Lewes Guitar Festival - BBC South at the Lansdown

As part of the Lewes Guitar Festival, South East Counties Radio has arranged a nightly series of ‘acoustic roots’ gigs at The Lansdown in Lewes, a pub which has carefully cultivated its reputation as the best live pub venue in town over the last few years. Gigs run from Monday 30th July to Sunday 5th August, when local boys The Laser Crabs are finishing off proceedings with a set in a bar they are no strangers to, either as musicians or punters.

The radio station has made some interesting choices, and none more interesting than Tuesday’s headliners Leonard and Bubba’s Delicious Goo Goo Cluster. Described in the programme as a ‘Lansdown hoe-down with a psycho-Billy twist’, the band, judging by their Myspace site, ought to come with some sort of warning that the sensitivities of certain audience members could seriously be damaged if they listen to the lyrics. Trailer trash has rarely come so filthy: song subjects range from incest (‘Sister Fister’) to glorying in Christ’s crucifixion (‘Banging in the Nails’). Best avoided unless you’re a Dirty Sanchez fan. The opening night is a more docile affair from a selection of the Brighton area’s best jazz artists (including the Enrick Adam Trio and Lawrence Jones and the Brighton Jazz All-Stars); Wednesday features singer-songwriter Oddur, an earnest balladeer from Iceland, who sings in English. More news of the rest of the acts here: details to follow in issue 81. DL