We Mavericks

Hot on the heels of Anna Massie last week, CFC swiftly follows up with a soirée of Antipodean goodness in We Mavericks. Playful banter before the evening toyed with the idea that the ‘We’ might just be like the Scottish ‘Wee’. I can report that Both Lindsay and Victoria, aforesaid Mavericks are both of conventional stature; homunculi they were not!

There is a real warmth to their stage presence, their chat is charming and we all settle in for the first tune, ‘Heart of Silver’. Lindsay is playing mandolin and Victoria has guitar and voice duties. Great sound straight away, Victoria’s voice is beautiful and her guitar playing braces the song’s elegant structure.  And… wow Lindsay can play that mandolin.

Lindsay is from Australia, Victoria is from New Zealand and they got together at New Zealand’s Wellington Fest dubbed Wellyfest - on account of the occasional shower.

They have much in common background-wise and we find that they are both exactly the same height. Handy, they jape, if they run out of and have to borrow clothes from each other on the road.

‘Ask us anything’ Lindsay says openly, we’re always up for a chat. Playing once in Germany he tells us that a voice at the back asked if ‘they were together’… good question. And another question received via their website was from a fan asking ‘I planted some seeds and have lost the packet… what was it’. Great question, next time I do that I’ll know who to ask.

‘Negative’ is a great song. Victoria is the We Mavericks songwriter and the material certainly comes from a personal space, analytical, an eye that does not flinch.

‘It’s a picture in negative, developed,

Stuck in a scrapbook,

and it looked good, and it was good,

but its boxed up, and it's lost now

and all we have left is the negative’

They say to write about what you know, Victoria does that and it veins the work with an authenticity and proper meaning.

On ‘Paper Darts’ Lindsay moves to violin. I’d say violin rather than fiddle because his playing doesn’t sound particularly traddy… checking their website I see that he is classically trained… ah that makes sense... and… what a player, absolutely masterful!

Trad is visited in their take on ‘The Bonny Light Horseman’ the traditional English/ Irish folk ballad of a woman mourning her love who was killed fighting against Napoleon's forces.

Their original tunes are a quilt of seamlessly woven styles, at once country, at once bluegrassy, at once folky, often even poppy, but always the sound of We Mavericks.

And as reward for the Antipodean duo’s efforts at the Community Hall, the roomful of Crail denizens clapped and – not often heard – thunderously stamped their little feet as one to secure one last tune before curtain. A truly joyous night, all would agree!

Photos by Peter Salkeld, word by Callum MacLeod