Jeremy Warmsley
King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (8th October 2008)
The first and last time I saw Jeremy Warmsley was when I was went to see Liam Finn. I liked him but I wasn’t overly impressed. This time was different, this time I fell in love.
He opens his set with ‘5 Verses’ a lovely song with an equally lovely story about a girl and boy who meet in a karaoke bar but the girl strings the poor boy along, thinking that it would be fun, only it’s not so much fun. Warmsley performs alone with his guitar giving it some serious effort and conviction.
He moves to the keyboard for ‘Craneflies’ from his newly-released album ‘How We Became’. His voice soars as he sings what at first seems to be a ballad before his band, The On Timers, help build up to the crescendo with massive drums, crashing cymbals and a menacing bassline to match. Warmsley also does this really cute thing of rising onto his tip toes as his vocals reach the high notes, which is highly amusing as he’s quite a tall lad with rather large winkle picker shoes!
The catchiest tune of the night goes to fans’ favourite ‘I Promise’. Full of sing-a-long “da da da da da daaaaaa”, it’s irrestibly catchy. It’s toe tappingly upbeat with whimsical lines, these guys are clearly enjoying themselves as he stamps his feet along with the melody. He’s also possibly the politest act I’ve ever seen, interacting with the crowd constantly thanking them and urging them forward, always minding his Ps and Qs.
However, the track of the night belongs to ‘I Believe In The Way You Move’. With this tune his guitar skills mustn’t go unnoticed. He displays a fantastic relationship with the english language, conjuring images like “My mind is in the gutter but I’m looking up the skirt of the stars”. This tune is completely different live to what you’ll hear as a recording. Together their timing is faultless as he closes the song a capella, holding the audience in the palm of his hand, teasing them, keeping them holding on for more before finally allowing them to exhale as he thanks them. Beautiful.
The final tune is what I believe to be his favourite cover version, ‘Temptation’ by New Order. It hasn’t been majorly reworked but then what do you do with a track like that? Here it’s had a severe kick with a vibrant and energetic delivery that I’m not sure New Order are capable of.
I suspect that Jeremy Warmsley was a bit of a geek as a youngster. Locking himself in his room, surrounded by instruments a plenty and listening to CD after CD, absorbing all that is good and magical about music. Thank God he did otherwise I doubt he would’ve made probably the best gig I’ve been to this year thus far. Unfortunately I’m now left here suffering from unrequited love………
Leigh Rafferty
