It’s not often you attend a gig by an artist you’ve never heard before and find yourself captivated from opening note to encore.
After all, live shows are a tricky tightrope to walk at the best of times. But when Ben Caplan and his merry men ‘The Casual Smokers’ stormed the stage last night at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, his credits list of 1000+ live shows made gigging appear an effortless feat.
Opening with the title track from 2015s “Birds With Broken Wings“, Ben and his merry band of brothers (and a sort of adopted sister on the melodica) could never be found lacking where charisma was concerned. His powerful husky tones soared high above the rowdy revellers, leaving the bustling London nightspot feeling more like a Canadian back and beyond bar that had been invaded by an Eastern European string section.
Their crazed rendition of “Down To The River” and “I Got Me A Woman” were particular highlights, the latter a track in which all 4 musicians seemingly lost the plot, strumming furiously whilst being fronted by a manic looking grizzly bear (Caplan). It was a set that perfectly illustrated frantic bluesy folk and frenzied string plucking at its finest. The room was all at once spun into a fervent frenzy – at one point a fan could even be heard wailing, “He literally has a voice that makes me want to rip all my clothes off!” Now that has to be the ultimate musical accolade.
There wasn’t a single lull in the night’s proceedings; no gimmicky one-liners, no awkwardly over-rehearsed banter with the audience, not even an appearance from one of those dull album fillers that have now become a mandatory part of Twenty-First Century set lists. This rugged mountain man and his crazy crew of Canadians produced a set to rival the best.
Check Ben Caplan out below:
BEN CAPLAN – Stranger from Southern Souls on Vimeo.
