The Damned & The Dickies... oh yes it is!

Cap 'n' Dave are waving bye bye

 

Stan Lee being a Dickie

Two for the price of one.  Read a full review of their recent Birmingham gig, with additional pictures, here at Louder Than War.

Feel free to leave a comment!

Man at work...and play

Putting in a shift in Birmingham

Killing time at a well known shopping emporium

If only all jobs were like this!

The top picture is one of an exclusive set taken for a forthcoming review for Louder Than War, the bottom one was one posted on Twitter by the Captain, (a self portrait?) from his day off in the Second City.

Lost In Music - Mark Lanegan Band, Institute, Birmingham

You're album's riding the crest of a critical wave that already suggests 'Blues Funeral' will be recognised as one of the best of the year and demand for tickets for tonight's show has been strong enough to see the gig upgraded to the main room at the HMV Institute and yet as Mark Lanegan follows his band onstage he seems to wince in embarrassment at the roar that greets him.

Curious behaviour from a seasoned performer.  No acknowledgment to the crowd by word or deed, not even a pause to bask in the moment.  Yet this is a man with seven solo albums to his name stretching back to 1990.  And that's not even considering the plethora of collaborations, side projects and guest vocalist recordings and gigs to his name.

As has been well documented, until fairly recently, Lanegan operated in something of an 'altered state'.  James Dean Bradfield has claimed that despite having done an entire US tour together, Lanegan did not speak to him once during the course of their weeks in close proximity!

Now despite the bedraggled appearance Lanegan is clean and yet still his onstage persona is that of a man who would rather be someplace, anyplace else.

Hanging off the mike stand staring intently at a spot on the stage about a yard to his right - his default setting between songs - you almost wonder if he can go through with this.  By a cruel irony we have come to see a man seemingly crippled by nerves.

Then the magic starts.  As the band kick into 'Can't Come Down' Lanegan opens his mouth and out comes THAT voice.  That husky, death rattle barritone that seems to at once, envelope and threaten the listener.  And we know why we are here.

Jim Jones Revue & Lewis Floyd Henry 02 Academy Birmingham

One man band Lewis Floyd Henry really does look like the most genial of New York buskers – think a down on his luck Hendrix trying to make a buck playing Heavy Trash with a pram mounted amp and a tiny bass drum and cymbal.  If that sounds dodgy, it’s the guitar that saves it all.  Loud, dirty and played with casual abandon.  Lewis is having a party and he really doesn’t seem to care if the audience are with him or not.

In fact most of the audience are.  His brand of fucked up street, punk & blues, gets a deserved good response.  A well chosen support act, worth checking out.  Oh yeah – he talks to the pram as well!

Unless you’ve spent the last 18 months under a rock you’ll know that The Jim Jones Revue have married the maniac piano driven rock ‘n’ roll of Jerry Lee Lewis and the er maniac guitar driven rock ‘n’ roll of the MC5 to magnificent effect on latest album ‘Burning Your House Down’.

For the full Jim Jones Revue effect, of course you have to see them live.  Right from the off you know this band fancy themselves.  And rightly so!  Anyone who comes on to ‘Raw Power’ has to be able to deliver in full and with guitarists circa London Calling era Clash and frontman Jim Jones giving Grinderman a run for the title of ‘sleaziest suit wearer in rock’, they look the part.  But can they cut it?

The answer comes in 2 minutes 30 seconds dead, in the shape of opening number ‘Dishonest John’.  As a statement of intent it doesn’t come much better than this, screaming guitar riffs and falling down the stairs piano hammering compete to demand your full attention.  If this doesn’t give you an immediate adrenalin rush then you’d better get your coat.

Yes it’s clichéd, dumb rock ‘n’ roll, with all the cock rock posing you can handle.  And then more of the same.  But it’s done with such messianic zeal that it works.  It really works.  The twin attack of guitar and demented boogie-woogie piano soon has the band and audience working each other into a sweat as they run through ‘Cement Mixer’, ‘Burning Your House Down’, ‘Shoot First’ and ‘Elemental’.

All that and they have seamlessly brought in a new keyboard player.  With the piano being so fundamental to the band’s sound, it’s a real credit to new boy Henri Herbert that there’s no discernable change to the Jim Jones Revue live onslaught.  Just to prove it the band finished with a devastating version of ‘The Princess & The Frog’ from their debut album.  Still a remarkable song, still a remarkable band.

However, to be absolutely honest (John), this may not have been Jim Jones Revue at their absolute peak.  Being a rescheduled show it felt like it took the band a while to get up a head of steam as they seemed to be battling with a less than perfect onstage sound.  

That quibble aside and despite (or because of?) all the obvious referencing in their music – and along with the usual suspects, Gallon Drunk really ought to get a nod – it’s hard to disagree with the current thinking that right now The Jim Jones Revue are the best balls out rock ‘n’roll band in the country.  Simply unstoppable.

 

 

 

 Go here for live footage from the gig.