blown
away by the energy he exuded in this performance with an effortless top
harmonica performance and
Thanks to Orchard Entertainment for putting on a great night.
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