Musicians give their Blessing to a punky, aggressive sound

Jul 11 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Blessing have been around for the best part of a decade, but it’s only in the last few years they’ve found the sound to really define them, and the four members have dedicated themselves to the band full- time.

So far so ordinary, but when your day jobs include playing with Portishead, the late Ian Dury’s Blockheads and even Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, you can see how it’s hard to find the time to hook up.

The Blessing are a Bristol-based four-piece, formed by bassist Jim Barr and drummer Clive Deamer, who have just finished touring with Portishead.

Along with a trumpet and saxophone, The Blessing play a mix of indie-punk combined with jazz-inspired ideas, big stomping riffs meeting improvisation to make an upbeat but intriguing sound.

Their debut album, All Is Yes, was released in February.

They're described as a band that straddles both the “post-jazz” and indie genres, appealing to fans of catchy hooks and solid tunes, as well as aficionados of skilful jazz-styled playing “with a bit of dance-y bounce to it”.

Their tour has so far taken in Glastonbury and The Big Chill, as well as jazz and indie clubs across the country. They've also been nominated for Best Album in the 2008 BBC Jazz Awards.

But Barr says: “It’s not really jazz – there’s a bit of rock, I think there’s jazzy sort of melodies, but our songs are a bit more edgy. It’s quite springy and stupid.

“I think the nicest things people say is that they don’t like jazz, but they like this, because what we’re doing isn’t real jazz in the true sense.”

Trumpet player Pete Judge says: “We all play different types of music – Jim and I played in a ska band together, I’ve played dark ambient, Clive just plays any type of music, so we’re all bringing part of our own histories into play.

“We listen to a huge variety of things, it’s all in the mix.

“We’ve done a festival in Spain, Glastonbury a couple of weeks ago, a jazz festival in Leeds . . . The beauty is playing to people who have never heard us.

“We’re finding who our audience are. We still don’t really know what to expect when we turn up somewhere.

“Before, we were doing early 60s classic jazz, with double bass, horns, now we’re doing our own thing, with aggressive electric bass – it’s punky, it allows us to be ourselves.”

They started off for fun, playing covers by the likes of Ornette Coleman, but it soon became more than just a hobby.

Jim Barr says: “We enjoyed playing together so much, it became the highlight of the month. We realised we wanted to spend more time on it.”

Judge, who spent years playing in theatres in touring productions, says he, too, decided it was time to dedicate himself to The Blessing.

“There was a run of energy and a creative spark that was worth us really giving time to. Now we’re seeing where we can take it,” he says.

Drummer Clive Dunn is the only member whose commitments as a session musician mean he is not there all the time, and he will be replaced for the Liverpool gig by Dylan Howe, drummer with the Blockheads.

Barr says: “We’re just doing what comes along. We’re just starting out and seeing what happens. When we signed to our record label last year, we had no expectations that it would go as well as it has.”

* THE Blessing play Liverpool Barfly on Sunday night.