Last night punters at The Prince Albert were given a real treat.
Glenn Richards is the singer and songwriter for one of Australia’s most accomplished and well-regarded bands, Augie March, the astonishing and short lived Dark Satanic Mills Bros, and now Glenn Richards and The Venus Lakes, the first artist released by the Johnny Depp curated In.2 Records. He has scored several feature films and television productions including the recent award winning ‘Late Night with the Devil’. He resides in Hobart, Tasmania, and works out of his Dark Satanic Mill Studio.
His new album ‘The Great Behind’ was released on 9th October.
They were supported by Talulah Gold aka Maxine Talulah & Paul Goldsmith who have joined forces to bring both of their unique writing styles together to create something very special. Piano, guitar and two amazing voices with brilliant lyrics and melodies will take you to emotional places you forgot existed.
Maxine Talulah is well known on the circuit and it shows in her assured delivery and stage presence as does Paul Goldsmith’s. Talulah Gold have been together for two years and the voices of Talulah and Goldsmith blend beautifully with delightful harmonies. So much so that Glenn Richards commented as such during his set.
Talulah Gold Line-up
Maxine Talulah – keys and vocals
Goldsmith – acoustic guitar and vocals.
The set opened with the delicate melodic ‘Save Your Tears For A Rainy Day’.
Throughout the set they built in intensity peaking with ‘Stargazing’. The songs were all originals written by both artists.
For me the highlight has to be ‘Crazy’ – a powerful heartbreak song of desperation. A close second runner up though was ‘Embers’ penned by Goldsmith which is also a stunner.
Firstly may I say that Glenn Richards is a remarkably nice man in real life as well as on stage. He’s very self-deprecating in spite of the fact that he’s a huge noise back home with several song writing award to his credit. He’s also very funny with stories between songs including talk of the two-man war in Tasmania, with him and Jethro Pickett, and loving Brighton so when they win said conflict they’ll join us all whilst retuning his “Australian” guitar which doesn’t like the Brighton temperature!
Glenn Richards & The Venus Lakes Line-up :
Glenn Richards – guitar and vocals.
Jethro Pickett – Lap steel, guitar and vocals.
Paul Housden – Keys and vocals
The opener was ‘Sunstroke’ with Pickett’s lap steel giving it a bit of a country vibe. There’s a distinct feel of Jeff Buckley about Richards’ stunning vocals throughout.
When we got to ‘Pest’ we were treated to a heavier, darker feel which he said that a rhythm section would improve it no end however I say they were doing pretty well without.
The following song ‘Four Chariots’ gave Richards a chance to tell us the personal story behind being inspired by a visit to a European museum whilst there last year.
Further into the set they gave us ‘One Crowded Hour’, a song from his other band Augie March. Obviously there were Augie March fans in the audience as a cheer goes up as he announces it. It’s a gentle and lyrical track.
‘Cold Hands’ gets the lap steel treatment again which gives it a strong pull at the heartstrings.
At this point Richards regrets that the only set list was written for me, on a paper plate, rather than having one for the band as well. This caused considerable humour.
‘The Great Behind’ was the last track, the title song of the new album out this month. It was a haunting end to a great set, and definitely my favourite of the night, with superb keys from Paul Housden.
Encore was ‘There’s No Such Place’ – a request from the audience – which he good humouredly waited to play whilst said crowd members decided, loudly, which dance they were going to do!
The sound by engineer Oscar was top notch as acknowledged from the stage.
You want to know how to write a song? Listen to Glen Richards. He announced that he was nervous but along with his reverence of the skills of his fellow bandmates was touching.
Harmonies are utterly superb with shades of Crosby Stills Nash & Young.
To describe Glenn Richards as a “rocker” doesn’t do good service to this interesting mash up of styles of the aforementioned Jeff Buckley, country, folk rock, psychedelia and California in the 60s. He’s definitely in his element and peaking in his powers so far with this current output.
These guys should be playing larger venues, and I predict it won’t be long before they’re back on our shores when word of their excellence spreads across the UK. Reviews of the new album in such veritable publications such as Louder Than War are very complimentary as they should be.
Glenn Richards & The Venus Lakes play Hastings Sunday 18th October so I recommend that you grab the chance to see them before they fly back off to Australia next week.
Talulah Gold setlist
‘Save Your Tears For A Rainy Day’
‘Mary’
‘Save Me’
‘While The World’s Still Turning’
‘Time To Shine’
‘Embers’
‘Crazy’
‘Stargazing’
Glenn Richards & The Venus Lakes setlist
‘Sunstroke’
‘Sexy’
‘1990’
‘Pest’
‘Four Chariots’
‘La Boue’
‘One Crowded Hour’
‘Cold Hands’
‘Cold Acre’
‘The Great Behind’
Encore : ‘There’s No Such Place’
Bandcamp https://glennrichards.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-behind
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/glennyrichards/
