Slate Trio

Guitarist Neil Smith (best-known for his work with This Is The Kit, as well as The Brackish, Sliders and Helele ) leads this instrumental trio featuring truly exceptional drummer Matthew Jones (The Brackish, Nuala Honan ) & multitalented bassist Alex Heane (Rachael Dadd, Baldhu ). With influences ranging from jazz, psych & systems music, motorik, funk and African rhythms to John Scofield & Thurston Moore, you're in for an angular, pointy, and occasionally hard'n'heavy treat. Gig review by Tony Benjamin... 'Slamming straight into the poignantly-titled Hippies Need Houses the trio set out their stall: hyper-manic guitar bursts, slam beat drumming, sudden mood swings and moments of melodic beauty. It was a formula that ran through the rest of the set, a fine balance between collective interactions, tight scored passages and free improvisation. Neil has an almost infinite grasp of what the electric guitar can do, with the minimum of peda…