Last September marked the end of Fat Talent LIVE at Proud Camden; Stuart Bell reviews our penultimate showcase...
With a chill in the air and with seven unsigned acts on the bill, it was set to be a very interesting evening of music and fashion. The acts broke down as two guys and a girl all straddling acoustic guitars, three breakthrough urban and garage acts and one girl spinning pop with an edge. The whole night was hosted by Chocolate Blonde, who to her credit, kept things simmering away nicely between acts and utterly owning the floor during her set, sporting both the infectious hooks of numbers like ‘Ick on my Forehead’, as well as the slower acoustic jams of ‘U Get Me’. Up in the grill of almost everyone in the front row, it was obvious the Chocolate wasn’t at all intimidated by an unfairly lax crowd, and exhibited herself as a perfect host for the nights showcase.
First act to officially grace the Proud stage was, born with a tooth, Janiece Myers, arguably the most prolific RnB act of the night. Performing for the first time outside of her native Liverpool, she opened with tried and true number ‘Four Steps’, and Janiece’s set steadily slowed into what was three songs well chosen; fast, slower, slow, it worked well and proved a rounded showcase for her varied vocal talents, which are a cut above a lot of the RnB being put out in recent years. Janiece recently signed a management deal with Onehundred Global Management ; heres to her hopefully picking up some radio play.
A quick change of pace and the stage was filled by Josie Akers, wielding her guitar and her own brand of acoustic slow tunes. Chatting away to the crowd and myself, respectively, Josie made clear that she is no push over, and definitely put herself across very well. Describing her set to me as ‘two of her fast tunes and one slow to break it up’, I found I had a hard time figuring out what was exactly what, and while its true her music and certainly her voice, shows its soul a lot more when being played live, its hard to really see the kind of target audience Josie is shooting for with her uninspiring acoustic love songs.
The night held two other ‘one man and his guitar’ style acts; one, Ed Mayhew, sitting down soulful, the other, Dan Zappi, standing and conversationalist. With so many acoustic artists gracing the spotlight in the last few years, I took Ed aside before his set and asked him how he expected to breakthrough with such an act. A well travelled young man, Ed’s reply was simple, in that he could always rely on his ability to surprise, and surprise he did. Speaking to him, you’d never second guess his voice, which aside from being incredibly soulful, he knows exactly he to use. Also, strangely enough, despite having original material for the platform, Ed’s set was made up completely from acoustic covers; ‘Seven Nation Army’, a sensational ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley, and ‘Hit the Road Jack’. Whatever the reason for it, Ed was easily one of the evenings most entertaining acts, and if his ability to write songs is anything compared to his ability to re-imagine them, then we should all look forward to seeing him in the future.
As Dan Zappi prepared to bring the evening to its conclusion, Penny was flying the flag for straight down the line popular music. While not balls to the wall excitement, there was something oddly intriguing about cox little Penny and her soft rock, pop tunes, reminiscent of artists such as the B-52’s at the best moments.
The last man to grace the stage, was Dan Zappi; Charismatic with a good falsetto and yet another acoustic guitar. His overly conversational tunes hit a flow now and again, but never the hustle that Mayhew did, although its admittedly unfair to compare the two; songs like ‘Common Love’ and ‘Human Condition’, sell him short as something of an optimistic Morrissey. In any case the night was a good showcase of young talent, and I definitely have an interest in seeing how some of these guys do next year
The next Fat Talent takes place on Sun.13th Feb 2011 @ Inn On The Green, West London.
Click here for details
Reviewer: Stuart Bell
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