What’s French for encore?
Félix Rabin – Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, 18th April 2019
Félix Rabin – Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, 18th April 2019
Mid-week school night gigs in Glasgow are hard sells these days.
And when you are, by your own admission, still an unknown quantity (but with plenty of quality) on the UK’s blues rock club circuit and have chosen the Thursday before the Easter weekend to play a gig (with half your potential audience at home packing the Easter eggs in to the holiday bag), all blues rocking crowd bets are off.
Félix Rabin, the young, talented and highly affable French singer guitarist, established his credentials in front of a UK rock crowd last year via his well-received support slot on the Wishbone Ash XLIX tour.
More recently there was an excellent performance at the Great British Rock and Blues Festival and, just a few days prior to Glasgow, an exceptionally well-received set at HRH Blues in Sheffield.
But in his natural environment of the blues rock club circuit he is still learning his trade and building his reputation, step by step.
It should also be noted Félix Rabin is a musician who just loves to perform; Rabin gives 100% on each and every performance, whether that be to a packed festival hall or small club crowd – there's no phoning it in for Monsieur Rabin and band-mates Niccolò Rebecchi (small kit, big results) and Vincenzo Capodivento (who subtly but strongly underpins proceedings with some funkily tinged bass lines).
That love of performance was emphasised by the fact that, rather than have a day off between his other two Scottish gigs in Edinburgh and Kinross, Félix Rabin chose to play Glasgow; those that attended are very glad he did.
With a set that featured the more established (four of the five original numbers on 2018 EP Down Our Roads were included), the newer (three numbers that could well appear on the next release) and a trio of well chosen and superbly performed covers, Félix Rabin and his band delivered a genuinely captivating, high energy show that was worthy of a far bigger audience and venue.
But it was an audience that loved every minute of the performance and provided quite the volume of reciprocation (including good humoured but genuinely merited shouts of "formidable!" and "magnifique!"), to the degree that your reviewer turned around a number of times to see if a coach load of blues rock fans had just wandered in to see what all the French blues’n fuss was about.
'Down Our Roads,' which opened the set, is a feisty little blues rock number that might just be the most French / European sounding song in the Félix Rabin repertoire (his vocal accentuations also tend to give the game away that English is not his first language but he speaks, and sings, it a lot better than many who have English as their native tongue).
The first of the three covers then followed, a decidedly funky and stylised rendition of 'Crossroads' (or 'Cross Road Blues' for the purist preference).
The blues standard also showcased the highly individualistic Félix Rabin sound, which is produced by a clever and somewhat mesmerising mix of thumb plucking top string and rest of hand strums and heavier picking that flits between thumb and index finger attack and guitar pick.
The results are full-bodied guitar resonation (plus an array of pedals for well-placed effect/s) as influenced by Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.
And when you are, by your own admission, still an unknown quantity (but with plenty of quality) on the UK’s blues rock club circuit and have chosen the Thursday before the Easter weekend to play a gig (with half your potential audience at home packing the Easter eggs in to the holiday bag), all blues rocking crowd bets are off.
Félix Rabin, the young, talented and highly affable French singer guitarist, established his credentials in front of a UK rock crowd last year via his well-received support slot on the Wishbone Ash XLIX tour.
More recently there was an excellent performance at the Great British Rock and Blues Festival and, just a few days prior to Glasgow, an exceptionally well-received set at HRH Blues in Sheffield.
But in his natural environment of the blues rock club circuit he is still learning his trade and building his reputation, step by step.
It should also be noted Félix Rabin is a musician who just loves to perform; Rabin gives 100% on each and every performance, whether that be to a packed festival hall or small club crowd – there's no phoning it in for Monsieur Rabin and band-mates Niccolò Rebecchi (small kit, big results) and Vincenzo Capodivento (who subtly but strongly underpins proceedings with some funkily tinged bass lines).
That love of performance was emphasised by the fact that, rather than have a day off between his other two Scottish gigs in Edinburgh and Kinross, Félix Rabin chose to play Glasgow; those that attended are very glad he did.
With a set that featured the more established (four of the five original numbers on 2018 EP Down Our Roads were included), the newer (three numbers that could well appear on the next release) and a trio of well chosen and superbly performed covers, Félix Rabin and his band delivered a genuinely captivating, high energy show that was worthy of a far bigger audience and venue.
But it was an audience that loved every minute of the performance and provided quite the volume of reciprocation (including good humoured but genuinely merited shouts of "formidable!" and "magnifique!"), to the degree that your reviewer turned around a number of times to see if a coach load of blues rock fans had just wandered in to see what all the French blues’n fuss was about.
'Down Our Roads,' which opened the set, is a feisty little blues rock number that might just be the most French / European sounding song in the Félix Rabin repertoire (his vocal accentuations also tend to give the game away that English is not his first language but he speaks, and sings, it a lot better than many who have English as their native tongue).
The first of the three covers then followed, a decidedly funky and stylised rendition of 'Crossroads' (or 'Cross Road Blues' for the purist preference).
The blues standard also showcased the highly individualistic Félix Rabin sound, which is produced by a clever and somewhat mesmerising mix of thumb plucking top string and rest of hand strums and heavier picking that flits between thumb and index finger attack and guitar pick.
The results are full-bodied guitar resonation (plus an array of pedals for well-placed effect/s) as influenced by Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix.
On the subject of Hendrix and by way of bombastic contrast to 'Crossroads,' 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return)' was given the full Jimi, with the full Félix featured on an extended double-time instrumental section that was as psychedelic as it was scintillating.
But if you’re going to play the blues rock circuit you had better be able to play the blues as well, if not better than, you play your rock – take a bow 'Heavy Rain,' the slow blues from Down Our Roads was extended by a good few bars live to bring out the six-string best of Félix Rabin.
'Little Hurricane,' also from the EP, is a spacious yet space filling affair with a sprinkle of Pink Floyd (the solo nods to a bluesy Gilmour).
It’s also, arguably, the pick of the EP bunch, but evidence that Rabin is continuing to evolve musically (he’s also sounding far more confident vocally now than last year, although he still needs more vocal presence) was highlighted by the three newer, or non-EP numbers, performed.
'Angel' opened as a cool, chopped chords and Hendrix-esque number (think 'Little Wing' Lite) before going in to a weightier section while 'Say' and 'Moving On' provided soft and hard Félix Rabin contrast (one is a softer voiced, softer toned affair that floats over a simple beat; the other a funky and weightier blues rocker).
Another EP number, 'I Will Be Gone,' preceded by Niccolò Rebecchi’s drum solo (jokingly referred to by Félix Rabin as in the style of Animal from the Muppets; he wasn’t far wrong) started with Rebecchi’s rhythmic pattern before settling in to a Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler-esque groove that grew to a heavy funk-blues before returning to its opening remarks.
'I Will Be Gone' is another song that allows Rabin to let fly (almost literally, being that he was now bedecked in a Saltire flag cape – "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" No, it’s the Auld Alliance in musical clothing) on the fretboard.
Curtain bowing to the demands of the audience for a final song ("What’s French for encore?" etc.) the power trio powered up their set closer of choice, 'Hey Joe,' which started soft and ended big with a crescendo of crying notes and big burn-out finish.
The Brittany raised, Switzerland based Félix Rabin (who learned his licks and chops playing Montreux Jazz Club jam sessions, sharing the stage with the likes of Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett’s band and musicians from Santana and the Tedeschi Trucks Band) will, given recent performances, word of promotional mouth and with a fair blues blowing wind, be playing to far bigger audiences on his own ticket in the near future.
Or at least he should be; it’s no less than his talents deserve.
Vive Le France, Vive l’Écosse, Vive les bleus.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Photo Credit (all images): Graham Milne
But if you’re going to play the blues rock circuit you had better be able to play the blues as well, if not better than, you play your rock – take a bow 'Heavy Rain,' the slow blues from Down Our Roads was extended by a good few bars live to bring out the six-string best of Félix Rabin.
'Little Hurricane,' also from the EP, is a spacious yet space filling affair with a sprinkle of Pink Floyd (the solo nods to a bluesy Gilmour).
It’s also, arguably, the pick of the EP bunch, but evidence that Rabin is continuing to evolve musically (he’s also sounding far more confident vocally now than last year, although he still needs more vocal presence) was highlighted by the three newer, or non-EP numbers, performed.
'Angel' opened as a cool, chopped chords and Hendrix-esque number (think 'Little Wing' Lite) before going in to a weightier section while 'Say' and 'Moving On' provided soft and hard Félix Rabin contrast (one is a softer voiced, softer toned affair that floats over a simple beat; the other a funky and weightier blues rocker).
Another EP number, 'I Will Be Gone,' preceded by Niccolò Rebecchi’s drum solo (jokingly referred to by Félix Rabin as in the style of Animal from the Muppets; he wasn’t far wrong) started with Rebecchi’s rhythmic pattern before settling in to a Dire Straits / Mark Knopfler-esque groove that grew to a heavy funk-blues before returning to its opening remarks.
'I Will Be Gone' is another song that allows Rabin to let fly (almost literally, being that he was now bedecked in a Saltire flag cape – "Is it a bird? Is it a plane?" No, it’s the Auld Alliance in musical clothing) on the fretboard.
Curtain bowing to the demands of the audience for a final song ("What’s French for encore?" etc.) the power trio powered up their set closer of choice, 'Hey Joe,' which started soft and ended big with a crescendo of crying notes and big burn-out finish.
The Brittany raised, Switzerland based Félix Rabin (who learned his licks and chops playing Montreux Jazz Club jam sessions, sharing the stage with the likes of Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett’s band and musicians from Santana and the Tedeschi Trucks Band) will, given recent performances, word of promotional mouth and with a fair blues blowing wind, be playing to far bigger audiences on his own ticket in the near future.
Or at least he should be; it’s no less than his talents deserve.
Vive Le France, Vive l’Écosse, Vive les bleus.
Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ
Photo Credit (all images): Graham Milne