Army of the Broken Hearted

[st_martin_a]

Ben Blower & the Army of the Broken Hearted played the Cafe Garden Kitchen in Birmingham last night – coolest band in the world. A harmonica player with a Salvador Dali tash and beard; a drummer playing a drum kit that was made of a cardboard box, a tambourine and a syrup can; three hippy chicks singing and playing an assortment of percussion - a washboard, one of those Russian dolls (with rice in it as a shaker), and a tin of celebrations with a drum stick (which was bashed into a pulp by the end of the night). The singer looked like Richard Hammond but sounded like a cross between Tom Robinson and Tom Waits. With thoughtful lyrics and a wierd bluesey folk sound they got the audience to join in with various home-made percussion instruments to complete the line-up of the band - an army of broken hearted people. Fantastic.