Folk rock duo bring back memories of Jethro Tull

IT was in Harper’s Bar that Jethro Tull made their debut Wick appearance. I should know; because I was there.

But which Jethro Tull I hear you ask?

Yes, it’s true there were several incarnations; there was the original Jethro Tull who brought about an 18th century agricultural revolution with his pioneering farm machinery and then there was that progressive rock outfit with its multi-instrumentalist frontman Ian Anderson.

Anderson, a talented flautist, is renowned for prancing about on stage.... albeit on one leg (his preferred style of performing).

I didn’t spot anyone legless in Harper’s on Friday night but I do remember waking up next morning and discovering a wadful of beer mats in my wallet – all with hastily scribbled notes about a band called Wright & Mackay. So I must have been impressed – or felt I had something important to say.

Problem is most of those notes were illegible, doubtless something to do with Whyte & Mackay which, I seem to recall, was also in full flow.

So where’s the Jethro Tull connection, you’ll be wondering...

I can only imagine it was Willie Mackay’s penny whistle and the band’s distinctive retro folk rock brand that made me reckon he was "a refugee from Jethro Tull."

Any band that can strike up with a Del Amitri track – one I’m convinced that was inspired by a previous visit to Wick – "where nothing ever happens" must rate, in my book.

It’s still early days for Wright & Mackay. Lead guitarist Robbie Wright, from Thurso will be remembered as the other half of Diesel ‘n Dust, who, I am told have....well, let’s be frank, bit the dust. Which is a great pity I reckon as, I for one, enjoyed their high-energy delivery of favourite rock classics. (I always thought of them as Wick’s answer to ZZ Top).

Wright & Mackay although playing some familiar territory also ventured into new folksy penny-whistle realms. Think of Fairport Convention’s Richard Thompson’s vocals and you’ll get an idea of Willie Mackay’s vocal style (perhaps!) But I don’t think the band’s PA system did his vocals any justice, which was a pity.

"If it had been higher up it would have been fine" reckoned Sarah (resplendent with all her facial bruising after an accident earlier that morning in Helmsdale). I did like the set though: Dylan, Hendrix, and Credence Clearwater Revival. And once Robbie had fully unleashed his Fender Telecaster, things began to liven up.

So what did the punters make of it all?

Well Nigerian medic Cyril Omohwo was clearly impressed. "I love the music" he enthused. Avril Budge told me she’d come to Harper’s just "to hear this brilliant band". Her mate, Yvonne Bremner, was lost for words! (That’ll be a first then...)

Kevin told me he was "kinda auld fashioned" and "preferred country and western ma’sel." Which just goes to show you can’t please all the people all the time!

They did cover an Eagles country track. But every pub band these days plays "Take It Easy." And did my notes really mean to say that they "murdered" their version of "Peaceful Easy Feeling" ?

But I will say full credit to any band like Wright & Mackay that is prepared to get up there and carve out their own distinctive brand of pub music.

Too often these days, the bands on the local circuit just seem to churn out the same old guff.

I’m told the real Jethro Tull plan to get back on the road and perform their classic concept album Thick As a Brick in its entirety – for the first time since 1972. You can check them out on their world tour which takes in Japan, Belarus, Rome and Hong Kong. It just goes to show you are never "too old to rock and roll."

And even in a far north grey old town like Wick, at the end of the road to nowhere – a place where "nothing ever happens" – you can still happen upon a whole host of unlikely characters debuting – one way or another – in places like Harper’s Bar.

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