by Ian Diddams
photos by Gail Foster
Way back in the mists of time (August 2022 – y’know that REALLY, REALLY hot summer?) I saw the Slambovians play at Cropredy festival. A crowd of 20,000 embraced their version of “HillBilly Pink Floyd” as Wikipedia calls it, so moving forward from 2022, the chance to see them play here in good ol’ D-Town was too much to pass up so armed with Phillipa Morgan’s pen Devizine took the tough job of watching them play in front of maybe 2% of that number.
To be fair “HillBilly Pink Floyd” touches on some aspects of their music, but it’s a far wider demographic than simply that. Certainly, their show at the Corn Exchange last night included elements that certainly sounded very Pink Floyd, but psychedelia, prog, Dylan, Seeger, Tull, Led Zep all played their part weaving into and out of their songs
The Slambovians started a nine gig, eleven day whistle stop tour of the UK last night, having arrived from the Hudson Valley area, NY state, a.k.a. home. They started a tad gingerly, finding their feet but it was soon very apparent that this tight knit, well attuned beat combo was in their groove by their second number, the eponymous “The Grand Slambovians”. And the night – consisting of two one hour sets – continued in the same vein. Driving rhythms pushed by drummer Matthew Abourezk, with Sharkey McEwan on a mixture of lead guitar and … errr… lead mandolin (brilliantly played Page/Hendrix style) interspersed with calm, beautiful ballads showcasing Tink Lloyd’s versatility especially across accordion, cello and flute (Ian Anderson notes especially in “Step out of time”) took us on a journey through Slambovia. Joziah Longo immersed us in this utopian land’s philosophies and stories from mischievous fairies, to bees, to days before MTV where radio was king. All underpinned by the sublime bass lines of Bob Torsello.
Joziah alluded to “Boomers” throughout the show and Bob Torsello aside that certainly describes the age demographic of the band – and probably much of the audience – some Gen X types slipped through the net somehow, I suppose. Certainly, the underlying feel of their sets was that Boomer era of music – 60s and 70s, a distinct hippy vibe, with tracks and ethos tied in with nature and simpler times (Beez, Radio,). Joziah’s anecdotes and story telling drew us all in with his homely, gentle delivery. All in all a wonderful night of music delivered by a band on the top of their game, delivered by the ever excellent “Devizes Arts Festival“
“The Slambovian Circus of Dreams” have several dates on tour in the UK right now and I urge you to catch them again, or for a first time this year if you missed last night – see https://slambovia.com/tour-dates
Alternatively grab some merch if you missed out last night also – https://slambovia.bandcamp.com
And here’s a Spotify playlist to enjoy cobbled together by the wonders of Devizine of some of the tracks from last night
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZHHvscjkk77IUk6Vxi3CJ?si=ad36c622355546c6
– but please see them live or buy merch of course. Even if you are Gen X…
devizine.com 