Greg Murray and The Seven Wonders stuns Artisan Tap with Nick Degg poet support

I love an unconventional gig, and what’s more non-conformist than a pub decorated with dismembered dolls, a spoken word poet and an eight-piece Irish/Americana indie rock supergroup?

On Thursday evening, I headed back to Artisan Tap following a stellar Camp Stag gig a few weeks back, to catch James Gregory Murray and The Seven Wonders, otherwise known as Greg Murray and The Seven Wonders, or GM7W – and it was wonder they promised, and wonder they certainly delivered.

Opening up the show was Newcastle-based poet Nick Degg, who immediately captured the hearts of the Potteries audience with my personal favourite I Come From A Town, a wonderful piece about the decimation of the traditional industries, and the creativity of its inhabitants, Stoke-on-Trent’s heritage, and the resilience and grit of its working-class residents, followed by the equally well received and comical Oatcake Man.

Nick’s first affinity with poetry was at a young age upon reading Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat, and with this gig falling on World Book Day, it all felt rather fitting. In his teenage years, he became influenced by Roger McGough, and later started to attend poetry slams around the country.

But during the pandemic, the wordsmith was made redundant from his technical engineering job, but ‘full of resilience, creativity and brilliance, Nick refused to be down on that floor and went full time as a spoken word artist, attending schools, libraries and writing books becoming his full-time career.

The 58-year-old earned ‘aws’ from the engaged crowd as he recited lyrical rhythmic anecdotes about his first love, his teen love and the woman he went on to marry, before pulling a clown horn from his pocket like a magician unveiling a rabbit from a hat to quick fire short surreal poems that had all those in attendance in stitches.

Happy poems, sad poems, side-splitting laughing poems – Nick has them all. There was a really touching moment during the set, though, where Nick read out a poem from fellow wordsmith The Trent Vale Poet, Mark Bailey, who sadly passed away in 2018. He followed with a touching original tribute to the local legend entitled The Light’s Gone Out.

Nick has always enjoyed pushing the boundaries of poetry, and so he closed his set with a piece about crisps, followed by a poem with no words. You heard me correctly, not a single word. Instead, Nick whistles down the microphone in tuneful note, and yet, despite not uttering a single sentence – each person in the room seemed to understand just what had been said.

He closed his set with a lighthearted poem about regional accents, which signalled the end of his first performance as part of his A-Z tour.

The A-Z tour began at Artisan Tap, and spans 26 dates at 26 venues, offering 26 chances to see his hilarious word jumbling. What’s more is that each and every one of them is in alphabetical order, which Nick said had ‘taken some doing’.

Ending with “Zest for life” at Newcastle Library on May 30, Nick will make his way through towns like Burslem and Clayton, Kidsgrove and Leek, while other letters come in the form of venues like Port Vale and Quarter at Potbank. You can keep up to date with the three-month tour on Nick’s socials.

Onto the stage squeezed no fewer than eight musicians and their instruments as Greg Murray and The Seven Wonders settled into their foot-square spots for the night. It had been a tight fit for five-piece Camp Stag just two weeks earlier, and it was no easy task for GM7W, either, complete with two sets of keys, four guitars, trumpet, drums and space for amps, pedals and additional instruments like accordion and some rather unusual recorder-looking apparatus, harmonica and tambourines – everything but the kitchen sink, really.

Born in Northern Ireland but settled in Stoke-on-Trent, Greg Murray picked up his first guitar at the age of 14 and put it straight back down again, but growing up around live music sessions in his dad’s bar listening to his family singing and playing Irish favourites, it was no surprise that he soon picked up the string instrument once more.

Greg’s discography spans some 20 years now, and over the years he has recruited a fantastic band of friends, which he leads with charisma and Northern Irish charm.

It’s the band’s first time playing The Artisan Tap, though you’d never have thought it. They looked comfortable on the comically small stage as they held inside jokes with friends and family in the audience, a string of fairy lights illuminating the vocalist’s face.

They kicked off the night with Love As If, followed by Pretend They Love You and If You Love Me Let Me Know. If we were in a pub quiz, one might ask what links these tracks, but it’s obvious. It was felt all around that cosy, quirky pub.

After a personal loss, Greg channelled the negative emotions in his life into something that he could manage and cope with, which is so beautifully reflected in their music, their lyrics filled with faith, and melodies of positivity. It almost felt biblical at times, the congregation having gathered to share in this wondrous experience.

Greg has a simply stunning way with words, brought to life by the menagerie of musicians beside him, influenced by a number of genres from Americana and latino, to alternative indie rock, but each and every one of them has this Irish twang that makes it feel like a jig, and it’s impossible not to tap your toes to. From ballads to barn-dances, ‘death country’ to reggae folk, it’d be redundant to say that they’re the best at what they do, because I’m not sure anyone else does it.

The set continued in fairly fast succession, Show and Tell, Edge and Lay Your Head Down making way for World Stealer and May God Grant Him. Huge soaring positive choruses are a signature of GM7W, the symphony of instruments not far from an orchestra filling the room with optimism and hope. Greg has oft been known to say: “The secret of life – is having a wee bit of hope.”

At some point during the 23-track setlist – yes 23 – a number of tambourines were passed into the audience, which were enthusiastically shaken, tapped and shimmied for the remainder of the two-hour set.

I’ve been to a number of gigs where you might find yourself watching the clock wondering when that final track may come after only 45 minutes, but at Artisan Tap, the energy was just something else, and as I looked around the room and the music lovers fully immersed in the music, hearts well and truly full, I realised that I was witness to something incredibly special.

People laughed, listened and danced to uplifting heart-warming melodies and life-affirming lyrics as glasses steamed up and beers were sunk, you really can’t help but feel the message of love and light that radiates from the soundwaves they produce.

Earnest and emotional, heartfelt and awe-inspiring, Greg Murray and The Seven Wonders fostered an other-worldly warm glow of an atmosphere at Artisan Tap. If I didn’t know before, I know how they got their name now.