Meb Jon Sol is the brain child of ex-Conselo Parade guitarist and songwriter Michael McCullagh. The rest of the band – we’re told – are interchangeable, it’s a kind of whoever is available at the time kind of deal. Tonight however, there are 6 members of the band. McCullagh even jokes that the band could be called ‘Meb Jon Sol and the Revolving Door Policy’.
And so it is, that just before midnight last night 5 guys with guitars of varying types (a bango is a guitar right?) are lined up along the front of the stage in The Speakeasy at Queens Union accompanied by a drummer, to make a most wonderful racket.
I have to say how surprised I was with the catalogue of songs that were played throughout the night, and impressed with the range and eclectic nature. A sort of procession of Bluegrass, folksy, rock ‘n’ roll that at times snaked like the Mississippi river through areas of Americana Blues. Songs like “Leave All Your Troubles With Me” contained a combination of blues licks and guitar solos that I hadn’t expected from hearing just their current single. “I Am Yours” creeps in like a carnival arriving in Twin Peaks, oddly haunting but jaunty and thoroughly enjoyable. “Angie Where Has Your Love Gone?” takes things down a notch as a slightly slower number in the build up but reaches a crescendo with a spot of shuffly swaying and longing chorus.
In between an almost endless procession of flashes as students taking photos of themselves and everyone around them, Meb Jon Sol plays to a crowd that seems to be made up of a half and half mix of people there to see the bands and people just talking loudly at the bar, this is until Michael announces that we may know this next one. One of the guys at the back shouts “is this the one about the ship?”, then another shouts “play the boat one” making for a nice little introduction to latest single “Captain of This Ship” (which was a recent #NIMusic tune for the weekend) and the whole place suddenly joins in as if they had been dozing for the last half hour or so. People are dancing and slapping thighs and shouting ‘Yeeeeoooo’. It seems the current promotion of the song has went well if this crowd are anything to go by, and gives a good sign that once the album is out and people can hear a bit more of Meb Jon Sol, in the comfort of their own homes, this could be a band that really takes off.
They finish off the night with a cover of Bob Dylan’s Outlaw Blues and as always, remind us that CDs are available. It’s hard to believe that this is one of their first gigs, but if it’s any indication of what’s to come it won’t be the last time I’ll be going to see the band. It’s always difficult for a band to play a set of largely unknown songs to a non-dedicated crowd – although there were a good few people there to see the band – but Meb Jon Sol pulled it off and looked like they were having a bloody good time doing it.
