Our good friend and guest reviewer Grete introduces us to the 21st Century Elvis...
[My friend and I] were talking before the gig and he told me he'd be big in a year, like Brixton Academy big, and I wide-eyedly said "Really?" and thought nothing of it. "I better go down front and see if I can get some good pictures," I said, halfheartedly, might-as-well-ly. My friend nodded seriously. I was starting to freak out...what's going on here?
My friend had mentioned something about a quiff. Yeah whatever. I don't even know what that is. There was someone on stage with long be-you-tifful hair. Nope, not him. That was the guitarist. And the guitarist had a be-you-tifful Gretch! Man... I lusted after that Gretch.
But then a man walked on stage...and yes, THAT's a quiff so it must be him.
I'd listened to his tunes on myspace and they were nice but I wasn't impressed. Not my kind of music really. Bit too sugary, bit too...not my thing. But live, the sugar was gone. There was treacherous honey instead. There he was - an objectively handsome man on stage in front of me (yeah, that don't impress me much), with bucketloads of charm and charisma (I wasn't born yesterday, I can handle that - to an extent - but yeah, I think I can). And yet I was turning to mush and in the most spectacular of ways. There is no helping that. What else was there to do but to give up and give in? His whole body is music. The way he sings, dances and moves. With a bit of show(off) thrown in, but it's healthy and enjoying itself as well as laughing at itself.
As I was heading home I was in shock. I bloody well looked like I'd seen Elvis or something. And I had! His name is Findlay Brown.
And perhaps humiliatedly I thought "I wonder if this is because I'm a woman? Am I just charmed by...charm?" But no, my friend was pretty bloody impressed with him as well. Then my mind wandered off...I wonder if Elvis did to men what he did to women? Turn them into a mush, I mean. Well, Quentin Tarantino found him to be beyond his heterosexuality ("If I absolutely had to have sex with a guy it'd be Elvis") so who knows.
But I think it isn't just the charm; it isn't just because i'm a woman. This guy is fucking incredible. The songs are good, the delivery is fantastic and his band is ace, by the way. He behaves like a legend. He plays like a legend. He is a legend. We'll be hearing from him.
All photos © Grete Anton 2009
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