A Farewell To Fuzzface

Going along to see any band at the Arts Centre always feels more like an event than a mere gig, and that was never to be truer than last night as one of the greatest, and most exciting, bands to come out of Colchester took to the stage one final time. Yes, sadly it’s true that all good things must come to an end, and last night we were gathered to say a fond farewell to Fuzzface as the band members prepare to go their separate ways.

Although they haven’t really been together as a band for the past year or so Ady Johnson (vocals, guitar), Matt ‘Reverend’ Simpkins (vocals, Hammond organ, guitar) Toby Bull (vocals,bass) and Mark Turnbull (drums) decided to delight Colchester’s music lovers one final time before fondly saying goodbye and good luck to Matt, who is soon to move away from Colchester  for  three years of study for his ordination as an Anglican priest.

Timing is everything in life, so with my usual bad timing we missed the support act, up and coming Wivenhovian singer/songwriter Lou Terry, and arrived just in time to grab a drink from the bar and brace ourselves for a veritable feast of organ driven rock ‘n’ roll.

It wasn’t long before Fuzzface took to the stage and set about delivering the kind of set that they have been delighting gig goers with since they got together back in 2001. Well two sets to be precise, with a short bar/toilet break between the two, because if this was to be their final ever gig then they weren’t going to be teasing the crowd with a forty minute affair and leaving us begging for more. No sir, Fuzzface were going out in style with a set containing all the fan’s favourites, and no doubt their own too, for a good hour and a half.

Now, if you’ve never seen Fuzzface before, and have only ever seen Ady Johnson performing his own solo material, alone on the stage with his acoustic guitar, or sometimes with backing from Surfquake’s Nelson on double bass and Toby Bull on the trumpet, it might have been quite a surprise to see him in full rock ‘n’ roll mode brandishing a Gibson SG as they belted out a mouth-watering set that seamlessly blended rock, indie and soul with influences drawn from, amongst others, the likes of Blur, The Kinks, Small Faces, The Jam and The Stooges, with the sheer driving power of Matt Simpkin’s Hammond organ making it all the more delicious. They were clearly enjoying their big night. And so were we.

If any of the fan’s favourites were missed out it would have been hard to tell. I Can’t Let You Go, Not Now I’m In a Hot Tub… in fact too many to name check them all. They were all there. Played with rafter rattling energy until finally it ended, after a second encore, with a theatrical bow to the crowd who, to be honest, would have stood there all night if they would have carried on playing.

But it was time to say goodbye.

As I briefly chatted to Colchester’s Mr Cool, Ben Howard, afterwards a young guy commented to him “That was amazing! I can’t believe I never saw them before.” “And you won’t see them again” I thought,” nor will any of us. So cherish the memories of this night.”

I run Media48, a Colchester based graphic and website design and marketing agency where we know a thing or two about how to market a business. If you would like to find out more about what we can do for your business then give us a call on 0800 756 1470 (we even pay for the call) or email me simon@media48.co.uk