Storming through the Beaverwood
November 24, 2024
It was a dark and stormy night and the rain pelted down over The Beaverwood, Chislehurst. But fans packing the club were oblivious to the tempest raging outside because a storm of music was cascading over their heads inside the marquee style venue.
Photos Steve Elphick
It was evening when an eager audience welcomed home the Aynsley Lister band following a triumphant tour of Europe where they won hearts and minds from Austria to Germany.
The audience cheered as soon as guitar hero Aynsley strode on stage and signalled to his trusty cohorts Jono Martin and Craig Bacon to kick off the sold-out show. Thence came a seriously rockin’ ‘Everything I Need’ Aynsley singing with that hint of menace that oft underpins his more fiery performances and certainly inspires his band to get heads down and boogie.
But here is a group that also knows the art of playing quietly and with restraint, especially on a slow blues. That’s when Aynsley looks across the stage to his mates, flips them a nonchalant few notes, only to be greeted with a violent snare drum retort from drumming ace Craig, or a funky bass guitar lick from Jono. It’s called team work. It’s what makes this trio such a treat to hear in action, whatever the song or however fast or slow the tempo.
Aynsley addressed the crowd with a cheerful greeting after the blues dust had settled. “Thank you very much and good evening! This is our first U.K. gig in a while.” Often during a show Aynsley bows to the group and encourages the audience to show their appreciation. ‘Make some noise for Mr. Craig Bacon!’ he called out after a particularly dynamic drum solo.
It transpired that when they were abroad, more boisterous audiences tended to yell their approval, without any prompting. He had to explain to German fans how reserved English audiences tended to be. “They would just murmur ‘Oh, that’s not bad…’ Germans can’t get their heads around it when I explain it’s meant as a compliment! ‘Not too bad, all things considered…’”
The Beaverwood-ians had to laugh. And their cheers grew significantly louder. Aynsley is certainly adept at audience communication and was happy to tell us the background to a particular song performed in the second set.
“Here’s one I wrote a while ago all about the joys of social media.” He explained that as a touring musician, he didn’t know much about Facebook. Yet he realised he had to be on that scene nowadays.
“I have to move with the times. But I struggle with it and I guess I was having one of those days, when I wrote this next song”. Called ‘Amazing’ from the album ‘Along For the Ride’ it began with a sombre work-song rhythm, accentuated by pounding bass drum and Jono’s moody bass guitar.
SOUND MAN
There had been much to enjoy during the first set notably ‘Home’ and ‘Sound Man’ (thanks Aynsley!) and ‘Eve Part 1’ with its spooky introduction and bass and lead guitar duet. Jono also sings in harmony with Aynsley on many of the songs completing the band’s in-depth sound. As the music (and the lager) flowed, that heady combination exercised its hypnotic power. And so we the audience were hypnotised by themes like ‘Quiet Boy!’, ‘Wait For Me ’ and ‘Hyde 2612.’
The second set kicked off with ‘Soul’, ‘Hurricane’ the aforementioned ‘Amazing’, ‘What’s It All About,’ ‘Falling Down’ and ‘Running Out On Me’.
As the show reached a climax cries for ‘more’ were rewarded with an encore, the classic Prince favourite ‘Purple Rain’ performed with an attack that brought yet more yells. It was a truly an amazing noise. Not bad boys, all things considered. CHRIS WELCH
P.S Watch out for the Aynsley Lister ‘live’ album coming soon.