A Little Background
Philip Sayce is a Welsh-born but Canadian-raised blues guitarist and singer who has been playing for many years, yet somehow this gig was my first engagement with him properly as an artist. His first album came out in 1997, with his second arriving 15 years later. Mind, during that time he was touring and playing for artists such as the late great Jeff Healey, Melissa Etheridge, Uncle Kracker and Jimmy Barnes to name a few. From that, you can tell Philip is what in modern football terms called a “baller”. He has also done support slots to such hard rockers as Deep Purple and ZZ Top. Philip has pedigree. He has 5 studio albums, a couple of live, and quite a number of single releases.
Tonight was the first time back in Scotland for a couple of years and he seemed to be relishing it. The venue is an old 19th-century decommissioned church on the East side of Glasgow and has a restaurant as well as a music room. It is a little bigger than the last venue he played, which shows word is getting around about him as a live performer.
Playing Up A Storm
Coming on stage at 20.30 to the sounds of Albert Collins, the band proceeded to play up a storm for the next one hour and 55 minutes. Philip‘s first words were “I don’t want that to stop” referring to the opening stage music. He is a fan of the blues, of course.
The band are a three-piece with Philip on vocals and guitar, Sam Bollie on bass and Bryan Head on drums, who he introduced and highlighted several times during the gig, showing his appreciation for their prowess. The set took in music from most of his studio albums, tracks on some live albums, and a couple of brand new ones as well. In amongst the songs and especially in the solos there were snippets of other pieces of music, including some classical snippets, not sure how often he does that (first time seeing him) but at least once I saw Sam smiling over at him, looking surprised so it looks like he improvises sometimes doing that.
Animated, Throwing Shapes
It was a 16-song set, or actually an 18-song set as a couple of times he merged 2 into one, so I will do my best not to make this as long as War And Peace, no one wants that! He opened with “Out Of My Mind” from his 2015 album Influence, however this version was amped up and fuel-injected. It was also at least twice the length of the original with a section of Beethoven‘s “Ode To Joy” thrown in at one point.
Right from the off he had folk’s hands in the air, clapping along. As this was my first time seeing him live, I immediately noticed how animated he is, throwing shapes, prowling the stage, and completely in the zone whilst soloing his ass off! I just knew it was going to be good from the first song.
His next track was a song written by Richard Marx (remember “Right Here Waiting For You” or “Hazard“?), Yes, that Richard. It rocked! Really! Before he started it, he pointed out it was the weekend encouraging folks to let loose and then pointed to a group near the front saying “you’ve got it” whilst laughing. “Bitter Monday” was a rocker but does have a little more commercial vibe about it.
Different Sides And Shades
“Chevrolet,” a Taj Mahal song showed his funky side and I loved his very melodic phrasing of the chorus on the guitar, which was sweet. There was a short jam between him and Bryan here too. I noticed loads of smiles onstage at the end, they were in their groove and enjoying themselves. That tends to be infectious and the crowd were having fun too.
On “Blues Ain’t Nothing But A Good Woman On Your Mind” (winner of longest song title of night and written by Don Covay who wrote loads of great songs in the 50s and 60s) was the song that reminded me most of the late Jeff Healey. The vibe was so him and the solo (I am no expert so going on feeling) I felt was very much inspired and reminiscent of him), good time boogie blues with heart. I felt it, believe me.
Prog In The Blues?
He then did a couple of double headers, firstly pairing “Standing Around Crying” and “Aberystwyth” (the name of the Welsh town he was born in) and then “Steamroller” with “Powerful Thing“.
“Standing” started with just a beautiful guitar part, then just guitar and vocals before the whole band joined in and “Aberystwyth” had a touch of King Crimson‘s “21st Century Schizoid Man” about it especially on the bass lines. In fact the instrumental sounded quite proggy throughout.
At the end Philip smiled at the band and went “that was fun” which made me think they improvised more than normal and he enjoyed what they came up with. It was terrific playing, that’s for sure. On the next double header I did enjoy how funky “Powerful Thing” was.
Added Guest
He introduced a friend to the stage who is now in Glasgow, his name was Paulie (if I heard correctly) and once he quickly set up they had a jamming session on Albert King‘s “Put The Shoe On The Other Foot“, a track he said he loved doing when playing alongside Jeff Healey. Both guitarists soloed and then played together in a joyous version of the song.
“Angels Live Inside” was HEAVY when it came to riffage. Both Bryan and Sam played short solos on this too. At points his guitar seems like an extension of him, or him an extension of the guitar, the movement is so fluid.
From “Classical” To Annoying The Neighbours
We were then treated to 2 instrumentals together in “5.55” and “Alchemy“. During the first, he threw in a little Grieg‘s”Hall Of The Mountain King,” and the latter is stunning, gorgeous, almost classical yet still blues. It reminded me at times of Uli Jon Roth solo material. Very classy.
By this point is about 10pm. He asked what the time was due to timing restrictions. Being Glasgow, not a wise move as folks shouted things like “9pm” and “8.30pm” so no bloody help at all. He laughed loads at the way folks were reacting mentioning that there are restrictions due to neighbours being so close, so “lets give them something to moan about” causing huge cheers. He played “Morning Star” which merged into “Manic Depression” from Hendrix. Sure there was also some Beatles lyrics in there as well.
New Tracks
The 2 new tracks were firstly “Tongue Twister” (I believe) and “Chosen One“. The first was a short musical interlude that was pretty funky with a short drum solo in it and the latter melodic and moody, quite sensitive for the most part, but heading almost into a psychedelic piece nearer the end, which was very interesting.
Never Ask Questions Of The Audience Here
The encore started with just Philip on a seat playing guitar (looked like a Dobro, had a country sound) doing a solo track ( “This Is Hip”).
Very lovely. Had the full attention of the audience. Then the band re-joined him onstage, and they went on a rampage through “One Foot In The Grave” (and possibly part of another track, I am not 100% sure) He did ask if we wanted to finish “up-tempo or down tempo” and it was no surprise Glasgow asked for the first pleasing the band greatly.
One thing Philip did take time to say is that he and the band were grateful at folks coming out. He remarked with the price of everything at the moment, trying to look after family etc, to spend money on a gig is appreciated. As he said “it ain’t easy these days, we know, so thank you” which I thought was cool.
Powerhouse
The guy is an energetic powerhouse of a performer, he can shred with the best of them, but can also show restraint and paint pictures with his melodious playing. He and the band can jam, they have a ton of fun (they were smiling loads, having a ball, and the crowd were up for it). The man played guitar with his teeth, used the speakers to rub his instrument against and even used his cable to riff, so he is also something to watch. My first time, and I am desperate to see him again, hopefully sooner than later. That is as high a compliment I can give. Wonderful!
Philip’s tour continues through the UK into next month with these dates
May 28: Bury St. Edmunds: The Apex
30: Chester: The Live Rooms
31: Cardiff: The Globe
June 3: Islington: Assembly Hall
Tickets can be purchased HERE
Support
Tom Moriarty is an English singer-songwriter who has lived in Germany, France, and LA in the USA. Some of his musical influences come via his Irish roots (via grandparents, I believe), and so his stuff is folk-based, storytelling at the heart.
David Crosby it seems, was a fan (he was very complimentary about his work), so again you can tell Tom has pedigree. He has 3 studio albums and 1 live album out at the moment. Most of the songs tonight were he said from his upcoming album, Chapters, which is out next month. It was just him and another guy (sorry didn’t get the name) on acoustic guitars, seated.
He said he was asked about what it was like being a “protest singer” by someone in an interview to which he explained wasn’t correct, he just “sings about the realities we all go through” which I thought was an interesting line. Vocally, he sounds (to me) like Eddie Vedder in depth of voice but without the sort of whiny edge (I say that as a fan of his).
Quite Chill
He only did 6 songs, but choice cuts were “Fires In The Dollhouse” which he said was the first track he ever had played on the BBC and that the lyrics are as true today as when he wrote it. What I gleaned listening in was how the place is on fire, in a mess yet no one does anything to stop it.
“Cool With Me” was a funkier number, more upbeat musically, and has the message that “if you are cool with me, then I will be cool with you“. Just be nice to others basically, and I cannot argue with that. Enjoyed his set, was quite chill before the fire of hard blues to follow.
All photos are thanks to Barry Douglas. Much appreciated!
Official Website // Official Facebook// Tickets For Tour Page
Support Official Website // Official Facebook
Check out my othre articles and reviews here. The New World Man
