The Undercover Hippy / The Bodega / Nottingham

Apr 10

Apr 10 The Undercover Hippy / The Bodega / Nottingham

Back to the Bodega on Pelham Street for a show I’ve been looking forward to for ages – The Undercover Hippy. With door late opening, we only had 20mins or so to wait for the support act to hit the stage and up stepped State of Satta.

Usually I like to listen to support acts before the night, but this time I just didn’t get chance so was in for a real surprise.

A seven piece reggae / SKA beat band, crammed onto the small stage !!! Right from the off, you could tell that they simply love performing, all moving to the reggae beats with big grins on their faces. Singler and guitarist Yotam Sigwalt was a revelation, with a strong vocal performance that sounded more mature than his years would appear, with a wonderful reggae draw to his style. The sound is smooth and seductive and you just can’t help moving to the groove. Interacting with the crowd throughout, encouraging us to dance and join in with vocal sections, the room was soon bouncing

Emyr (trumpet) and Aidan (trombone) added to the depth of their sound, the crowd fed off this and enthusiastically joined in. Most of the set were tracks pulled from their 2022 EP “We Still Move” and the highlights for me were Flip the Switch (worth buying the EP just for this one !) and Strong as Lions. Luke on bass had some issues with a dodgy cable and spent some time at the amp swapping cables, and found himself tied to it with a short cable that worked. Despite this, the band made light of and played off it, making it feel almost part of the fun / experience.

For the final track Yotam led the band members down off the stage into the crowd to play, although poor Luke stuck on the edge of the stage lol. The crowd were dancing, the band were smiling and it was such a shame the set had to end.

A brilliantly fun experience, delivered by a bunch of lads who love their art. I came away with their EP in hand thinking I’d found my new favourite band….. I can’t recommend State of Satta highly enough. Catch them on tour in this spring/summer if you can at:

04/05 – The Big Difference – Leicester

05/05 - Northern Quarter – Huddersfield

06/05 – New Aldelphi Club – Hull

12/05 – The Ferret – Preston

13/05 – The Crescent – York

19/05 – Shrewsbury – Alberts Shed

20/05 – The Lost Arc – Rhayader

27/05 – Kings – Dundee

02/06 – Whitby Brewery – Whitby

03/06 – Cobalt Studios – Newcastle

23/06 – Telfords Warehouse – Chester

21/07 – Mr Wolfs – Bristol

22/07 – Magic Garden - London

Set List

Windblows

Moonlight Bubaloo (We Still Move EP 2022)

Flip the Switch (We Still Move EP 2022)

Para Bailar (‘to dance’ in english)

Find a Way (Latest single 2023)

Strong as Lions (We Still Move EP 2022)

Bongo Bong (Manu Chau cover)

Dub Panther

Phew, after that time for a rest….. not a chance, a very quick turn round and The Undercover Hippy (aka MC turned Singer-Songwriter Billy Rowan) is on stage tuning up and raring to go. It’s kind of hard to slot The Undercover Hippy into any particular genre. Mixing uptempo ska (such as Death of Guiotar Pop), a heavy reggae influence and hip hop and mixing it all together with a hard hitting political message about the state of society and politics today, with the intensity of Billy Bragg and Sleaford Mods). It’s a bright, danceable reggae protest song !

The latest album “Poor Little England” has just landed, and a fair part of the set comes from the latest release. It’s clear that Billy is frustrated with the world, and also the pandemic and isolation, during which much of the new material was written, but delivered with a sense of fun.

Relaxed and at easy Billy interacted and talked with the crowd throughout, and for several of the songs Aidan and Emyr from State of Satta joined to provide the brass sections, such as on the opening tracks Poor Little England and Coming to the Gambia.

Hippy Dude is a delightful and quirky track, Billy’s take on the odd Hippy Guy you meet at festivals who promises to use his skills to bring back your karma, but in reality turns out to be a bit creepy.

Both his recent singles Hey Boy and Greed made an appearance. Hey Boy is about the impact of the pandemic and when low, hiding your face in the screen of a mobile phone, and getting lost in a made-up, unreal world taking selfies and sharing them on apps such as Tik-Tok, creating a false reality and the lyrics encourage the listener to ditch the phone and play boy…..

Borders is dedicated to those fleeing violence and the crowd start a chant of fu&k the Tories, and the band join in, delivering a reggae anti-establishment chant !

Greed is perhaps his most politically charged track, taking aim and discharging both barrels at the pandemic and it’s impact on musicians and the industry, targeting the poor leadership “When you look at New Zealand or Japan, and then you hear Boris banging on about his world beating plan. The only field wed’re winning in, is Covid deaths per million”…. I loved the line “They promise you greed is the answer, but I’m telling you that greed is the cancer”. This one has one of the funniest Spitting Image style impressions of Boris Johnson I’ve heard. Great stuff.

There is something infectious about the rhythm and everyone in the house is moving and singing along, in particular to his anthemic track Boyfriend. The time just flies by and before you know it we reach the final tracks. First up is Fool Britania a fun take on the state of the nation. With lyrics that sum it up perfectly “We’ll all be singing Rule Britannia, rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. As we set the sails ablaze, and then sink beneath the waves, the crowd cries Fool Britannia, Fool Britannia yea”. A metaphor for our relationship with Brexit perhaps ? Finally Last Chance to Dance from 2014’s album “Monkey Suit” a brilliant fast intense number encouraging everyone to get up and dance like it’s your last chance to. A perfect ending.

I don’t think there’s anything quite like The Undercover Hippy… It’s truly unique….. fun and powerful and hard hitting lyrics in equal amounts set to a reggae beat that’s simply infectious. Set alongside State of Satta, this has been one of the THE most enjoyable shows I’ve been to…. In years. Can’t wait to see both again real soon.

Set List

Poor Little England

Coming to the Gambia

Not My Place

Hippy Dude

Hey Boy

Borders

These Days

Mate Like That

Truth & Fiction

Greed

Rise & Fall