Monday, August 28, 2000 International Festival, Ross on Wye

Report by Sali

support - Tim Rose

set list (Don’t quote me!): A House is Not a Motel / Lazy Me / Bummer in the Summer / Bluebird / If I Were a Carpenter / Darkness Darkness / Flame / reggae Houses of the Holy / As Long As I Have You / Hey Joe / GLORIA / Baby Please Don’t Go
encore: The Bridge
2nd encore: Song to the Siren

Smoke is swirling about amid the coloured lighting when the band strolls onto the stage look happy and relaxed. Paul’s hair is now very, very long, Kevin looks relaxed and happy to be here in his all white outfit with cropped trousers. A slimline, short haired Tim is on stage with his guitar and Andy is smiling and ready to go. He gets things started with a few clicks of his sticks. Robert looks (and sounds - but more of that later) great - slimmer and a few years younger - than the last time I saw POB. (It’s been a while.) He almost dances onto the stage in a blue shirt and white trousers moving his hands beatifully and whipping up the snaking mike cable. Kevin is jumping already and The Priory of Brion is in full flight and having fun. C’mon, C’mon, C’mon - Robert is singing over Kevin’s frenetic finger work - then he gives us a wonderful wail and they really get rocking. It’s difficult to sit still. Bass and drums are very tight. This band is finding its own voice, tighter, more assured. The songs might be old but these arrangements are full of energy. ‘OOh’ sings Robert and we all think we know exactly what he means. Kevin ties it all up with a high leap. Claiming to have been a reporter in the past, Robert tells us, with his michievious smile, that everything Tim Rose says is wrong. His voice is sounding faintly husky (That’s not a complaint!) Tim stays on stage with his guitar for Lazy Me. We have lights and smoke - now that they have recorded something they are becoming a bit showbiz. We get a beatiful moan and a truly wonderful wail then he steps back into the music. Kevin is swirling his guitar around, Andy and Paul (drums and bass) are tight, smiling, keeping it all together and the audience is totally captivated by the atmosphere.

Kevin swaps his guitar for Bummer in the Summer and Tim moves to the keyboard - rumour has it that he is using Robert’s Wurlitzer. They are making these songs their own now. Robert says this is a folk group / jazz band. ”Whatever the festival is, we do it.” He mentions Steven Stills and describes this as ”Old Fogeys’ Night Out”. The band sit absolutely still and politely wait while he carries on name dropping. Then Tim is a long way out on stage with his guitar for Bluebird. Kevin is really pushing the dischord idea and it works. He and Robert are on stools and I realise that there is no music stand on stage which is good news, not only has Robert learned the words…… we can see his face!

There is one of those magical silent pauses, we hold our breath then the golden voice moves effortlessly into If I were a Carpenter. Robert drinks some water and smiles. Tim’s piano weaves in and out of the guitars and drums. There is a kind of moan from the audience ‘Steady’ says Robert but Darkness Darkness is that kind of song and as soon as Andy stands up with his chimes we know what to expect. The bass guitar moves in and it begins to build. Robert’s voice is so good. In comes Kevin with his dark chords. Paul has a great bass line which he seems to play effortlessly. Tim keeps it flowing, moving between key boards. Robert moves away from centre stage, handing over to Kevin and Tim as spooky guitar responds to moody chords. The build up is slow and sustained. Andy and Paul are relentlessly tight while Tim’s keyboards hint at the darkness to come.

Andy and Kevin build it up still further…..a silence…….. and then some spooky magic from the keyboards. Tim, we love this. I think this may have been a ‘best yet’.
Tim is back on guitar for Flames. Great drumming, Robert is dancing. This is not a number to sit through but most of us manage it somehow. Green light through smoke for As Long As I have You. Someone is working very hard backstage changing guitars for Kevin - and Tim at times but he moving between the keyboards now leading the way into the reggae Houses of the Holy. We are getting lots of wonderful wails, moans and quarter tones from Robert tonight and the audience really appreciates it. Hey Joe has a false start. This version is very different from Tim’s. GLORIA seems to have some new notes. The audience is slow to respond but catches on for the second chorus. Baby Please Don’t Go is fast and very good. I want to get up dance…no chance. However I have to admit that this has been the best seated gig for me.

For the encore Kevin waves his guitar about a lot during The Bridge. The last song, Sont to the Siren was magical. It’s a beautiful song and Priory of Brion really do it justice making it the perfect vehicle for Robert’s vocals. Please tell me someone recorded this. It begins with Robert and Kevin, a slight echo on the voice at first, Andy drums with his finger tips, Pauls bass line is subtly supportive and Tim puts in some nice touches, including what I took to be a slight allusion to sea shanties. It quitens down almost to a whisper, the audience is hushed for the perfect crecendo. Personally I didn’t want another encore. It would be impossible to follow that. It was beautiful.

In spite of the fact that it was seated and the audience was much larger than I expected I thoroughly enjoyed this evening. The band is really tight and their arrangements are powerful and original. We were told that they have been recording and I can’t wait to hear the result but, for me, nothing can beat hearing Priory of Brion live.

article courtesy Sali, who allowed the contents of her Calling to You website to be added to ManicNirvana.com.

Excerpted from ROOTS magazine, Aug/Sep 2000

The name of the band encorporates a reference to a society which was an offshoot of the Knight’s Templar called The Priory of Zion and the film The Life of Brian. An approximate explanation of which might be; A kind of secret society not to be taken too seriously or over revered. He explains that he and Kevyn Gammond, now a college lecturer, have remained ‘best mates’ since they were in The Band of Joy together in the mid-sixties. Discussing how, on the music scene, everything seemed to go back to that era Robert said to Kevyn “We used to do that. Let’s do it again.” Kevyn knew some really good musicians, ex students, who were starting to teach and do mixing and dance music, so they had a rehearsal in a barn and that was the beginning of the Priory of Brion.

Enhancing the air of mystery which surrounded the band in the early days, Robert created alter egos for the musicians by giving them false names and telling brief stories about their new characters. Thus Kevyn Gammond, lead guitarist became Carlisle Egypt. Andy Edwards, drums, was usually known as the man in the pointed hat and crossed sticks - Alistair Crowley. Paul Timothy, keyboards and acoustic guitar, generally referred to as TIm to avoid confusion with Paul Whetton, often became Owyn Glendwr - fresh from some border skirmish local to the current venue. Paul cool, calm and collected Whetton, bass guitar, became the enigmatic Brian without whom the whole adventure would have been impossible. Occasionally names have changed, notably when ‘Brian’ underwent a mystical transformation on a journey up the Norewgian fjords and became the terrifying Eric Bloodaxe. More recently the band have been referred to by their (alleged) ‘real’ names but we have yet to be told who the vocalist is.