Mother Black Cap 4 Play Prog Reading 2nd November 2025
Mother Black Cap 4 Play Prog Reading 2nd November
This is a first for me Mother Black Cap have been around in existence for almost 20 years now. Yet this is the first time I will have actually seen them live, MBC hail from Norfolk and are a 4piece band of guitarist Martin Nico, Keyboard player Bob Connell Bass Player Andy “Fizz “ Bye and Drummer Martyn ‘Mac’ McCarthy they also aided by the support of “Alan” who lends support by running the visual elements of the band with his store man’s coat, flat Cap, clipboard and most importantly his ruler and flip chart. Alan’s presence and character is what really lends itself to the bands accessibility, I’ll explain about this further on .
The band begin with a short introductory statement from Alan that tells you what you are going to hear the band the commence with the song Breydon Sunrise, this has arpeggio’s from Martin then some keyboards from Bob then a flowing guitar line from Martin, Bob adds some meaty organ to the sound as bassist Andy sings the song clearly, after some rippling piano from Bob the sound changes as it take a Triumphant tone this sounds really good and strong.
Next, we have the reappearance of Alan with a flip chart, Martins tells us is going to detail a typical Prog song, this will contain six elements which I list here
1/ Pompous overblown introduction (obligatory)
2/ Weird Funky Part this will include some funky guitar playing and some almost Honky Tonk Piano
3/ Ambient Moody Part with delay on the guitar and atmospheric keyboards
4/ Out Of Context Time and Key section, This has a very classic Rock sound to it
5/ Return To The Main Theme But With Added Loudness
6/ The extended Outro to make the song up to Ten minutes in length
These observations are both funny and mainly true! I nothing this could help newcomers understand what prog is all about it was funny and spot on with the observations.
After this Bob spoke about the joys of being a keyboard player in a prog band and how it enriched his life away from his day job of being a driving instructor as he introduced the song Living laid back , this gad a Dreamy opening and moved along nicely with great guitar, solid bass drums and keyboards with a fine synth solo, followed by a good guitar solo.
Next song was Modern World taken from their Energy album, available at the merchandise desk!
This had a good opening section of guitar riffs and piano lines, whilst the mid-section had a touch of Genesis and a fine fluid guitar break , Alan comes back on stage with a sign that reads Yes, we've got a bell still cos it’s Prog .
The next song Home sees the band assemble around an imaginary camp fire they couldn’t have a real one due to health and safety regulations you see, this see martin switch to acoustic guitar and Martyn using a tea chest as a drum whilst bob plays piano to the side,
This group don’t take themselves too seriously but they take their music seriously, the next song Caveman TV sees the band encouraging everyone to wave the homemade MCP scarves like at a football match,
The final song is called Bastards and has the memorable chorus of “don’t let the bastards grind you down” in the last part of the song the band come off stage and sing accompanied only by Martins acoustic guitar it really is most effective and ends what has been a really great set from Mother Black Cap who truly are a real experience I very much enjoyed it and hope to see them again before too long.
Their blend of self-deprecating humour is a real winner and their music is very good indeed they are a very talented group and Alan is a real star and asset to them
Excellent. And yes I did visit the merchant desk to buy their cds! 3 for £20 – bargain!
I recommend thisband to you all. Result and at least one new fan in me.
Check them out here:www..motherblackcap.co.uk
The star that is Alan - Mother Black Caps secret weapon of prog !
John Wenlock- Smith Progressive Voyages.