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Leah
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LEAH
RAISES THE ROOF AT THE GABLE END
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by
Peter Ford.
17
March 2006 - The Gable End Theatre, Hoy
If
anyone needs further proof of a creative vigour in Orkney
music-making, then watch for the next gig from Leah Seator
and the SAS Blues Band. There was a buzz of curiosity and
anticipation from the audience at the Gable End Theatre on
Hoy on Friday night, news having reached the island of the
sensation they created as a one off line-up at the last, and
alas final Orkney blues Festival in 2005.
Leah is remembered too for her singing with Blue Mother from
the age of 15, before she started on a career in journalism,
so there was also the question of how her voice had matured
and her style had broadened in the past nine years or
so.
The Gable End event was the band's first official outing
since the Blues festival, apart from one or two spots on BBC
Radio Orkney; and in the meantime they have been assembling
old numbers and writing new ones, with an eye to the
Shetland Blues Festival in June. The fresh range was quickly
evident, sliding from a basis in blues to bring in other
modes, mixing in sounds of jazz and rock; the material ran
from Robert Johnson's classic 'Milk Cow's Calf Blues,' to
'Rain on my Parade,' a song written just the week
before.
Leah's voice ran through a wide variety of modulations,
never cracking and pitching its highs and lows on target;
never losing the clarity of the words. She has a versatile
beauty of style that's all her own, combining sheer rounded
volume with a sensitive response, as in Eric Clapton's
grieving son, 'Tears in Heaven,' and rising to the stridency
of the Rolling Stones ' number, 'Honky Tonk Woman.' It was
high-flying stuff.
In all of this she was aided and abetted by the playing of
what must be one of the finest instrumental groupings in the
islands, whose support in their ensemble playing could not
have been more generous.
Stewart Shearer on acoustic guitar set the sprung beat with
riveting precision and resorted to his electric instrument
for slidey rock effects when needed; Ian MacKay on bass
underpinned the essential structure of each number with a
firm counterpoint; and Graham Simpson on drums wove in his
percussion sounds like a safety net for the whole risky
enterprise.
The sound range settled down to an impressive balance within
the Gable End's acoustic, thanks to the cunning skills of
Owen Tierney, who travelled with the group to ensure Hoy
heard them at their best.
The evening, need I say it, was a prime success. The five
home-grown songs, written by Leah herself with Stewart
Shearer, held their place next to the standards &emdash;
watch out for them in future repertoire. Leah and the band
need have no fears about being able to sustain a full
concert performance of two sets.
There was a touching modesty in the way Leah made no
provision for a get-out encore. Did she really think the
audience would let her go so easily? My guess is she can
expect to be a two-encore girl in future.
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WORLD
PREMIERE AT THE GABLE END
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by
Lindsay Hall
17
March 2006 - The Gable End Theatre, Hoy
Well,
perhaps that's putting it a bit strongly, but when she took
the stage on Friday evening, your very own Leah Seator told
everyone that she and her band considered this their debut
performance.
Ever since coming across to Hoy to do a feature on the Gable
End for The Orcadian, Leah had wanted to perform on this
stage. It took a while, as she found her personal style and
got her band together, but it proved well worth the wait.
The audience were full of expectation following the good
reviews Leah gained from last year's Blues Festival and many
people know her from her time with Blue Mother. They were
all in for a treat.
Bravely the set opened with an original song, they played
five of their own compositions, interspersing them with some
well-known numbers. This first piece, "Money Talks", gave
everyone a perfect introduction to Leah's rich vocal style.
Hers is a voice full of texture and passion, the ideal
vehicle for the Blues. Backed by the accomplished and
enthusiastic SAS Band, Stewart Shearer a typically animated
guitarist, the steady, controlled Ian MacKay playing bass
and Graham Simpson holding it together on drums, we then
moved on to some old standards. A lively pair of "High Heel
Sneakers" were followed by "Change" and a beautiful
rendition of Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven". Leah then
explained to us that they aren't just a Blues Band, as they
launched into the Stone's number "Honkey Tonk Women", played
slightly slower than the original, but equally powerful.
Another original song "Shine", gave way to the Robert
Johnson classic "Milk Cow" which tells the tale of a
Bluesman who sells his soul to the devil at a crossroads.
I'm sure Leah's too young to have gotten around to selling
her soul yet, but this song above all others proved that the
Blues is her strongest card in a winning hand. When the
applause from that had died down we were given "The First
Cut is the Deepest", a number with particular memories for
your reviewer, as anyone who saw the recent SCDA festival
will appreciate. Again it was a flawless performance.
Another original song "Alright", showed that the band's
songwriting abilities are as developed as their performance
and the first half of the gig came to a close with an
unusually slow, but tremendously evocative "Wishing Well",
another number made familiar back in the seventies by the
group Free.
After the break the band came back on with "Goldust Woman"
and "Life by the Drop". Following another original "One
Day", Leah opened a debate about what exactly a 'Mojo' is,
before singing the popular tune about how one of these
things was finally got working. The audience were encouraged
to join in and they weren't shy. In fact a notorious retired
physician sitting behind me continued to sing into the next
song. Clearly a Kinks fan in his younger days, he knew every
word to "Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon".
We were then treated to the last self penned song of the
evening "Rain on My Parade", a consistently high standard of
original work. Then that song by KT Tunstall featuring lots
of Woo Woos that no-one can remember the name of. Again
reminding us that they were not just a Blues Band, the end
of the set featured Stewart's blue electric guitar as we
heard another classic "Stop Messing Around", which had the
audience wild with excitement. To finish on a suitably
frenetic note, "Tush" apparently by ZZ Top, filled the
theatre with very possibly the biggest wall of sound since
it opened.
With no songs left to sing for an encore we were given a
reprise of "High Heel Sneakers". Nobody could complain. This
lady sings the Blues quite as well as anyone and what's more
she sings it here in Orkney. We should make the most of this
rare talent while we have the chance. When she gets up on a
stage near you, don't miss out.
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EXTRACT
FROM BLUES MATTERS REVIEW OF THE ORKNEY FESTIVAL,
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16-18 SEPTEMBER 2005 www.bluesmatters.com
When I heard that SAS Blues would be appearing at The
Café in Stromness, my first reaction was, "Who?" No
publicity blurb was available because this group of Orcadian
musicians had only recently got together and were a late
addition to the festival line-up. In order to see the band I
had to leave the comfort of Academy Day and walk through a
rainstorm to the venue; I arrived drenched to the skin and
took up my seat at the front. My mood lightened immediately
with the sound of Leah Seator's voice; I could not see her
at this stage as the mist on my spectacles had not cleared.
It was like waking from a dream as my eyes gradually focused
on what was not an apparition as I had thought but a young
woman who sounded like Ella Fitzgerald and, with her
resplendent headwear, looked like Sam Brown. It would not
take me long to realise that Leah is indeed quite unique and
beyond comparison. She stormed through Hi Heel Sneakers,
Honky Tonk Woman and Got My Mojo Working before slowing the
pace with a beautifully crafted Tears In Heaven, a superb
arrangement of Sunny Afternoon, the haunting You're Not The
One For Me and the soulful The First Cut Is The Deepest. Add
a dash of Robert Johnson blues and not surprisingly the
audience went crazy, knowing that they were witnessing
something very special.
The
freshness of this new collaboration was a major strength,
with drummer Graham Simpson and Ian MacKay on 5-string bass
in perfect synchronisation, and guitarist Stewart Shearer
playing with flair and spontaneity. I found out afterwards
that Leah's previous band Blue Mother had been very highly
regarded and that she had fallen in love with the blues from
a very early age. Not since seeing Karen Matheson have I
heard such a crystal clear voice, and yet as the moods of
the songs change so do the intonations, and Leah can belt
out hard rock and blues with the best of them. Moreover, she
possesses the rare gift of making her listeners feel that
she is singing directly and exclusively to them. At the end
of the show an elderly woman passed me a note which simply
read, "The best act since 2000." No, it wasn't a relative
but a veteran of all six festivals. Local journalist Leah
had better start getting used to making the headlines rather
than writing them, predicts Dave The Bishop Scott because
she has the talent to make it to the top or wherever she
wants to be.
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BLUES
SINGER TIPPED FOR STARDOM
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By
Lorraine Shearer (The Orcadian)
An Orkney
singer has been tipped for stardom by a leading UK blues
magazine journalist.
The
Orcadian's very own entertainments reporter, Leah Seator,
has been compared to the likes of Ella
Fitzgerald.
The
23-year-old, from Kirkwall, has a "rare gift", according to
the usually critical blues journalist, Dave "The Bishop"
Scott - writer for Blues Matters!
He has
virtually guaranteed that at least one of her tracks will be
included in sample CDs which are sent out with the magazine
to their 40,000 readers.
And Dave is
certain that if the right opportunities crop up, she and the
band have a chance of making it big.
Leah was
performing alongside Stewart Shearer, Graham Simpson and Ian
Mackay - known collectively as SAS Blues - for the first
time at the Orkney Blues Festival.
They had
only practised together a couple of times prior to the gig
in the Cafe Bar in Stromness.
SAS Blues'
performance earned them a glowing review from Dave, but it
was Leah's voice that really captivated the sometimes-harsh
critic.
"The music
started and it was absolutely sensational - the sound, the
singing, the freshness and the vitality of the band. It was
very innovative music," he said.
"One of the
things that struck me was that this singer has got
exceptional talent. As soon as I got home I contacted the
editor of the magazine; I have this reputation for being
overly critical, so when I told him about SAS Blues and Leah
he almost fell through the floor."
He is
writing a review of the Orkney festival for the magazine in
which he states: "In order to see the band I had to leave
the comfort of Academy Day and walk through a rainstorm to
the venue; I arrived drenched to the skin and took up my
seat at the front.
"My mood
lightened immediately with the sound of Leah Seator's voice;
I could not see her at this stage as the mist on my
spectacles had not cleared.
"It was like
waking from a dream, as my eyes gradually focused on what
was not an apparition, as I had thought, but a young woman
who sounded like Ella Fitzgerald and, with her resplendent
headwear, looked like Sam Brown. It would not take me long
to realise that Leah is indeed quite unique and beyond
comparison."
Dave said
you could go for months, even years without hearing anything
particularly impressive, but when it strikes, it can knock
you for six.
"She has got
to get into a recording studio," he advised. "I am sure the
band is more than capable of writing some original
material."
Blues
Matters! has its own CD label, he explained, of which he is
confident Leah and the band could be a part.
"They should
reflect and take time to develop the material. We will all
be rooting for her from that point onwards. It is all about
opportunities."
Dave
continued: "I am almost certain he (the editor) will use one
track for a sampler. He is onthe lookout to get the right
kind of acts for the Blues Matters! label."
Leah picked
up on blues from a very early age and began singing with
Blue Mother when she was 15.
"I started
listening to singers like Janis Joplin and Maggie Bell in my
teens, and I originally started as a backing singer with
local band, Resonator, with Raymond Smith, Polly Cheer,
Keith Berg, and Ian Cooper," Leah said.
"Gradually,
they gave me more songs to sing, and I particularly enjoyed
singing an old bluesy tune - Canned Heat's Amphetamine
Annie.
"One night
at a sound check in Matchmakers, I heard my own voice
through a PA system without the full sound of the band
around me - it was a shock, to me and the rest of them I
think!
"From then
on, I was in love with the blues."
Although
Leah has had opportunities to push her singing career
further, she believes that it is probably fear which has
held her back.
"I suppose I
didn't really believe I was that good. Enjoying it doesn't
mean that you're the next big thing!"
The music
industry is a highly competitive business, so Leah made a
"sensible" decision and opted to study journalism at college
in Edinburgh, arming herself with a qualification "in case
music turned out to be a letdown".
But music
will always be Leah's first love (after hubby Mark) and she
is justifiably excited about Dave's comments.
"I had heard
there was a slot available at the Orkney Blues Festival and
I approached Stewart to see if he fancied doing an acoustic
set, just as a one off - I'd always wanted to work with him,
and was so pleased when he agreed.
"We
literally put the set together a week before the gig. Ian
Mackay and Graham Simpson were happy to come on board, and
within no time, we had what we thought was a sketchy four
piece - it was very scary playing after so little practice,
but the nerves make it all the better."
She
continued: "The guys were amazing to work with. I really
hope that we can do more.
"I'm very
keen to write some stuff, and there has been talk of us
heading for the studio, so we'll just have to wait and
see.
"Dave's
review has been fantastic - I can't believe that out of all
the amazing acts at the festival, he picked us. I'm still in
shock!"
Email: leah@leahseator.com
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