GIG: Matt Backer
DATE: Wednesday 13th November 2013
VENUE: The Dublin Castle, 94 Parkway, Camden
COST: £4.40 in advance
OUR VERDICT: No Idle Hands here
Matt Backer is a session guitarist par excellence. He has a
CV that is just jaw dropping. ABC, Bananarama, in fact anyone who made a record
in the 80’s will have benefited from Matt’s contributions at some point.
Rumor’s another recent addition to that CV. He’s also MD for Julian Lennon and features
heavily as the main guitarist in “Don’t Forget The Lyrics”. It was while he was
playing with Mari Wilson when we first saw him. We also caught him when he did
his debut gig for Paul Young’s Los Pacaminos, and you could see why he is so in
demand.
We caught Matt a couple of weeks ago at the same venue, when
he did a warm-up solo performance for this, his full band gig. It was a bonus
for us to find out that tonight his drummer was Jim Kimberley from Kellys
Heels/Bruise, another couple of Liverpool IPO band favourites of ours. Jim
always plays a great beat and is probably one of the finest drummers we’ve seen
play.
The “band”/karaoke playing when we arrived weren’t our cup
of tea, and as soon as they finished everyone from the pub suddenly made
their way into the music room. It became obvious Matt had brought quite a
following with him.
The set started with a really slow, moody, bottleneck blues
song, which set the tone for most of the night. With Simon Edwards on bass,
this turned out to be a great bluesy band. Matt has some really great songs of
his own. “Cold War” from his first album is a fine, well observed rocker.
“Let’s Art” from the new album “Idle Hands” is quite smart too.
“All That You’ve Wanted” was co-written with Julian Lennon,
and if there was any justice in the world this should be a hit! Matt on-stage
is very laid back, and tends to let his guitar playing connect with the
audience as much as any between song chatting.
The thing with the Dublin Castle is everyone has to do a
pretty short set, and Matt’s was no exception. The time just flew in and it all
seemed over in a flash. The set was excellent though, and he got a
well-deserved reception. It was great to see up close, such a genuinely
talented guitarist. If we hadn’t seen him before this would definitely have
made us realise why he was such an in demand professional .
To have the opportunity to see him perform his own material
was certainly a bonus. His own albums stand up well to anything he has recorded
for any of the bands and artists he’s worked with in the past. Another great
gig for us and an artist we would recommend to go see.
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