I had just popped out for a quick pint on a quiet Saturday night to my local; there is normally a band on at the weekend, but this 5 piece band struck me as being different as soon as I clapped eyes on them. There were two fiddles, and a didgeridoo standing in the corner along with the usual guitar/bass/drums/keyboards. In addition the lead singer/fiddle player was a drop dead gorgeous woman in her early twenties, the other fiddler was a guy with cotton bud hair and a mad shirt, the drummer had on some kind of Black Death Metal T shirt and Pink spiky hair, everyone else looked (fairly) normal!

Enough of appearances, what about their music? This band are either all paranoid or they just like to write songs about subjects no-one else think of writing about! The first number was an original ska song called “Stress” with a blistering guitar solo and a hook in the chorus that many people in the audience had picked up by the 2nd time around

“Stress . . .Hiding in the bushes

Stress . . Hanging in the trees

Stress . . Waiting for to get me . . .”

Hot on it’s heels was another self penned number called “Don’t Go Looking’ at me”. A frenetic number with hoedown harmony fiddles and vocals, and another hooky chorus line over a fast ska beat which had the audience singing along. A departure from Ska at this point with an instrumental called “Morning Dew” Vic the gorgeous singer swopped the fiddle for the keyboard and the band launched into an instrumental - a pair of Irish reels treated to a funky Latin backing. The band then performed a version of Dionne Warwick’s classic “Walk on By”, with Vic doing a great job on the vocals, and the rest of the band doing her justice. Following was a version of Nancy Sinatra’s “These boots are made for Walking” with an interesting middle section that sounded like something from an Austin Powers movie! The band then shifted dramatically into a Hungarian Gypsy Dance Tune “Czardas” which was nothing short of fantastic – the violin dived and flew over the scales, from slow passages with misty accompaniment to frantic ska for the frenetic bow bouncing passages. Chimera then performed another original – this one called “Angry” which was an out and out rock number, complete with wah wah fiddle and shredding guitar solos. The final number was another twin fiddle piece with harmony vocals, a rendition of the Hebrew Folk Song “Hava Neguila”, with twin fiddles and harmony vocals, which left the audience hollering for more. The Band encored with another original, an eccentric little number called “Weather in Yorkshire” with a folk tune stuck over a Caribbean groove. A couple of lines from this one stood out for me,

“I love to stand under dark grey clouds

Swim in the river when it’s cold and brown

Run about in wellies with no clothes on

On cold frosty days in winter”

Seriously though, the band went down really well, they made a lot of effort to relate and the audience responded really well. I went home that night feeling I had been thoroughly entertained! The quality pf vocals and musicianship in Chimera is really high, and as I said, they work hard to please the audience great vocals, great solos and great rhythm section. Catch this band if you can at your nearest music venue, you will not be disappointed!