CD launch at the double

This wasn’t my intention as I’d intended to detail the latter in last week’s page before being told there wasn’t space for it. Anyway, both are jolly good and well worth a few quid of anybody’s money – especially yours.

In no particular order…I’ll start with the former.

“Shop-lifting is a crime. Knocking off a policeman’s helmet is a crime. So too is theft, underage drinking and appearing naked in public.

None, however, is quite as criminal as allowing pant-wettingly good new act Dizzie Cheroot and the Colossus Dream to play to a near empty house at the Horns on Monday night.”

That, you may remember, is how I stared a piece back on April 4 about this marvelous act.

Questions continue about the suitability of the expression pant-wettingly good (I did not, by the way, experience bladder weakness of any kind) but, after seeing the guys again at a jam-packed Horns CD launch on Tuesday night, I’m sticking to my guns.

In case – as I suspect – the Watford-based eight-piece have passed you by then all you need to place yourselves in the know is a copy of their self titled debut EP – a hurriedly crafted yet superb six track offering brought to you by Goulash Records.

A chaotic ensemble drawn from Watford Inspiral Arts scene, most of the band (Marv Renshaw, James Harrison, Dave Smale, Nick Hall, Amy Lazerini, Matt Gorniki, Lee Boss, and Anthony Turner) have worked together on other projects; most notably Phoenix Down and the more ad hoc collective, Jazz Quiche. Over the last couple of months, however, the hugely talented bunch has found something quite special in Dizzie Cheroot.

“This is something we’re all enjoying,” says shaggy haired vocalist Marv.

“I know from my point of view that I was taking things a bit too seriously before, especially with Phoenix Down.

“I look back now and cringe at some of the really serious stuff I was writing, trying to chase some kind of dream of making it big.

“Everything is so much more relaxed at the moment and everyone’s enjoying it.”

It’s a hugely likeable, laid-back approach that is evident on the record; a joyous compilation of folksy, world-music type fare; a mish-mash of styles too numerous to mention and almost impossible to explain. Again – buy the record and spare my tongue-tied blushes.

“To be honest, I can’t believe we managed to get it together on time,” adds Marv.

“Jack [the band’s manager] pretty much just told us a couple of months ago he wanted an EP doing and then told us he had booked a launch party at the Horns for May 6.”

The result, then, is even more remarkable.

Just two of the tracks (Dusty Attic and Rise) had been penned beforehand, leaving the rest (Burning Rope, I Got Time, Alive, and an introductory number) to come together in a remarkably short space of time.

So what of the future?

“Nobody knows,” concludes Marv with commendable honesty. If we hadn’t been talking via the telephone I imagine this would have come with a healthy shrug of the shoulders.

“We’re not getting serious about it. We’ve got a contract which hasn’t been written yet and we’re just enjoying it.

“Obviously we’d like to play massive venues and things like that, but for the time being we just want to take our music to as many people as possible.”

Hoorah to that.

To purchase a copy of Album and for live gig listings please visit www.myspace.com/dizziecheroot Ross O’Reilly The Attitude of Sarratt based singer/songwriter Ross O’Reilly to cracking the music business could scarcely be more different.

His evident talent is matched by a similarly impressive determination to get his work noticed.

Many people dream of making it to the top of their profession. Few, however, put in the exhausting legwork required to make it there.

“Things don’t happen by accident,” said the determined 22-year-old earlier in the year, “You’ve just got to keep hammering away.”

Backed by his father, Paul, Ross has been hammering away for some months now.

Indeed, the determination of Team O’Reilly has never failed to impress me.

From day one, what first appeared rather grand claims from an act I’d never heard of, let alone seen, have slowly but surely materialised to hard, incontrovertible fact.

Evidence abounded in the Horns last Tuesday night as, backed by a celebrity guest, Ross launched his five track EP These Four Walls.

Available in Zavvi , Hooters, on ITunes, and at www.rossoreilly.com, it’s well worth a look. Above all, however, it’s really very good.

“It’s compulsive, toe-tapping, soundtrack of summer stuff,” I gushed back in March when a sneak preview landed on my desk. “Vocally there’s more than pinch of the great Paul Weller, so too the racy chord progressions that fill each track owe more than a little to Steely Dan – whom Ross sites as one of his biggest influences,” I continued.

Looking back I’m pleased to say my opinion hasn’t changed at all. Ross does very well what so many others do, at best, only averagely. Supported by his two piece band he combines a natural, rich vocal style with catchy, memorable melodies and a standard of lead guitar playing rarely seen amongst his age group.

Anyway, back to the launch.

The celebrity guest was, in case you were wondering, TV’s (and radio’s) Pat Sharp – the former wearer of Europe’s (including Germany’s) finest Mullet.

Supported at the Horns by ever enjoyable country trio Navarro Ross and the lads belted out all five tracks (Say it Like You Mean It, What I’m Seeing, Same Old, I Don’t Need to Change, and Heading Out), threw in a few covers from Ross’s formative years, and finished with a deserved encore.

*We are lucky in Watford to have such a rich, vibrant music scene packed with hugely talented musicians. I urge you to purchase both of these records.