Red Herring at The Crimea Tavern Castleford 17/08/03

This excellent South Ealing based band shone magnificently at one of the premier venues in West Yorkshire . Lead by Scot Iain Hearfield, an excellent singer/guitarist/songwriter backed by Dave Samuels on Vigier bass and Howard Evans on percussion. Comprising of blues standards and original compositions, this band soon endeared itself to the lively Sunday afternoon audience .A fine rendition of “Standing on Shaky Ground” got the set underway. Moving through “Refugee” and on to “Staggerlee” with its distinctive riff prepared the room for the self-penned “Flying Tigers” an unusual but extremely well crafted song with pleasing high quality guitar work, a trademark of Iain Hearfield. Some more blues standards took us to the end of the first set. These included Rory Gallagher's “Tattooed Lady”, Tony Joe White's “Undercover Agent for the Blues”, a truly excellent version, and back to Taste's “Same Old Story, a riffy 12 bar. The final song of the set was another excellent self-penned song with immense emotional value,”Rockin' For Bob”, with lyrics telling the story of a great man who lost his life. (Actually a true story.) This song is of epic proportions and was not wasted on this audience.

Iain Hearfield resplendent with a Sunburst Strat and mauve hair opened the second set with “Complicated” , another original song, before playing Rory Gallagher's,” Walk on Hot Coals”. A brilliant version of Albert King's “Born Under a Bad Sign” gave the band huge credibility in my blues receptive mind as did Freddy King's masterpiece “Goin'Down”…was it Freddy who wrote that one? These two blues standards really did it for me but another self-penned song, “Hoober's Last Stand” and Bob Dylan's “All Along The Watchtower” burned this band's credentials indelibly into my memory. There were some songs in the repertoire you'd never expect a blues band to touch but Suzanne Vega's “Luca” was arranged differently and fitted in well in the set! The overall sound belied what a three piece band could produce. It was very full with excellent PA ensuring no mushiness allowing the sound to carry unheeded to the ears.

What a fabulous set with brilliant musicianship, a great repertoire and a nice friendly venue. This is what live music is all about. I also have it on good authority that Iain has almost completed an all original blues album, soon to be released. My guess is that it will be exceptional.

Steve Lally ©