Barber Shop Podcast

Martin Verrall is an interesting dude, and what you see isn't necessarily what you get. Vested and feted as an artist and writer, the poetry he creates has been made into music here for the better part of three decades. Think equal parts Cohen, Dillon, Strummer and Aqualung - Verrall has worked with some of the best in the music business and some who have no business being musicians. His gravely raspy vocal slur and layered lyrical landscapes are at once sweet and brutal. The niceties of music completely lost on his singular fractured vision. Dark, haunting imagery interspersed with beautiful truths via the fractured mirror we view our experience mark the signature features of Martin Verrall's music regardless of who he is playing with and what stage of his career you might be listening too. Raven's Request is an ensemble of sound makers and shape shifters who's names might change here and there but whose mission is always loud and clear, a tour de' force of both rapiers and artillery. Comprising Mike Williams in bass, Christopher Wilson on guitar and his fine wife Monica Wilson on drums this visit, Raven's Request make hay on some of Martin's music and pour the coal on hand over fist. Loud and swilly, pensive and petulant, sharp and slightly dulled the whole crew does a great job this fine spring night answering the riddle that is Martin Verrall.