Adam Bradshaw, Bob Boardman and Stuart Akroyd were drawn together by one thing, a sense of comradeship gleaned from their service together as barmen of Edinburgh's Grand Ole' Opry Of Folk - 'The Royal Oak'. Well, that's not entirely true - Adam and Bob did know one another back in their Sheffield Days.

They've been performing regularly at local old town watering hole 'DropKick Murphys' for the last 3 months but this was their first gig on home turf as it were. As a part of the Royal Oak Folk Festival, Martin Boland presented 'The Arrows'...

One could be duped into imagining the Arrows as an Irish Pub Band when you consider their set list covers such ground as 'Black Is The Colour', 'Rare Ole Times' and 'Fields Of Athenrye', but the Arrows have so much more beneath the glossy sheen of the Irish "themed" bar. The first (and most strikingly) bold move is the Pink Floyd-esque electric guitar of Stuart Akroyd which glides effortlessly throughout Bradshaw and Boardman's musical yarns weaving a heady tapestry of folk phsychadelia. Akroyd raises the bar and the guitar is simply an extension of his voice - he doesn't seem to know how to play a bum note.

On top of the Irish Classics, there are some well crafted songs; 'Steelmelters Son' tells of the harsh reality of life in the Sheffield Steel Industry, and the collaborative work 'Fifteen' was definately the the epic ballad of the evening. Emotive and poignent lyrics intertwined with Boardman's effortless yet tender mandolin licks. The lead singer Adam Bradshaw's honest delivery is refreshing and endearing, though if I could change one thing - it would be for Bradshaw to sing in his own accent - he is masking a fine folkie voice beneath a transatlantic style without which the more traditional elements of the band would be better portrayed (but there you go, that's the purist in me I suppose). You can't help but feel a certain degree of excitement in the room at an Arrows gig, if nothing else - for the fact that you can't ever be sure what's going to happen next.

The combination of Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin and Electric Guitar is more than a gimmick it is a genuine fusion of two sounds; Folk and Prog-Rock - strangely enough though, those just happen to be this reviewer's 2 favourite musical genres. And whilst they couldn't hold a candle to the 'Dark Side Of The Moon' just yet - time is required to fuse 2 very different styles of music together.