Did You See Ian McNabb?

"It had a really nice crowd. I’d love to come back here."

St Paul’s Church played host to former Icicle Works singer/songwriter Ian McNabb on Saturday night.

The event was produced by Helen Martin, who has a growing list of gigs in Brentford.

Fans came from as far as Bracknell to see him perform their favourites, and he did not disappoint playing his classic songs such as Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream).

Ian said: “The crowd were great. They sang along. They were noisy in the right bits and quiet at the right moment. People who pay to come and see you expect you to play certain songs. If I go to see The Who I want to hear half a dozen tunes that I want to hear. They usually play them at the end and you’re satisfied. I went to see Prince, who did 21 nights at the O2. I wanted to hear ‘When Doves Cry’ but he did it the next night and I was gutted so you have to play a certain amount of songs. Some of these songs are older than people I know.”

Playing in a church hall was something unique and Ian enjoyed the different atmosphere that it provided.

He said: “It was great. I didn’t really know what to expect. I’ve never played here before. It had a really nice crowd. I’d love to come back here. It sounded good as there was a lot of nice wood. It seemed to get to the back. You can always tell if the sound’s good if there are people at the back and people are dancing then it sounds good. I put a bit of ‘When I was back in seminary school’ to entertain the crowd before the second set.”

Phil Martin and Phil ‘Swill’ Odgers were the supporting band with Phil Martin starting proceedings with some classic poems, like Tyger Tyger, set to music. Phil Odgers then performed selected songs from his new EP, Sunday Morning Coming Down (available on Amazon). Both acts went down very well with the crowd.

For more information about future Helen Martin events please visit TW8's Helen Martin page or visit Helen Martin Productions/. The next Helen Martin production is on Friday 15th July when “The Defamers” and the “Acoustic Revelators” perform at The Docking Station, 108 Brentford High Street.

Tom Moore

July 13, 2011