Local lad James Oliver plays Bargoed’s best music venue.
Take an intimate and friendly venue, pour in a gifted guitarist, a consummately skillful drummer, some life long mates and gently stir. This is the recipe for a perfect Thursday night out.
In the last three years Bourtons has become our favourite local haunt. It made no sense when we first read about it. Twenty-five capacity, all seated, serves food. Not very rock and roll. At least not on paper. But in reality it’s an incredibly friendly venue, with an appreciative audience and a talented roster of live acts. They have a reasonably full diary with Folk Nights, Jam Nights and Poetry nights spread across the week.
It’s our second gig in Bourtons this week. Tonight we are joined by old friends making their first visit to the venue. Two of them happen to be guitarists, so I’m curious to see what they think of the boy Oliver. As we walk in James is trying to tune his guitar but he had left his tuner in Putney when playing with Man last night. We immediately get into a debate about guitar tuning apps. It’s going to be one of those nights.
It’s been six years since James Oliver started his band, in that time he has played gigs all over U.K. Europe and USA. In 2020 he won U.K. blues awards emerging artist of the year. He has released five studio albums, five live albums, one EP and one live DVD. His most recent album was produced by John Leckie (Stone Roses producer). He has had more than twenty plays on BBC Radio Two and over ten million YouTube views. Fender use his guitar videos for promote their Vintera model. He averages over two hundred live gigs a year. Not bad for a boy from the valleys.
His live shows have various line ups, including Norman Watt Roy, bass player with Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Tonight it is just James and Mark Kemlo, drummer with The Rimshots, Gene Gambler, The Rhythm Slicks, King Joe & the Atlantics. And the James Oliver Band. Obviously.
Mark sits at the back, minding his own business, effortlessly laying down the rhythm for James. No John Bonham style drum kit, just bass drum and snare. There’s no sweat, no showing off, he just calmly lays down the tempo playing deceptively tight beats that he makes look easy.
Although James has a large back catalogue of his own material, live shows often feature a large selection of covers. Tonight, I think he only played one of his own tunes. We get tunes originally laid down by guitar legends, such as Dick Dale, Chuck Berry and Duane Eddy. His version of Sabre Dance is up there with the Dave Edmunds version – which is saying something. His fingers are a blur as they move up and down the fret board.
If that were not enough, James is master of the art of banter between songs. He has very few filters, so some of his off the cuff remarks have you wincing – once you have stopped laughing. He also has ears like a bat, so if you whisper something to your mate, expect it to be brought up on stage.
At one point James sees I’m not paying full attention so he engages me in conversation. I reveal that my mate has been looking up his guitar on the net and we are guessing what it is worth. Let’s just say it is worth more than the first half dozen cars I bought combined.
