The Mams at the Kilkenny Cat

There was a real buzz around gig goers in Llanelli last weekend as a band of middle-aged men, clad in denim played their first gig in town for many years. Yes, The Mams returned to their spiritual home of the Kilkenny Cat to perform on Sunday. This was the first time that The Mams had played there for eight years, having been regulars at the Thursday open mic nights. When the band last played there, they were promoting their 2007 debut album Wam Bam. This time they had their new second album, Rhondda St, to promote. The main difference in the band between those two albums and their last two gigs at the Cat, is that they have replaced the keyboard with a fiddle, going from a synth-pop/disco vibe to a more country based sound. Saying that, their indie roots are still very much prominent and you can still dance to tracks like “Better Out Than In”, despite the warning I had about my dancing before they started.

Although the track “Better Out Than In” is taken from their 2016 album, like the boys, it has been about for a while and was written about the time lead singer, John Tregenna, worked behind the bar in The New Drovers and he took this opportunity to point out all his old regulars in the large crowd. The set mainly consisted of songs from the new album ranging from slower tracks such as “All For Nothing” to more upbeat jigs such as opening track “321”. The boys were also joined on stage by harmonica player, Lee Shears, for their track “Homewrecker”, which got everyone moving and maybe also a little bit sweaty.

Due to the nice weather and the healthy crowd, even I was suffering in the heat of the gig so the boys did take a break mid-set for a bit of fresh air but they returned with great second half. Again, they mixed it up between upbeat tracks for dancing such as the bouncy “Racehorse” to the biographical “Mise-en-Abyme” (which contains the line “no one ever grew up wanting to be a car salesman, the title of John’s novel). This was the last track from the new album and the boys went back to some of their early favourites from their first album, many of which contained stories about their adventures in the pubs and clubs of Llanelli. They also played a glam-rock classic with the help of the Cat’s landlord, Steve. Having a fiddle player in the band meant that it had to be a great rendition of the Slade hit “Coz I Luv U”.

The set finished with the appropriately titled “Last Song”, which was a great last song to finish on, it had all the elements needed for finale; it was catchy, it got everyone dancing and it contained the name of the band throughout so you could remember who you had just been to see. This track is not on either of their two albums so hopefully this means they have plans for a third album some time in the future.

I have to add that I also donned my double-denim and joined the Quo Army to see the mighty Status Quo playing in front of a crowd of 6,000 on Saturday and I thoroughly enjoyed, hopefully we will see more gigs like this in town.