A review of All the Colors, Craig Robertson and Dusk til Dawn at The Keppoch, Friday 25th April
A gig at the Keppoch is what I would imagine a typical Australian pub gig would be like, set in the middle of nowhere with a regular clientele/interesting bunch of characters. Minus the sawdust on the floor, and with the addition of the big screen football, it still has the low ceilings, the barmen who have been there since the beginning of time and the loud rawking music!
With a worthy cause such as the Highland Hospice, there was a good peppering of newcomers amongst the regulars set to enjoy a night of some great rock tunes as well as contribute to this very worthwhile cause.
First up was All The Colors, or some of the colors, as bass player Joe was absent for this acoustic outing (its hard to review this first band as your reviewer plays in them). They enjoyed a short set full of original material before catching everyone’s attention with their rendition of ‘Rocking In The Free World’ at the end of their set.
Next up was the very tall and very chilled Craig Robertson who has a voice very similar to artists like the Kooks among others. This is his local, so, with that in mind along with a collection of well know current covers, classics and the odd original warmed him up to the crowd as well as warming the stage quite nicely for headliners Dusk Till Dawn. He was joined on stage by Dave McIntosh from All The Colors on Cajon.
And so the time came to plug in the guitars, and hit the hell out of the drums as Dusk Till Dawn opened with Bad Companys ‘Can’t Get Enough’. It was very obvious to those of us who know guitarist Ross McEwen that there was a slight bias to Bad Company/Free songs in their set for obvious reasons.
Numbers by Guns N Roses, T-Rex, Credence Clearwater and my all time favourite of the night ‘Highway To Hell’ by AC/DC were cranked out, and even sober, I found myself screaming along with the very talented Emma Mitchell on vocals. Emma appears in various musical ensembles locally, but this is the first time I have seen her with her ‘rock’ voice. Feeling, emotion, blues and sunshine ooze from this young lady, the only thing missing is the rockstar ego which many lesser talented local contemporaries beat her hands down with.
This is only their second gig together, which the general punter would have been none the wiser to and were happy to sing, clap and even dance along to. Apart from maybe one song ending that petered out as opposed to exploded at the end, they were tight and solid and had a great full sound for three instruments and a voice, and what a voice (I know, I have already said this).
However, lets not forget the ever-talented Ross on guitar, who’s musical CV, is growing by the day, his latest gig with T-Rex. Don’t forget his constant musical partner and brother Ryan who is never faraway pounding out a solid and steady beat and finally but by no means least the very capable bass playing skills of William Miller who played a killer on the Steppenwolf classic ‘Born To Be Wild’.
Dusk Till Dawn have been set up to play some great classic rock tunes and to have loads of fun doing it, well tonight, judging by my smile, I had a lot of fun too!
