Alan Dearling offers some pics and words from the Hope Chapel in Hebden Bridge
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Daniel Gaudi said: “Last night’s AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE & GAUDI gig was definitely a super powerful and psychedelic music journey!
We performed inside a still-active church, a completely new and unexpected setting for us, where the energy was intense and deeply resonant. Definitely not your usual concert venue, which made the experience even more memorable.”
This gig was widely advertised around the Calder Valley. It was originally due to take place upstairs at the night club by the market in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. With something like a couple of months to the date scheduled for the event, the venue was changed to the church in the centre of Hebden Bridge. I’ve taken photos and reviewed a number of gigs at the Hope Chapel. It’s filled with church pews, it’s big, you could even say it is a ‘cavernous space’. There’s a gallery area up above. When I have worked at gigs there in the past, only staff and press have been allowed up in the gallery. It’s high, dark and the edge is low. There are quite a lot of broken pews. On this occasion, the security staff did limit access to the gallery soon after the venue opened, but then more and more people were allowed upstairs. By the time the live musicians from African Head Charge came onto the stage following two and a quarter hours of dj sets played to a restless audience, the gallery was pretty full. Drinks including glass bottles and food were put on the shelf overhanging the main auditorium. Punters were dancing quite wildly up there and some were enjoying leaning out over the void. It seemed like a pretty big safety risk.
I was very keen to see Gaudi perform with African Head Charge. I have worked with him and his friends, Youth, Jah Wobble, Chris Tofu and Radical Dance Faction at Ozora festival in Hungary, and more recently at Rich Mix and the 100 Club in London. Daniel Gaudi is a heavy-weight keyboard player and vocalist and famed as a producer – a dub technician. Youth & Gaudi have created some dub masterpieces, including ‘Astronaut Alchemists’. Here’s what it says on-line about his work:
“He worked on Mass Manipulation by Steel Pulse, Grammy Award nominated for Best Reggae Album 2020 and his solo album Dub Qawwali in collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, which was nominated at the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in 2008. Gaudi’s work has achieved significant chart success around the world. He has produced or contributed to several albums that reached the Billboard Reggae Chart #1 position, including: Heavy Rain by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry , Mass Manipulation by Steel Pulse, Vessel of Love by Hollie Cook.”
African Head Charge is something of a reggae super-collective. They have always been popular with dance crowds. Journalist, David Stubbs wrote in ‘The Wire’:
“The notion of African Head Charge was hatched when Adrian Sherwood read Brian Eno’s comment about his vision for a ‘psychedelic Africa’.” Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCnjYsbA_AQ
From Wikipedia , I learned that they started out as a, “… psychedelic dub ensemble active since 1981, when they released their debut album, recorded at Berry Street Studio in London, which was, at the time, run by Dennis Bovell. The group was formed by percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah, and featured a revolving cast of members, including the original members of Creation Rebel, Undivided Roots, Carlton “Bubblers” Ogilvie and Crucial Tony Phillps of Ruff Cutt, Style Scott of The Roots Radics and The Dub Syndicate, George Oban, (bassist who had played with Aswad and Burning Spear), Headley Bennett, Prisoner, Crocodile, (both pseudonyms for Adrian Sherwood), Nick Plytas (originally from 1970s pub-rock proto punk band Roogalator), Junior Moses, Sunny Akpan of The Funkees, Steve Beresford of Brian Eno’s Portsmouth Sinfonia, Bruce Smith of Public Image Ltd, Evar Wellington of British Roots Reggae band, The Makka Bees, Skip McDonald, Gaudi and Jah Wobble. Martin Frederix, sound engineer and live-mixer for This Heat also contributed to the band, playing bass and mixing some of the tracks on Songs of Praise. The group released most of its albums on Adrian Sherwood’s label, On-U Sound, with much of the iconic sleeve-design artwork provided by noted photographer, Kishi Yamamoto, who also played keyboards, Guzheng Chinese Harp and Pipa Chinese lute on some of the compositions.”
I had been up in the gallery with my camera gear for over three hours altogether. For a psychedelic dub-reggae event the sound was not really loud enough. When the band did finally come on stage, the audience were suitably hyped up. But the sound was way too quiet and there were some fairly serious technical problems with the monitors, meaning that the musicians could not hear themselves and at least two of the instruments were not being amplified to the crowd. The band are really good, but this was not the right sort of venue for their type of dub-dance vibes; there needed to be a lot more dance space; and it needed some big booming bass! I wish the organisers, Valley Roots, well, and I guess they are on a learning curve. Jah – One Love!
After the Hope Chapel gig, here were some comments I heard:
Punter One, older male: “I went for my dance. The sound was not loud enough. Hardly any space to dance. I left after 50 minutes. Disappointed. A bit sad really.”
Helper, male early 20s: “I was helping move the gear in and out. The sound seemed a bit messed up. Good band, but not really the right place for them. It was meant to have been at the club in Tod… I think maybe the organisers fell out amongst themselves.”
Punter Two, female, probably early 30s: “I was a bit disappointed…I love African Head Charge and went with my friends…A long wait from 7pm until after 9pm…just some djs playing…I went to dance…no space…I ended up at the back…the band sound was not great, but the band are good…and by then I was fed up…”
Punter Three, female, late 20s: “I was a big raver a while back…we loved African Head Charge…this was not the venue for them…me and my friends went to dance…enjoy…we were cramped and had no space…you asked me about the sound…it got better but was a mess for much of the early part of the evening.”
Punter Four, female, probably early 50s: “I think it was a difficult first gig and given the shortened promotion time with the venue change they managed to pull it off to an extent. Yes, the sound and lighting could definitely have been better.”
Punter Five, male, probably 40s: “Maybe mention Scott Crawford for doing a nice job on the stage lighting fx.”
Punter from Bristol (from the African Head charge gig the following night): “The venue in Bristol was totally wrong too!! It had really bad lighting and almost zero atmosphere. I was pissed off coz I spent £50 on tickets to see them plus Dub Princess and Zion Train at The Marble Factory. That was cancelled last minute and changed to a shit venue and mediocre support band. I don’t know if the band had anything to do with these changes or were at the mercy of promoters. But I’m glad I went. They are a great band.”
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