Their Myspace headline is “If someone says they play with us, they do!”, a reference to the list of thirty-odd musicians that take the stage and/or record at various times with the musical collective known as Willard Grant Conspiracy. The loose group revolves around songwriter Robert Fisher, who sounds a little like Nick Cave, a little like Johnny Cash singing Leonard Cohen, and a lot like a good time; with a strong folk vein running through the sometimes-rockin’, often-orchestral arrangements and accompaniment that bring to mind Cave-affiliated instrumentalists the Dirty Three (listen to Ghost of the Girl in the Well and you’ll see what I mean).

Fisher is gracing us with a visit as the solo incarnation of Willard Grant next Wednesday, October 1st, at the San Fran Bathhouse – and before that Island Bay crab comes out of his shell again to call vested interest, I declare my bias, my band The Wrongdoings are proud to come out of quasi-retirement to play support at this gig. We’re very excited!

Tickets from Slowboat Records on Cuba St, or online at Under The Radar. Check out promoter Galesburg’s list of upcoming gigs for a bit of sunshine too – I’ll be posting more about them soon.