THE RETURN OF Chants R&B
Chants R&B at Al’s Bar
Fri. 26th + Sat. 27th of Feb.
Chants R&B had a residency every weekend from 1964 -1966 at The Stagedoor, a grungy cellar downstairs from a coffee bar in what was Hereford Lane (now Tramway Lane) adjacent to Cathedral Square. It was a mods’ hangout, and there were always gangs of rockers (or bodgies) waiting to pick on the unwary long-haired straggler after a Chants’ gig, so the mod kids – and they were mostly still at school - travelled in packs for safety.
Trevor Courtney, the Chants’ effervescent drummer, was still at school in 1964, and Mike Rudd, the band’s singer, was going through the motions at Art School, already a recognised breeding ground for rock musicians, just as in the UK.
In 1966 the band left the insularity of the Stagedoor for the last time and decamped to Melbourne, where, perhaps predictably, they broke up a short six months later.
Somewhat spookily, Chants R&B returned to Christchurch for a reunion and a solitary performance in 2007, and Al’s Bar was jam-packed with former Stagedoor devotees, now universally silver haired, (that’s if they’d managed to hold onto any hair at all), with a sprinkling of disbelieving kids wondering what all these oldies were raving on about.
From the opening chord of I’m Your Witchdoctor, the band’s last single back in 1966, the Chants’ performance that night was loud and swaggering, and if you closed your eyes you could easily imagine what it must’ve been like listening to the younger version of the Chants in that sweaty cellar four decades ago – even the most sceptical kids in the room were impressed.
Two years later and a slightly re-jigged version of Chants R&B is back at Al’s Bar for two nights, still with Mike Rudd, Trevor Courtney and Martin Forrer, but this time with another ex-Chants’ guitarist, Tim Piper, holding down the lead guitar position.
They’re all much older now, but they’ve all got active careers in the music business and can all still passionately hammer out the Chants’ eclectic take on British blues, American soul and rock.
For more info check out www.chantsrandb.com
