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De Shonos <deshonos>

"The Answer"

	Review on Village launch	443 days ago
	Deshonos The Village, 30/08/08 By Angela Macari-O'Looney Ranging from sweet and seductive to downright strange, the musical creativity of this motley quartet is outrageous but irresistible. They should however include a warning label on the cover of anything they produce, since some of their creations might shock the sensibilities of the conventional music lover! It was suggested to me some time ago, to give Deshonos a listen on-line, since one of their members hails from my Village. This band take their influences from class acts, such as The Who, The Doors, The small faces, The velvet underground and David Bowie. On my first listen I just thought ? 'Too weird and hard to define genre-wise'! However, with a little more of an open mind and a closer look, I discovered that there were hidden treasures lying beneath the surface; i.e. witty lyrics, ingenious melody lines and a lead singer you just can't ignore. Despite his Grizzly Adams appearance, Darby has a unique voice and puts each number across beautifully and you know he loves the power of winning an audience, which he doubtless has! So when I saw the gig in 'The Village' advertised, I made a special effort to be there. DESHONOS Review With Darby at the helm performing lead vocals, Greg Marshall on lead guitar and backing vocals, Jonesy on Bass and Gar Ivory on drums, the band we'd all been waiting for arrived on stage amid a smokey veil of dry ice and with the appropriate measure of drama to induce excitement into the crowd. 'Pigs are coming' was the first song and begun with a drum roll and a slow verse. You hear a distortion - laden guitar riff, some lines of the first verse are sung slowly, then suddenly Darby shouts out 'ONE TWO THREE FOUR'! The catchy riff continues as he goes into the fast and cheeky chorus which has nice harmony and some kicking bass. Greg performs a screaming solo, with Darby himself playing his acoustic. This number got a huge response from the lively punters and as I stood up in the V.I.P lounge looking down, I was almost sorry I wasn't milling around getting squashed among them. The drummer seemed like a quiet guy when I was introduced to him and the other members of the band earlier, but up on stage he certainly isn't at all shy! As Darby played to the gallery he started singing the words 'Do you want it' which I guessed were some words from the next song. It was called 'Cynthia'. The bass was really strong here and it was fast with a catchy chorus, both Darby and Greg singing. Lots of audience reaction here! Jonesy performed a lovely riff, followed by Greg who went wild as he did a fabulous lead guitar solo. 'Choose to win' was another I'm not that familiar with but is known by almost all of the audience. Greg did close harmony; Gar frames this song with brilliant drum rolls. This number winds down, with a melodic and slow finish. 'One man band' is a very popular number. It is well written and Darby does a line of it unaccompanied. The audience sung this with him and with a sweet and very appealing melody, it blew me away. It's a whole different experience seeing Deshonos live! They are choc full of charisma and musical talent and you just get caught up in the mood. In this particular number I hear a slight resemblance to David Gray. Darby uses his voice in a very commanding way and with Greg doing lovely backing vocals and a neat solo, the whole number is enjoyable 'Trippy woman' ? This has a swinging jazzy beat. There's a riveting lead solo with screaming high notes. I love the way Greg's fingers slide down the frets of his guitar before the finish. I like his style! 'Life goes on' This number is on the latest c.d. Salt Sessions. It starts with a spooky, bending bass note and then goes into the pretty normal verse. Darby plays his beautiful acoustic guitar. Gar strips to the waist preparing to lay into some cool dramatic beats. I love the melody of this number and I feel it to have the makings of a classic. Despite the fact that they throw in a lot of strange bending notes in many of their numbers, they have a knack for producing a memorable song, whether it be slow and easy going like this one, seductive and jazzy, or up-beat and crazy. This number is dramatic, with some really special harmony and sweet lead riffs. Bass is lovely and there's a striking key change in the second last chorus. Then Darby sings the last chorus with just the acoustic and one or two notes on the lead guitar. Then they all plunge into a big crescendo to take you to the finish. I noticed that his backing singers (the whole audience) sang with him in this last bit and could imagine this scene in a big open air gig like Marley Park. Far from paradise ? There was lots of interaction with the really enthusiastic audience before the intro of this wonderfully sweet number started. A lone bass riff takes you towards a catchy chord combination strummed by Greg, which continues to frame the first verse as rhythm picks up, Darby playing his acoustic. The words are sad but the melody is absolutely delectable and it has a vibrant beat. There are some brilliant sliding riffs throughout this song. The middle eight is high as Darby sings it with emotion, his voice quite distinctive. Then it's back to the memorable chorus involving nifty little riffs and hooks. This song is just beautiful as it comes to a close with the lovely chords and bass from the intro. The audience began to chant something that sounded like 'Eh oh, eh oh' and then the hair raising intro of 'Squabbles' started, which got a suitably enthusiastic response. Clearly recognisable with it's strange three four tempo and Greg's creepy lead riffs, everybody sang along with the verse including myself. As weird and whacky as this song is, it gets under your skin with its crawling Adams family style. Am I the only person who thinks of that haunting tune from the T.V. series 'Tales of the unexpected' back in the '80's on hearing this song? Bending notes and nice bassy undertones throughout behind Darby's disconcerting revelations in the lyrics, take you through this unusual number. You love it or hate it! But there's no debating the fact that this is something of a work of genius and must be difficult to perform with it's strangely strung together melody. Darby lets out this blood curdling scream, using the feedback from the P.A. sytem's amp to magnify it! It changes key after this for the middle eight which includes close harmony and lots of dramatic ahs. Then the familiar three four chords from the intro frame the last verse. Watching from the balcony, I could see the audience moving from side to side en masse to the extraordinary beat of this extraordinary song. Staccato chords emphasise the drama in the last chorus which ends with Darby doing his blood ? curdling scream again. If ever there was a perfect song for a horror movie, 'Squabbles' is it! Darby chats to the audience. He takes out a T-Shirt with 'Deshonos' written across it and throws it out to the crowd. Then they throw me off completely as they play the intro to Pink Floyd's 'Brick in the wall' song. He sings one line of the cover, but then lets out that scream from the previous song again, like he enjoys it too much to stop and loves the reaction it's getting. They go into a mad punk beat that takes you into the next song 'Jade'. It's quirky but the punters are jumping about, loving it. This one is just too wild for me, although the chords are quite nice. However Darby picks up a pint glass of water, takes a sip, poises it in the air as if planning to throw it over everyone and you think 'No! He wouldn't, would he? He does! And he even managed to get a bit on me from that distance! More chanting from a gang at the front like the words of a song, seems to go on for a time. Darby sits down on a speaker at the front of the stage, he begins 'Rheeno', a number I don't know. The gang sing the chorus with him. This song has lots of minor chords and an alternating beat that gives it definition. A cheeky riff going on behind the final verse gives this one a nice vibe and as it finishes the gang go on singing 'Eh oh, eh oh'. What a mad night! They left the stage in the same dramatic way in which they came on. But of course everyone yelled for an encore. They came back, bringing with them two members of 'The last remaining lights'. Gradually all members of both supporting bands joined Darby at the front of the stage. Then the intro to 'Don't go out' went up to shouts of appreciation. This song is very simple and easy going with a cheerful beat and a catchy melody. With stops and starts in all the right places, a lovely bit of lead guitar and a nice key change for the verse, it was a great choice to bring the dynamic show to a close. Review written by: Angela Macari-O'Looney --
	posted by De Shonos

4 Comments:

	Seán Whelan said...	443 days ago
	Ah nuce pooce
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	Alan said...	443 days ago
	Decent yoke boys!! keep up that david gray stuff and use will make it!! ha Nice review though lads
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	GarPsychedelica said...	442 days ago
	DAVID GRAY???......WTF????
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	Hali Smith said...	438 days ago
	only got to read that now! fuckin amazin boys chuffed with that yous alegend you's are luv heely b!!! xxxxxxxxxxx
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