They introduced themselves to me at the start of our interview, though in truth we have all known each other for some time. “My name is Pete Slater,” said the one I have known for about five years, “and I am The Muse, a man of words.” “And my name is John Blackneck Matthews,” said the one I have known for around six months. “and I am The Blues, a man of music.” So, I now call my friends by a different name, for together they have formed Muse And Blues, a unique fusion of spoken poetry and eight and twelve bars and shuffles like those of JJ Cale or Seasick Steve. Rochdale first saw Muse And Blues at the June folk ‘n poetry night at The Baum, and those of us who know Pete for his heartfelt and often quite personal poetry were amazed by how the music added myth, magic and mystery to his words. “Pete and I had known each other for maybe forty years, but had lost touch,” explained Blues, “but we recently found each other again on Facebook. Muse asked me if I would play some music behind one of his poems at a local reading and Muse And Blues just grew out of that.” At club level the relationship between guitar and spoken word is often one of convenience, but Muse And Blues is obviously a marriage made in heaven. The chugging guitar work constantly pushes words along without ever seeking to usurp them and somehow the poetry, set to these insistent rhythms, sounds older, as if being read from some dusty love letters found in a gin joint or delta bar. “We’re playing all over the place now,” said Blues, “and people seem to be enjoying it, and we’re enjoying it. It’s what we want to do. We’re going to get the name out there as a concept, if you like. Muse And Blues.” They are indeed ‘playing all over the place’, having recently appeared on North Manchester FM Radio and being scheduled to appear on series five of all across the arts when it returns to The Crescent Community Radio in August. Muse admitted that Blues has ‘filled out’ his poetry. “I always enjoy reading my poetry, but unaccompanied I realised it was becoming a little bit one-dimensional,” said Muse. “I had previously looked for guitarists to play beside me and there were lots of discussions but nothing came from them. I read one poem to John and asked him what he could play, and he did something incredible and asked if that was what I was looking for.” “My music now has more direction now,” interrupted Blues. “I’m beginning to feel like a working musician again, not just a bloke playing the guitar in his bedroom. The spoken word adds to what I play. We haven’t invented the talking-blues, of course, but talking blues songs were usually written as a whole, rather than as a lyric and music separately.” continues on following page As this interview was being conducted in what Muse jokingly referred to as ‘the cathedral like silence’ of Beans café in Number One Riverside, I am reminded that at last year’s Literature and Ideas Festival held at this venue, there was a mediated debate about whether or not the addition of music could ever enhance poetry. “Debate over,” roared Muse. “Music absolutely can enhance poetry, and I’d like to think we are living proof of that. The sound we have come up with just clicked. We have never had a wrong word about what we are trying to do. The combined sound is complementary to both my Muse and to John’s Blues.” I was one of the panellists at that debate last year and argued passionately for the fusion of music and words. Had I have heard Muse And Blues back then I would have invited them to play and rested my case.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 08:51:50 +0000
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