Wes Finch and the Dirty Band – The Hope and Anchor, Coventry – 3rd May 2008Review by Paul VillersDiamonds come from the most unlikely places. Deep down in the rock one must dig, delve and get dirty for that rarest of stones. Very, very occasionally however you just trip over one as if by accident and things begin to look up – multi faceted and catching the light in just the perfect way. Such is this writer’s discovery of the titular Mr. Finch and his dirty band. Deep in the heart of Coventry, around the corner and up the alley at The Hope and Anchor, there was a musical happening this weekend which restored one’s faith in hitting the motherlode of finely crafted, independent and YOUNG Americana influenced music. Under the auspices of the Sid Norris Organisation ( a local arts promotion concern) a number of talents took to the stage. All was good but imagine the surprise when the enthusiastic dancers in the audience supporting the other acts turned out to be the day’s highlight The Dirty Band. A precursor of things to come entertainment wise, obviously.The thing about rough diamonds is that they need polishing. Not too much but just the requisite amount to make them shine and sparkle. And this is where Wes and the band are at. They can play their instruments alright – accomplished but sufficiently care free to give the tunes the dirty edge. There’s a whole mix in there – the usual acoustic guitar, electric guitars, beautifully brushed drums, a lead guitarist playing bass and a stand in on lead guitar replacing an errant bassist. Add to that the banjo player, the backing vocalist playing djembe and kabbas, the extraordinarily bejewelled Brian Lea on gob iron and the female duettist exuberantly dancing her socks off. What’s not to like? In their tunes they reference plenty of Americana favourites (such as in ‘No Drama’ in which Annie is encouraged once more to ‘take a load off’ – hey, if you’re going to wear your influences on your sleeve you might as well reference the best) even covering The Kings of Leon in a Coventry-stylee - ‘Velvet Snow’ re-written with testosterone replaced by oestrogen. There’s plenty of original material on offer too – “The Pact†for example which deals with every artist’s nightmare about having a soul to sell. There’s more on offer in this nine number strong set too – unfortunately in order to hear it you must make contact with the band to acquire their self produced demo cd or – and here’s the exciting bit – wait a short while for their debut bona fide release.
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