Tom Olesen heads down to the Book Club for the Banana Klan takeover.
The Banana Klan bring their ample bunch to the excellent Book Club for four events in 2010. The first of these was always set to be a bit of a roadblock, as is any event with Roots Manuva's name on the flyer. But this isn't an event where Roots Manuva is the focus; instead it's legendary one hit wonder Dawn Penn that tops the bill, with the criminally unsung Ricky Ranking and the soulful Connie Bell completing the roster.
On walking down the stairs into the dark belly of the Book Club the first thing you're greeted by is a graffiti mural of Roots Manuva welcoming you to the second thing: a wall of bass and an atmosphere solid with a fog of sweat. It's Soul Jazz's 'bPm' on the decks and he's rolling out the dub-heavy bashment from a booth stuffed full of Banana Klan members (including Roots Manuva who's managing to pull off a very shiny suit), whilst on the intimate little stage, toasting comes courtesy of Ricky Ranking and Connie Bell. Bpm plays winning tune after winning tune, all in a fusion of styles that defines the night. Hip hop, dancehall, and dub meet bashment and crunk. Bass is the unifying factor here.
In the Book Club, the Banana Klan seem to have found a perfect home. It's got to be one of the best venues in Shoreditch these days. The door staff are professional and attitude free, the bar staff are all smiley and quick, the sound is adequate upstairs and really good downstairs. The only real problem is the abject lack of air conditioning downstairs which is a sweat-lodge for the whole night. Many of us love a good sauna as much as the next Swede, but that doesn't mean we want to spend a whole evening in one, clothed! Thankfully there is the light and airy upstairs to escape to, where DJs are keeping it equally light and airy with classic reggae and funk.
Dawn Penn's slot is short, particularly as she's the headliner, but then her back catalogue is not exactly known for its depth, and what she does do is good and well received. DJ MK is Mr. Consistent as always, and brings more of a hip hop vibe to proceedings. Really though, despite being the Banana Klan night, it could equally well have been called the Ricky Ranking show. He's on stage almost the whole night, and this is far from being a criticism. His career has spanned the whole of the musical story that is being told to us in the Book Club tonight, from King Tubby's soundsystem to his work with The Bug on the 'London Zoo' album, and it does seem appropriate for him to be compering the evening rather than that young whipper snapper Mr. Manuva. Connie Bell provides welcome vocal bits and pieces to proceedings as well as a big grin for most of the evening.
In fact most people here are smiling the night away. There is a house party atmosphere to the whole thing: a total lack of pretension or bad attitudes. It's not presented as an 'us the artists and you the crowd' thing; it's much more of 'we the people' vibe. As such there is a freestyle session at the end which welcomes all comers, and some familiar faces bless the crowd with their vocal talents, rounding off an excellent evening.
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