The Eel Pie Club (‘Home of Richmond and Twickenham Rhythm and Blues’) started back in the 1960s at a dilapidated hotel on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham but these days it resides – on Wednesday evenings anyway – at the newly refurbished nightclub upstairs at The Cabbage Patch pub – which is well known amongst the rugby crowd.
Having paid £22 for two tickets, last night I ventured there to see a new band called Rock-Ola (which could, as you will see, be renamed Rock-Older) comprising a couple of rock legends – Micky Moody (Whitesnake guitarist – and I have been a Whitesnake fan for over 20 years) and Pete French (Leafhound, Atomic Rooster and Cactus) plus their band – Ed (looking a bit like a downmarket Lucius Malfoy) on bass, Mr Lee on drums and ‘Old Joe’ (he’s 22 and looks a bit like a youthful Mick Jagger) on keyboards.
The venue is fantastic – small and friendly. Soft lilac strip lights adorn the long modern metallic bar and there is an area to the front with large squishy sofas. Yet they have preserved a series of black and white photos showing all the very famous people who have graced the club with their presence over the years to preserve a sense of history. But towards the back it gets a bit suitably scruffier with a proper stage with all the kit, a tiny sunken dance floor and an equally small space for the rest of the audience. Intimate – especially as it felt comfortably full with no more than 150 people in the house. Informal too, for as I waited to order my drinks, I overheard the guy standing next to me talking and he’s a musician regularly playing the 100 club (who drinks Guinness by the way). A few moments later I watched someone ask the short guy in front of me with a silver grey pageboy to autograph a CD – I’ve no idea who he was.
The gig was great fun. The lead singer was allegedly suffering from a throat infection and called out regularly to Micky: “Wanna do one of your Whitesnake ones?”. These requests appeared to be rejected as Mr Moody stuck to the agreed running order, which happily did include some Whitesnake numbers (most memorable was “Ain’t no love in the heart of the city” – although the audience clearly weren’t big fans as they didn’t join in as we always do at concerts) and I enjoyed their mellow version of ‘Bringing me down’.
The most notable part of the evening for me was the rest of the audience. Whilst I am no spring chicken I felt like a kid amongst the incredibly grey and mature audience but how nice to see a music event that isn’t full of teenagers (or even those in the 20s, 30s and 40s!).
Anyway, it’s a great venue. And Rock-Ola were versatile, solid, gutsy and fun. They didn’t take themselves too seriously but clearly enjoyed – and were masters of – their craft. I really loved the guitar solos which were excellent (natch!) and they seemed to come into their own when they tackled slower and more bluesy numbers. Couldn’t help feeling that they needed to play together a bit longer to really make some magic – the fact that they had their sheet music around indicated that rehearsal time had perhaps been a bit limited.
You can find out more about the club and future gig dates at www.eelpieclub.com
