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The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
3pm till late

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Gig Review

The Broken Family Band
Relentless Garage, London

Article written by Ged M - Nov 7, 2009

The Broken Family Band formed in 2001 and we saw them many times in 2002 in some combination of the Windmill, the Arts Café and the Spitz. Then we followed them as they played the 100 Club, Cargo, the Scala and eventually Koko, overcoming our dislike of bigger venues to see how they fared (rather well actually). Some of us must have seen them maybe 30 or 40 times in total over the years. We caught them at festivals, interviewed them twice and even promoted a gig at work in 2004 where they managed to charm the scariest barmaid who ever lived (Annie Wilkes from ‘Misery’ crossed with a grumpy rottweiler) into plying them with free Belgian beer all night. Hell, we even knew Steven Adams when he was American. Now a number of us are present for their final London show before the band calls it a day on Halloween.

The set’s a long one, featuring songs from their first record to their last, from the Snowstorm days, through the Track and Field era to Cooking Vinyl; from ‘Queen of the Sea’ by way of ‘Song About Robots’ (what they think of as the archetypal TBFB song), ‘At the Back of the Chapel’, ‘The Booze and the Drugs’, ‘Walking Back to Jesus Part 2’, ‘A Place You Deserve’ and ‘Salivating’. Shit, just writing those titles out makes you realise how good a group the Broken Family Band have become while a song like the intricate ‘Devil in the Detail’ proves how fine a songwriter Steven Adams has always been.

There’s a tinge of sorrow but little room for disappointment tonight (the absence of ‘Mother o’Jesus’ is my only regret) and it’s like we’re stocking up on all the Broken Family Band we’ll need once they’re gone. Humour is much in evidence, Jay Williams calling for a show of hands of those who prefer their country phase and flipping them the finger when he receives it. Meanwhile Steve Adams typically changes the words to ‘(I Don’t Have Time To) Mess Around’ to its filthiest, RSPCA-baiting form yet. They resurrect long-time collaborator Tim Victor (sporting his worst haircut in a history of frightful barnetry) for a folky section, including their great cover of ‘Daisies’, and then with encores of ‘John Belushi’ and ‘Don’t Leave That Woman Unattended’ (respectively one of their best and definitely their worst songs) they reluctantly leave the stage for the last time. I don’t care that the last shows are in Cambridge; they’re not a Cambridge band. They were a constant London presence and pleasure for 8 years and the capital will be a little colder, duller and less profane without them. Now, for real, it’s all over.

Links:
http://www.cookingvinyl.com/artist_info.php?id=180
http://www.myspace.com/thebrokenfamilyband