The Destroyers, The Assembly Rooms, Presteigne, Powys. 22/10/2011

This was the first date of a short British tour currently being undertaken by the Birmingham based band The Destroyers, an anarchic large ensemble who fuse various types of world music with performance poetry, social comment and an almost punk like energy. Their appeal is broad enough for them to have appeared at Cheltenham Festival in 2010 and Moseley Folk Festival in 2011. Numbering up to fifteen strong (tonight I counted a dozen) their flexible line up is led by violinist Louis Robinson and fronted by poet/songwriter/vocalist Paul Murphy, once memorably described as “a granddad in a fez”. Thanks to the band’s publicist, the marvellously monikered Julia Peculier (the name is a perfect encapsulation of the whole Destroyers ethos) for inviting me along to this opening gig and for providing me with a copy of the group’s début album “Out Of Babel”. Also to drummer Dan O’Connell for taking the time out to talk to me afterwards.

As soon as I entered the Assembly Rooms I knew there was going to be something different about this gig. The bleachers had been pushed back to create a dance floor and it was immediately apparent that tonight’s show was going to be pretty “full on”. Jointly promoted by those local forces for musical good Sheep Music and Mid Border Arts the gig was an official sell out. The band had previously played the town’s Sheep Music Festival in the past and had obviously accrued something of a cult following in the area. A young and noisy crowd were ensuring that the bar was doing good business and were obviously up for a good night out. They were not to be disappointed.

Introduced by Sheep Music’s Pete Mustill The Destroyers’ “Dirty Dozen” took to the stage clad in a variant of Dexy’s/Mumford’s dungaree chic and positively tore into their instrumental opening number. The line up included clarinet, trombone, trumpet, accordion, violin, flutes, hurdy gurdy, tuba,guitar, bass guitar and drums with Murphy’s vocals being added later. I make that twelve but but they hardly stood still long enough for me to count them.

The Destroyers play with an almost maniacal intensity and verve with choreographed (but not slick) dance movements, crazed vocals and an almost rock volume level. Their blend of turbo charged, tuba driven klezmer/Balkan/Celtic music (delete where appropriate) isn’t subtle but more than makes up for that with its energy and is highly effective. But there’s more to The Destroyers than just being a rollicking, rumbustious party band. Poet and lyricist Paul Murphy adds his words and voice to many of the band’s numbers. His words are sometimes macabre, sometimes political, sometimes celebratory and sometimes just plain funny. With his half sung/half spoken delivery he’s not the greatest singer in the world but his delivery works in a Tom Waits sort of way. But if anything I was reminded more of the theatrics of the late, great Alex Harvey, another limited singer who surrounded himself with quality players. And make no mistake there are some fine musicians in The Destroyers ranks drawn from the best of the Birmingham jazz and folk scenes.

Murphy’s first contribution was to recount the grotesque tale of “The Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zurinak”, a tune drawn from the “Out Of Babel” album. Grey of beard he really does look like a granddad and yes, he does wear a fez. It’s all part of the group’s love of “fancydressorama” as their Twitter page describes it. They also love jumping into the crowd to play as they did on the next manic, stop/start instrumental.

From “Out Of Babel” one of the group’s most notable songs is “Where Has The Money Gone?”, a tune that lampoons the crooked US financier Bernard Madoff. The slogan also appears on a well designed and popular band t shirt. However Murphy still hasn’t finished bashing the bankers and rightly so. “Red Tape” was another rant at the boys in the City and is scheduled to appear on the band’s forthcoming second album “There’s A Hole In The Universe”.

On the whole the entire evening was a massive outpouring of energy. The only quiet instrumental interlude was rather marred by the rather noisy crowd so the band decided to stick with the high octane stuff and give the audience what they obviously wanted. Drawing on Greek myth the new song “Sisyphus” compared the eternal and pointless labours of the song’s title character with the modern futility of going to work. The hectic “Only The Dead Don’t Dance”, which ended the first half, added a Celtic element in tribute to Murphy’s Irish roots.

The second half was even more energetic than the first with more and more people taking to their feet. By the end hardly anybody was left in the admittedly sparse seating, The Destroyers certainly know how to work a crowd.

Second half highlights included the rousing instrumental, “Sirba”, which kicked things off by blending frantic klezmer with “I’m The King Of The Swingers” from “The Jungle Book”. Young trumpet maestro Sam Wooster, a product of Birmingham Conservatoire’s Jazz Course showed up particularly well here and elsewhere.

Murphy’s “Methuselah Mouse” told the tale of a laboratory mouse who has been bred to be ageless and disease free and hence immortal. In a suitably bizarre twist he escapes from captivity and meets his demise in the jaws of a cat. Guitarist Dan Wilkins performed the entire song wearing a mouse mask.

Mick Howson’s “The Hurdy Gurdy Tune” featured the composer on the instrument of the title and was packed with punchy Balkan rhythms. Scheduled to appear on the forthcoming album this was one of the most convincing instrumental pieces of the night.

“There’s A Hole In The Universe” itself, once again featuring Murphy, is currently available as a single pending the release of the album. This was followed by a storming fiddle and accordion led instrumental and finally the title track of “Out Of Babel”, the lyrics a celebration of the kind of musical multiculturalism that The Destroyers specialise in. The band has “broken out of the nest of genre” as Murphy has it, a remark that is perhaps illustrated by the cover of “Out Of Babel”.

A delirious, dancing crowd wasn’t about to let them go quietly so they stuck around to play an equally energetic “Swamp Fever”, a piece they dedicated to local violinist John Hymas.

In a live context The Destroyers aren’t the most subtle band in the world but there’s no doubt that they’re very good at what they do. Their energetic, rip roaring approach clearly thrills audiences and I would imagine this all dancing, wildly enthusiastic crowd reaction is pretty much standard at their shows. Murphy’s lyrics add another dimension but some of their sense is inevitably lost in concert and these are perhaps best appreciated on record.

First impressions of the “Out Of Babel” album are that it works very well. The energy of the live performances is all present and correct but there’s also a precision that isn’t perhaps always best appreciated in a live situation. Ditto Murphy’s lyrics with their wordplay and mythical references.
The album boasts the full fifteen strong line up and also includes a guest appearance from former member Percy Pursglove. Many of the songs and tunes featured in tonight’s show appear on the record and there are even a couple of Murphy songs with Italian lyrics which are sung by trumpeter Leo Altarelli ( who was replaced by Wooster at Presteigne).

The remaining dates of The Destroyers tour are listed below. The group’s Twitter page speaks of how much they enjoyed Presteigne and I don’t foresee the energy levels flagging elsewhere on their travels. The tour culminates in a home town gig at Birmingham Town Hall. That should be one hell of a party. 

  Fri Nov 4th 10:30pm - The Fleece, Bristol
Tickets on the door, £7 before 11.30. £9 after

Sat Nov 5th 8.30pm - The Electric Palace, Bridport
£7 in advance or £10 on door Tickets from:
http://www.seetickets.com/Event/THE-DESTROYERS/The-Electric-Palace/584101

Fri Nov 18th 10:00pm - Northumbria University, Newcastle
Tickets on the door £7 before 11pm. £9 after

Sat Nov 19th Time tba - Yellow Arch Recording Studios, Sheffield (More info to be announced shortly)

Fri Dec 2nd 7.30pm - Wilton’s Music Hall, London (SINGLE LAUNCH)
Support from Bev Lee Harling and the Kitchen Sink
Tickets £12: 02077029555 http://www.wiltons.org.uk
Benefit gig for Wilton’s Capital Appeal to open up more of Wilton’s derelict spaces

Sat Dec 10th 8:00pm - Town Hall, Birmingham (SINGLE LAUNCH)
Support from the Mike Fletcher Big Band. Tickets £10 from http://www.thsh.co.uk
 
   

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