Up in time to meet Earl Harvin, drummer with tonight’s visitors to Porto, Tindersticks. We played together on our friend Arno’s Sweet Gum Tree project, The Snakes You Charm & The Wolves You Tame (2014), but didn’t actually meet, unable to schedule our sessions at Black Box studios in the Anjou region of France for the same time. Earl was coming to The Archive to hang and we spent a couple of hours talking music and perusing the collection. Earl mentioned jazz pianist Hampton Hawes – who? Did I have any records by him? Of course, Hampton Hawes at the Piano with Ray Brown on bass and Shelly Manne on drums recorded in 1976 and released posthumously in 1978 after his sudden death with a brain haemorrhage aged 48 in 1977. The In Deep Music Archive does it again.
Craig and Holly came over after Earl left for soundcheck whilst I was putting the final touches to the mystery project. Details, details, details. Olivia went to the psychedelic psupermarket as she was cooking for us tonight pre-gig and Holly was ready to take some pics of Craig and I for the Blueburst project. Black spaghetti and handsome photos, magical mixes and expectations, we took an Uber to Casa da Música to see Tindersticks.
It’s the posh venue in town. It’s not the old classic theatre like Coliseu where I saw The Cult, it’s a modern building designed for optimum acoustics with comfy seats, a perfect view and always brings a listening crowd, they’re not here to dance. We arrived just in time, Rui from Tubitek was in the same row. We were reminded to turn off our phones and not take photos as the lights went down.
The band shuffled on stage and proceeded to play the most mellow set you’ve ever heard, they made The Blue Nile sound like Black Sabbath, Cowboy Junkies sound like Cannibal Corpse. Tindersticks’ singer, Stuart Staples, is something of a crooner and has an unusual tone in his voice, a unique quality that with this soothing music attracts a large crowd, sold out in Porto tonight. He didn’t speak till he said goodnight. I wonder why Nick Cave only plays in Lisbon.
After the show I met Neil the guitarist who told me he was a big fan and how he loved Destination from Starfish, and then Earl came out and we got in an Uber and went for a drink in a quiet arty bar in the city. It was a Monday night and it closed at 1AM, so we went from there to The Archive where we had a bottle of red wine stashed away and continued talking about music and classic cars. Also, we’d forgotten to have Earl sign the guestbook, so we were happy to get him in there. He is such a skilled musician who has played with The The on NakedSelf (2000) and the new album Ensoulment (2024). He was also on Seal’s Human Being (1998), Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion (2010) and many, many more.
Craig and Holly came with us to the gig but left before we went out for a drink because it was their last night and they had a super early call for their flight to Amsterdam and then on to Atlanta. We said our goodbyes and plotted for another Blueburst record.
Music today has been Tindersticks – Soft Tissue (2024).