More than just a one-hit wonder

A ‘ONE-HIT wonder’ is a term used to describe musicians whom are known mainly for only one hit single.

Although the term is often used in a derogatory manner, fans often have a great passion for the song and the performer responsible for creating it.
 
Some one-hit wonders embrace their success on the merit of one song, whilst others try to distance themselves from their hit and craft successful songs with different sounds ... exactly what Sandi has done.

Her latest album, Merchants and Thieves, marks a departure from her earlier Folk/Pop beginnings and has a more blues influenced sound.

The lights were gently dimmed as Sandi and her band confidently strutted on stage armed with acoustic guitars and … well, what appeared to be a plain wooden crate (with some help from Google after the show I found out it’s called a percussion box).

Before the band began to play, a friend sitting next to me said she that she thought Sandi Thom was a strange choice for JJ’s on a Thursday night or any other night for that matter.

I have lived in Bahrain for a few years now and I have seen many artists grace the JJ’s stage. Some of them good, some of them bad but they all faced one common problem … the Thursday night crowd in JJ’s is notoriously hard to win over (unless you follow resident DJ Dwayne’s lead and play Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing).

Despite Sandi’s opener being very downbeat, and some members of the crowd staring at her like a bunch of dogs that had just been shown a card trick, she managed to send a ripple of trepidation through the room.

This ripple gradually became a wave of energy as she belted out her second number and, by the intermission, people were gagging for more.

Sandi’s style has definitely matured and the type of music she performed that evening perfectly fits her sultry, smokey voice. Also, I was frankly amazed at the big sound coming from a woman who stands barely five foot tall.
One thing that struck me was that this show was crafted to perfection, the arrangement of songs, the tempo, I got the impression that everything had been thought out in great detail ... with the exception of one thing.

Obviously in the rush to greet the crowd Sandi overlooked a little detail and at one point, between songs, the multi-instrumentalist asked DJ Dwayne to ‘be a dear’ and fetch the harmonicas out of her handbag. For me, this is what made this gig particularly entertaining and I had to admire Sandi’s laid-back personality and obvious sense of humour.

The performance was an enthralling mixture of ballads and blues, with a few balls-to-the-wall rock numbers thrown in for good measure.

As was the case with most of the people there that night, I had previously only heard Sandi’s hit and assumed she would save it to close the show … I was wrong.

So confident in her new material, she breezed through a revised version of her money maker so fast I barely noticed she had played it.

At the end of the show, Sandi took the time to meet fans, sign autographs and then just blended into the crowd like any other 29-year-old. There was no ego, no diva behaviour, just a very talented young lady who puts on a cracking show because she loves to perform.

After meeting Sandi I can honestly say that we were both born too late, to a world that doesn’t care … and, I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker With Flowers In My Hair.