11 November 2006
C.R. Avery Band 
The show will start with a lone man walking on to the stage, in the shabby ripped denim and punched-in, brimmed hat of a hobo, The man approaches the microphone and pulls out a harmonica. Without a word he blows a few easy notes, to test that the mike is on and the audience is listening. The easy notes develop into a sunny melody. Suddenly he busts into an aggressive beat-box rhythm through the harmonica while still carrying the sunny melody. The silence of the audience breaks and cheers ring out as a wave of electricity washes through. The audience now knows that the man on stage is for real and what he is doing is different from what they have seen before. Next the man is reaching around his back and pulling out a small, red, guitar-sized keyboard. He starts playing the keyboard along with the rest of the music, becoming a one-man band, doing all three things at the same time. And then, on top of all that, he starts singing.
Cover Charge £4
Download flash
Video
CR Avery - Disclosure
Get the latest Flash Player here
CR Avery - I Wonder
Get the latest Flash Player here
CR Avery - News Travels Fast
Get the latest Flash Player here
Reviews
Review - CR Avery Band by Dave Allen
The Waiting Room Cabaret Suite/performance space was packed again for Vancouver's CR Avery Band - people were sitting on strangers knees and hanging from expensive light fittings, brazenly looking for a superior vantage of British Columbia's premier Beat-box Beat Poet. CR had been here before with the magnificent Fugitives, and their charismatic performances were highlights of previous WFS seasons. Jaws were duly slackened when CR began. Spitting out an un-nervingly convincing drum pattern while singing in the unlikeliest of gaps, he then added organ on a tiny keytar before ripping into an angry blues harmonica solo. Name-checking Kerouac and Cassady, Johnny Cash and June Carter; CR Avery's songs conjure up images of the open road and long, lonesome rides on freight trains bound for anywhere but here, all magnetically deliverered. The band were somehow tight AND loose with guitarist Noah Walker providing some truly unpredictable twanging and Bassist Paul Surjadinata pulling some classic bass-playing faces. The songs were honest, funny, thrilling and sad, and the people in Teesside's favourite back room loved every minute. My sources close to the management suggest that The CR Avery Band may be back at The Waiting Room in the spring; make sure that you and your loved ones are there. D.A.
