023: O2, by Son of Dave

Son of Dave (Canada)
O2 (2006)
11 tracks, 39 minutes
Bandcamp · Spotify · iTunes

Son of Dave is a phenomenon. A powerful comedic mind wrapped up in a harmonica player and crammed under a big hat. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him several times and interviewed him too; that was one of the most surreal conversations I’ve ever had sober. He’s as odd backstage as he is on it, but he’s also genuinely friendly and supportive – a lovely rebuttal to the adage about never meeting one’s heroes.

So you can tell he’s a man that I hold in very high esteem, and I’ve not even got to his music yet. It’s just wonderful, of course. O2 is Son of Dave’s second album (under that moniker, anyway), and it basically shows him as he is live: one-man-banding with his harp, his surprisingly versatile voice, beatboxing, shaker in hand, stomping the floor with one foot and loop-peddling with the other, occasional eccentric banter with his audience (in this case, the sound engineer). With those limbs, lungs and his electric box, he makes so much sound that you will eventually just have to get up and dance yourself silly.

There are nods to more traditional blues with a handful of covers, including possibly my favourite – and the least macho – version of ‘Mannish Boy,’ but it’s actually hard to call what Son of Dave does ‘blues.’ He’s a superb harp player and can certainly raise the roof when he gets on a blues riff, but there’s so much more in there that it really becomes something entirely his own. Most of all, he’s a showman. It doesn’t matter whether he’s playing stonking beats for moving feets, or just a laid-back soulful groove (perchance with singer Martina Topley-Bird, a guest on this album), you know you will come out of it entertained. He’s a force of nature and everyone should see a Son of Dave live show at least once in their life – O2 give you a little bit of an idea of what to expect.

[A little postscript: Son of Dave is also a wickedly funny essayist. He wrote regular columns for the late Stool Pigeon music paper, some (but unfortunately not all) of which are collected in the book We Need You Lazzaro, You Lazy, Greasy Bastard, which you can get from his Bandcamp. As of writing, there are only two copies left, so literally go and buy it now while you can. Hard recommend!]