The Standard Inn on The Mint started its Summer Music Club on Wednesday June 14 with the local blues act King Size Slim.
Tony Barelli, the Hastings local behind King Size Slim, played an eclectic blues set that at times swooned into inspirational gospel and reggae. The songs were a mesmerising mix of original material and covers such as a touching rendition of Bob Marley & the Wailer’s Redemption Song and a sing-a-long of the Beatles’ Twist and Shout.
Playing the set on a distinctive steel guitar that creates a heavy acoustic sound, King Size Slim won the British Blues Award for Emerging Artist in 2014 and plays gigs in Hastings and across the southeast.
The Summer Music Club is on the second Wednesday of each month at 8pm and is curated by local musician Phil Law, who this week paired up with superb guitarist Steve Stone to open the set. Next month’s act is world music aficionados Los Twangueros, who create a “soundscape of musical styles from all over the world to lose yourself to”. What more could you ask for on a Wednesday evening?
Photo: Kevin McCarthy