Review - the first 12 months of Bessemer
It's official, we've been around a while now. 12 months ago, Mr Adam William Moore and Mr Sam E. Edwards (Esquire) played their first gig at Harrisons bar in Sheffield. It was a good first night, nearly 50 friends and family heard their first awkward turns, just a drummer and a guitarist (the rhythm guitarist having disappeared a few weeks previously, never to be seen again).
By the end of September Bessemer had recruited a bass player, who didn't make it much past xmas. It was at this point that Adam's old skool friend and Bessemer fan Alex McNaughton picked up the bass, and the band have been gigging as a 3 piece ever since...
1st anniversary gig - 28 Sep 2012, Beehive Bar
The night started badly. Really fucking badly. Sam's gf and Bessemer's silent 4th member Emily had a car crash, and we didn't know how bad it was. Sam sped off to hospital to be by her side and me and Alex decided to put some kind of show on without our one man drumming machine...
...Emily was ok, shook up, and bruised, thanks to what looks like a van just pulling out in front of her, count our blessings. We knew she was ok by about 8pm, so we did what we did best. We got drunk and rocked out....acoustically.
First support act was a young man named Kyle Baker, he's an acoustic songsmith full of optimism, reminiscent of the Fratellis, and with a kick ass haircut. Kyle laid out his tunes of Rotherham, girls and kebabs and kicked our night off beautifully. Kyle's got a debut album coming out in 2013 and we're looking forward to hearing it!
Next up, Nottingham's Dan Heathcote previewed material from his forthcoming debut album Limbic System. Dan's work is just beautiful, layered, subtle, echoes of Radiohead, Turin Brakes, with a hauntingly ethereal voice. We can't wait for his album because his songs demand repeated plays to really appreciate them.
Our only band of the night were Neon Railroad. These guys just rock. Loud. Did I mention they were loud? The Neons launched straight into a full on indie assault that didn't skip a beat throughout their 40 minute set. These are the hardest working lads I know, and their live performance reflects that work ethic. Unbelievably tight sound.
Which left me and Jarvis McNaughton...
We had no idea what to do. So we made it up as we went along. Quickly ditching my electric, I picked up my shiny new acoustic (embarrassingly removing the price tag which was still attached) we ended up doing a full tracklisting from our upcoming debut album 6 Til Midnight mixed with whatever covers the largely plastered crowd wanted (I wonder if the Beehive's chef has regained consciousness yet?). And we think we did rather well. The high points for me were maybe Condemnation and our usually effects heavy track, Lex. Oh and Wonderwall, good set of lungs, Beehive.
Mighty shoutouts must go out to all our support on the night, we'd played with all of them before and everyone brought something different to the stage. Also counted in that support is our new favourite soundman Mr Alex Warhurst, and of course, the lovely Sam Bouzida and staff at The Beehive, quickly establishing itself as a serious venue for live music on the Sheffield scene.
Basically, Bessemer owe all these guys and more for our 1st 12 months of love on the Sheffield circuit, far too many to explain why, but here goes an attempted role call of sorts...
(Deep breath) Big thanks to Andy Sellars, Lateral Vision, Sam Christie, Urban Giraffe, Spit n Strings, Rob Butler, Darren Gray, Tom Douglas, James McManus, Helena McManus, Alex Warhurst, Exit Strategy One, John Paul Jackson, Tom McGinley, Coyote Mad Seeds, Phil Elsey, Stuart Wood, Alex Dewett, Emma Johnson, Taran Ali, Joe Elsey, Charlotte Davis, Neon Railroad, Kyle Baker, Abandoned Faith, Dan Heathcote, Empire, Irish Dave Murphy, Jeff Redhouse, Rowan Colver, Neil Hargreaves, Sheffield Scenester, Sally's Gig Reviews, Dove and Rainbow, West Street Live, The Beehive, The Hop, The Washington, The Harley, James Tait, The Green Room, The Redhouse, Walkabout, Maggie Mays, the Royal Standard, The Dollarhyde$, Lofter, Joy of a Toy, The Cremorne, Harrisons, Emily Calder, Sam Walker, Joe Clarke, and many, many others........thanks dudes!
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