Chapstick & Swing Set Green – Live at The Toff : Gig Review

The Toff. Wednesday night. I’m hoping it isn’t about to end prematurely – the bouncer is taking an uncomfortably long time to check my ID. He stares at the card. Back at me. At the card again…“Wow, you really look a lot like Prince here, buddy!”…. Wonderful!

I casually laugh it off and start up the heavy staircase, also ignoring the ever-out-of-service elevator. Upstairs there’s a line waiting to pay the $10 entry, and inside is even more packed. I snake my way to the bar (managing to knock into only 4 people along the short journey), with the crowd now breeding my hopes that I’m in for a treat.

I soon find out that the room has a throng of music students amongst it, having spoken to a few whom I’ve known since a while back. I also discover many are friends, or friends of friends, of this evenings’ first act, the good-looking duo Chapstick, comprising afro-haired singer-guitarist Hamish Brooke, and cute sister Maddy on drums. Despite their set being almost all covers, Chapstick fail to let my hopes down. In fact, they are nothing short of entertaining. As are Hamish’s red tartan slacks and homemade Chapstick t-shirt.

Hamish truely has an impressive voice; the kind that makes other singers either work ten times harder, or resign themselves to the fact that they’ll never be quite as good. They do justice to a range of covers from bands including Mumford & Sons, The Beatles, and The White Stripes, but the one original song in their set is my highlight. Apparently penned for a friend’s wedding, and about the love and joy of unity, it is perfectly written to show off Hamish’s Jeff Buckley-esque tones and beautiful falsetto. Discounting my being likened to a certain diminutive purple purveyor of pop, the night is off to a fantastic start.

Swing Set Green - Wednesday night residents at The Toff

February Wednesday residents Swing Set Green don’t take long to take the stage. They begin with a few bluesy guitar lines before vocalist Lewis Farman strolls on and eases us into a set of well-crafted, very radio friendly pop songs. They are ultra-tight, and there is no doubting their musicality, but the consensus amongst the audience is that there is something lacking. Maroon 5 are a band that springs to mind when I hear their first song. There is one problem however – we can’t all look like Adam Levine.

Unfortunate as it is, throughout their set I find myself more amused observing the three clearly inebriated girls dancing with eachother front of stage. And I found it slightly uncomfortable when Lewis announced that they were all gonna “get it on” or something to this effect. Let it be known that Lewis was joking, but there is such a thing as too much audience participation. So despite their best efforts, my internal monologue could only rehearse what to say to the attractive blonde standing to my right (for those interested, I went with an Ellen DeGeneres joke about the aforementioned girls..never fails), and I found it hard staying focused on the band.

Strangely, my set highlight for the headliners is a cover of Eleanor Rigby, which allows classically trained guitarist/violinist Hugh Middleton to implement his competence with a bow over the bands’ lush vocal harmonies. As I previously mentioned, there is no doubting that these boys have serious talent, and I feel that they, if not this band, will all find success somewhere in the music business.

So having said all this, If having a drink and a chat with a few friends sounds like something you’d be interested in, then head down to the Toff next Wednesday and Swing Set Green will provide a suitably pleasant, bright pop soundtrack. But definitely watch out for the quirky Hamish Brooke of Chapstick, I predict a bright future for this young man.