Wino and Conny Ochs, with support from The Death Letter, The Black Heart, London, Saturday March 24th 2012
Words and photos: Antony Roberts
With the ever reliant service from South Eastern trains I turned up to the gig late despite it being on a Saturday afternoon. Managing to only catch the very last few songs of The Death Letter, I walked in to “Down and Out” and felt like I could have been walking the rail tracks out in Mississippi. With a home made banjo they referred to as a rigar it was a great start to the beating start of summer with London’s first, and very early mini heatwave. They finished up with a raw bluesy cover of Monster Magnet’s Powertrip. One to check out in future when the train’s aren’t holding me back.
SETLIST:
Tainted Wisdom
River & The Road
When I Go
Breaking Pancakes
Down & Out
Wrong Way
Powertrip
web: https://www.facebook.com/TheDeathLetter
By the time the stage was ready for the headliners of this early afternoon matinee show, The Black Heart had pretty much filled up. Wino and Conny Ochs took the stage with a single candlelight a top a bass drum, and a few dimly lit house lights. Starting with “Somewhere Nowhere”, the second track from their recently released Heavy Kingdom album, the sparseness of the guitars on the track left plenty of room for Wino’s voice to ring out. You could see the admiration and excitement of the battle jacket clad doom warriors in the audience. Here we were on a Saturday afternoon, in a small Camden pub, watching Wino. Second song “Labour Of Love” gave us more of a chance to see what Conny Ochs had to offer and damn, talk about an unsung talent. Whilst playing their guitars, the duo were constantly gazing and feeding off each other, speeding up and slowing down in perfect unison on each other’s cues. The level of understanding and the connection they had gave off the air of a couple that have been together forever. Bearing in mind they haven’t been playing that long together (meeting last year on Wino’s Adrift tour where Conny was supporting/helping driving). Wino reminded the audience “we met in Germany, and were due to go on stage and started jamming, send this next one out to my man”, before kicking in Conny’s direction and they tear into “Dust”.
It had been a fairly quiet reception thus far, and perhaps sensing the audience’s apprehension of disturbing the quiet tone of the setting, Conny introduced the next song “I’m very glad to play with Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich, this next one is a dancing song, so don’t be afraid to shake your feet”. The two tore into their guitars, and Conny started on the previously unused bass drum for the upbeat, one man band style, punk rock blues “Angels & Demons” from Conny’s solo album “Raw Love Songs”.
The set was a mix of the new Heavy Kingdom album, some of Wino’s solo songs, some of Conny’s, and some choice covers. The highlight of the set for me was the combo of “Hold On Love” from Wino’s adrift album which then went into an absolutely amazing cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s “Find The Cost Of Freedom”. Despite constantly skilled guitar playing from both men, it was when the guitars stopped and 2 human voices rang out with such emotion and power ‘Mother Earth Will Swallow You Whole’, that stopped the whole pub in it’s tracks, and leaving me open mouthed in awe. Beyond beautiful….
SETLIST (taken from photo so not 100% sure it’s correct due to changes):
Somewhere Nowhere
Labour of Love
Dust
Dark Ravine
Adrift
Heavy Kingdom
Rake
Angels And Demons
Old And Alone
Traces of Blood
Crystal Madonna
Dead Yesterday
Hold On Love
Find The Cost of Freedom
Here Comes The Siren
Manifesto
Vultures By The Vines
Encore:
Isolation
Dirt Floor
web: http://www.mainstreamrecords.de/bands/wino-and-conny-ochs
After the set there was no hint of rockstar, both artists were happy to hang out, meet the fans, and grab a few drinks. If you’re one of the lucky people heading to Roadburn they’re playing at 3pm on the Saturday at Het Patronaat, be sure to go check them out.
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