The Drake's Progress | livemusic.fm

William D Drake, operatic, even hymnal, former keyboard player of cult-band the Cardiacs played the headline at the Borderline. I'd seen the Cardiacs once before in 1999 and been interested in their very off-beat alternative, uncategorizable sound ... but I have to fess up and say that i found myself at the gig by accident! This is always a rare treat, you're at a venue and suddenly you realise you know a band and think - "bloody hell if I had known this was on I'd definitely have come and seen these guys". And then I'd have probably forgotten or got double-booked or something ... Anyway everyone else, of course, was well aware who was playing! The abundance of Cardiacs, Sea Nymphs and Alphabet t-shirts should have tipped me off earlier. So THREE keyboard players - which is excessive in my mind even for an alternative jazz-rock-progressive-indie band - including the eponymous Mister Drake. On drums was current Cardiacs drummer Bill Leith, on Trumpet and additional vocals (and generally staring strangely at the crowd) Terry Pitt. To be honest the gig felt more like being at a family wedding than a gig, and the sound was more like jazz than prog rock ... I've always felt about the Cardiacs (and spin offs) that I just don't get IT - but that doesn't mean I don't like IT and I watched transfixed for most of the show. The rest of the crowd, naturally, loved it and were very much involved in the whole family wedding thing - I felt a bit outside it, but the warmth and general bonhomie of William D Drake and the whole oddity of the experience kept me glued to the performance. Personally I've always felt the Cardiacs sound like the sort of surreal, jovial, insanity I associate with a benevolent hallucinogenic experience ... and Bill Drake was no exception. The music definitely makes people happy in a kind of medicated but "who gives a fuck" smiley way and there just seems to be a whole depth of good-feeling and happiness that you'd normally associate with the cult-following. If I didn't know any better I'd swear it was a religion ... I have to confess that the gig left even me with a warm glow ... and also a desire to dig out those old Cardiacs CDs and see if I understood it any better now, almost 10 years after I first stumbled across them. Who knows I might even get hold of the Earthy Shrine EP William D Drake was launching at the gig! http://www.myspace.com/williamddrake