BAND: Lone Justice
VENUE: The Mean Fiddler, Willesden
DATE: May 22, 1985
PA: House System

"Isn't that Chrissie Hynde over there at the table, with Martin Chambers? And Dave Stewart with... is that Annie Lennox or is it a clone??"

It was a clone, but even so it was sure a good night for star spotting at The Mean Fiddler. Part of the restaurant area upstairs had been cordoned off as a VIP area, and from where we plebs were coarsely huddled it all looked pretty cosy and celeb filled. The place is actually quite a favourite with the Famous of Rock, and I am reliably informed that the likes of Van Morrison and Elvis Costello are far from being strangers to its charms.

LA, USA

The place was full to capacity. Famous faces merged gracefully with the honest ordinary folk of Willesden, coming happily together to pay homage to a rising young star and her band seemingly bound for success: Maria McKee and Lone Justice. The band hail from Anaheim, someways south of Los Angeles. This was a point repeatedly made clear to us by the wide eyed Maria, "We're Lone Justice, we come from Los Angeles, California, U-S-A," she kindly informed us, significantly. It was a message destined to be repeated throughout the first hour of the performance, and each time with an air of expectancy as if unleashing the power of some ancient incantation. And somehow, somewhere, people were impressed. The words "London, England" can have a similar effect on people in LA. We're hungry for the sunshine and Chevies, while they have a hankering for fog and double deckers: opposite poles locked in attraction, and so forth.

Growing up middle class in or around LA in the 80's, there ain't a lot in terms of consumables that won't have crossed your path — you don't have to be decadent to live there, but it helps. That is possibly more than a little unfair; it is undoubtedly a land of opportunities and an air of positivity certainly prevails. But so strong is the accent placed on this 'No Problem' attitude, that you can get lost in a mirage of positive platitudes that more often than not boil down to a pile of rather confusing nothing.

A lot of good earthy music was born out of hardship and poverty or some other restrictive condition that sparked a strong reaction in the writer. In middle class LA, there isn't an awful lot of overt hardship going on, and occasionally the rich are drawn to the street, or at least away from obvious sophistication, in search of their souls. It's the old 'attraction of opposites' theory again. Lone Justice appear to have found their souls in the downhome roots of Country Rock. They're all about gut reactions, emotional response, touching hearts and caring about people. This, as you will have noticed, is hardly a new theme, and in fact I doubt if it ever was actually new new. But each time another person or a new generation discovers it amid the old inner turmoil of adolescence, new life is breathed into it, and once again it sings with such singular significance. Love songs will never go out of style.

But is reviving an old form really such a laudable thing unless it's brought to bear with some real pertinence to the present day? The danger is that of self-protective indulgence and escapist sentimentalism. Maria McKee looks cute and has a great voice, but there's nothing there in the music that wasn't present in a more vital form 10 or 20 years ago. The band were okay live, but apart from Maria there's no great performance involved. "Creedeance Clearwater for the 80's," remarked a disillusioned punter. Revivalism without any forward direction doesn't seem to be the point, somehow. Unless you have it, of course, and, then, for now, that's the point.

The Fiddler

Vince Power bought the shell of what is now The Mean Fiddler in 1982 and after extensive construction and cosmetic work, opened in December of that year as a Country music venue. Originally a cinema, the place had also seen an incarnation as the Burning Spear Reggae club. Vince has modelled the Fiddler on an American Honky Tonk bar, using low intimate domestic-style lighting and lots of natural wood with railings and pews taken from an old church to section off the various areas and provide seating for the restaurant. Many of the beers sold at the two bars are US standards such as Bud(weiser) and Michelob, and although they are moving away from the Country image, the walls show a liberal smattering of stars from that genre.

The place has been designed to create a number of definite little areas, so that there's always a place to go with your drinks to get out of the way of the general throng, if that's what you want. In front of the stage is a dance/disco area with standard disco lighting including spinning spot arrays etc, and a separate sound system consisting of four full range cabs two of which contained 1 x 18, a compression driver with flare plus a bullet, with the other two housing 1 x 18 (with bass port), 1 x 10 and a bullet. Nothing more was known on that score.

Down one side wall runs a bar, and once you have your bevvies in hand, you have the option to repair to an area of relative seclusion with seats and tables running the length of the opposite wall.

Upstairs consists of a wide balcony going around the periphery of the dance area. On one side is another bar, on the other the famed restaurant/sometimes VIP area. It all makes for an unusually comfortable ambience somewhere between a club/restaurant and a concert venue; not completely unlike a compacted form of what was The Venue.

At present the wooden stage is covered in red carpet and measures about 20' x 10', although steps are being taken (or more literally, removed) to enlarge it. The rear wall, which was the screen in the original cinema, remains as a projection screen for videos that run continuously during the disco, between bands.

The bottom end of the house PA consisted of 4x JBL4560's at floor level, in a line in front of the stage. The remainder of the three-way system was flown from the balcony at two points near to the two front corners of the stage:

Bass placed centrally: Four x JBL 4560's
Mid Per Side: Two ATC (2x12) with a horn loaded compression driver.
High per side: Four Fane bullets

The FOH amps were a combination of Turner A500's and B302's driven from an SSE three-way crossover, whilst the FB, consisting of some Custom three-way wedges, was powered by a Tresham SR402.

This system was required to cover the whole venue both upstairs and down, and there were definitely some serious inconsistencies at various locations. Dave Freeth, The Fiddler's sound engineer, was very aware of these deficiencies and plans were afoot to replace the mid/high range drivers to give a wider more even dispersion and also to install full range fills to give extra clarity in the downstairs side areas.

The mixing position was slightly to one side at the rear of the main part of the club, open at the front and walled off at the sides with perspex screens to give some protection from the inquisitive tendencies of the Many Headed. The Hill 28:4:2 that sat proudly therein is apparently Cliff Richard's old desk, and like Cliff himself, all but close inspection showed few signs of ageing. Auxiliary gear consisted of a Roland 201 Space Echo, a Canary 2 x 10-band graphic for overall system correction and an ADC 2 x 10-band graphic, one side of which was used for the drum fill and the other for the monitor wedges. Available mikes consist of basic Shure and AKG dynamics which are totally adequate with this kind of system.

At that time the foldback was being controlled from one of the FOH desk's auxiliary sends, but plans were underway (this place has no shortage of plans) to install a new 12:6 board with a multicore snake so that it could be operated either from on stage or at the FOH position depending on whether or not the band brought their own engineer. Often it would be just young David on his own heaving faders and knobs about for dear life. The stage lighting, which consisted of 6x 1kw lamps, was also controlled from the FOH position with a simple six-way board about the size of a shoe box, sitting on top of the sound mixer.

For a small club with a fairly complicated physical layout, the sound wasn't altogether bad, and the additions suggested by Dave should make a marked improvement. The clients are obviously tolerably impressed, and with its comfortable feel, it's a real favourite with the record companies for showcasing bands. I have to say that if it hadn't been such an agreeable place I would probably have been even more bored by the end of the evening. Revivalism? It's almost what it used to be.