Murkage Dave - Strange Brew - 21st October 2022

A journeyman poet, Murkage Dave paints a landscape of the easy life: it’s all about easy charm and easier conversation. It’s a casual philosophy, perhaps best reflected in his song ‘I Had A Nice Time But I Won’t Be Back’. Mattresses without sheets don’t bother him, and neither do girls who’d rather leave him behind. There’s a devil-may-care attitude that’s at odds with his performance, which is knotted with nervousness.

It’s more like a duet with the crowd than a call and response. There’s a person on the fringe of every collective who has come out to see him. The devotees range from twenty-year-olds in Stone Island jackets to older creatives sipping glasses of white wine. Murkage Dave touches blindly through his search for intimacy at any cost, leading his crowd by the arm on his travels.

The intimacy of the venue provides the set with a conversational quality. Someone passes him a drink; someone else proposes marriage while her husband stands by. The audience count him in their numbers; they know him as intimately as if they’d come to the show with him to see somebody else.

The new album, ‘The City Needs A Hero’, features a song called ‘Every Statue Must Come Down’; it’s a searing indictment on England’s history, and is all the more relevant when one thinks back to Bristol’s own decision to topple slave trader Edward Colston’s statue into the harbour back in the yesteryear of 2020. It shows a new dimension to Murkage Dave’s outlook; someone who can love this city without ignoring its dark history.

The gig is an odyssey experience through his heroes and inspirations, in keeping with the album he’s on tour for. He explains that part of the reason he’s so nervous is because he’s just met one of his heroes backstage; it’s Daddy G, founding member of Massive Attack. He dedicates the show to artist and native Big Jeff. He’s a mainstay of the Bristol music scene, who was recently involved in a housefire, and who the arts community rallied around. It’s often said that one only knows if they’re at the right gig in this city if Big Jeff is there too; with the shoutout he receives, he’s there, strong in spirit.