Stevie Nimmo Trio - Backstage, Kinross, 11 March 2017

And so to the homely environs of Backstage at the Green Hotel in Kinross, a neat venue festooned with rock’n’roll memorabilia, to see the Stevie Nimmo Trio.

The comfortable theatre seating may not be so rock’n’roll, but that doesn’t stop Stevie and chums from getting stuck in, with opener ‘Roll The Dice Again’ sizzling to a conclusion by way of a wah-wah heavy solo before seguing into ‘Still Hungry’, which features heavy riffing and some great bubbling bass lines from Mat Beable.

The Stevie Nimmo Trio - music for pleasure

Having warmed everyone up sufficiently, they go to town with one of the current highlights of their set, really conjuring up a mood on ‘Running On Back To You’.  They keep it on a leash to begin with, but the tension is eventually released when Nimmo uncorks his second solo, tearing out some gut-wrenching chords in its midst before Beable and drummer Craig Bacon weigh in big time to produce a mountainous crescendo.

The initial run of tracks from Sky Won’t Fall ends with a funky ‘Change’, getting heavy as they rip it up at the end, and a crisp take on the Allman Brothers’ ‘Gambler’s Roll’.  Then it’s time for a backward glance at Nimmo’s earlier solo album The Wynds Of Life, with the country-tinged, bright and breezy ‘Good Day For The Blues’.

If that’s a long-standing favourite, tonight they decide to unveil another cover for the very first time, namely Eric Clapton’s ‘River Of Tears’, a slowie that features an extended intro with some lyrical playing from Nimmo – and heaps of vibrato.

"Shit, this guitar neck's upside down!"

They return to Sky Won’t Fall for the muscular ‘Chains Of Hope’ before cutting loose on‘Lovin’ Might Do Us Good’.  As ever, it’s fun and funky, and the focus for a bit of jamming – and Craig Bacon shines in the process, bringing the swing big time as he makes full use of his kit to vary the rhythm.  With or without the injection of ‘Jessica’ that they give it nowadays, it’s intriguing that they manage to blend the funk vibe with a healthy measure of Southern rock.

Set closer ‘Going Down’ is a raucous affair, with Nimmo giving his guitar a serious seeing to along the way.  And since that’s just not enough for a vocal audience, they come back to deliver a sublime reading of Big George Watt’s ‘The Storm’.  It’s a song that creates a picture in music, surfing something wild and untamed, and Nimmo catches the essence of it before closing with perfectly controlled feedback ebbing away.

It’s always great to see an outfit as well-grooved as the Stevie Nimmo Trio.  But more than that, the ease they have together infuses their playing and connects with the audience.  Music for pleasure, I think it’s called.

   

Rainbreakers - Rise Up EP

If you like the opening tracks on the Black Keys’ album Turn Blue, then Shrewsbury 4-pice Rainbreakers may well be for you.  Their Rise Up EP is marked by a dreamy, mellow sound that’s both bluesy and modern – with a cover pic of a burning sun that catches the vibe well. 

Opening track ‘On My Own’ fades in, and with Sam Edwards’ trippy drums well up in the mix there’s a sense of floating along on the blissed out beats.  They convey an excellent sense of space, with restrained lead guitar from Charlie Richards evoking the mood.

Rainbreakers - "Which way now, lads?"  (Photo by Mark Lloyd)

The title track goes for a funkier sound, albeit controlled, with Peter Adams’ bass creating a hand-in-glove jazzy groove with Sam Edwards’ drums, while the guitars dovetail nicely over the top.

‘Waiting On You’ takes off in a soulful direction as hazy, ‘Rain Song’-style strumming performs a slow dance with a melody that brushes with Smokey Robinson.  Ben Edwards captures the mood beautiful with his best vocal on this set.  Always controlled and on the money, I sense he can develop further vocally, just as Dan Auerbach has done over the years.

Those shuffling beats are back to the fore on ‘Perception’, with Adams’ stuttering bass also to the fore while Richards is content to ping his way around the margins delivering licks in a spare, echo-laden manner.  If there’s a glimmer of Dave Gilmour in that sound it also suggests modern sensibilities, bringing to mind something like White Denim’s ‘Street Joy’.

The EP closes with ‘Living Free’, which features some more muscular riffing as they get their wail on a bit and build a stirring crescendo, with Richards cutting loose on guitar.

Rise Up is a grower.  It may not grab you by the short hairs right away, but on repeated listening its subtleties get their hooks into you.  It’s encouraging to find a young band like Rainbreakers explore a refreshingly different take on blues-rock, and do it with confidence – so tune in and turn on, people!

Rise Up is released on 7 April.  Rainbreakers are touring from March.

Marcus Malone - A Better Man

So you like a bit of blues-rock, do you?  Well get ready to be knocked out by Marcus Malone’s new album A Better Man – and I mean floored by a sound that socks you between the ears with its big, fat production.  I tell you, right from the opening bars of ‘House Of Blues’, with Malone’s soulful baritone surfing a wave of magnificently meaty rhythm guitar from Sean Malone on a son-of-Peter-Gunn riff, this is a sound Martin Birch would have been happy to achieve with Whitesnake.

Marcus Malone and gang give it some stick

It’s tempting to look for comparisons with other artists and bands when listening to A Better Man.  But mostly it sounds like – well, Marcus Malone and his familiar band of co-conspirators.  So get ready for some  rockin’ blues tunes, some walloping good riffs (with the occasional homage, shall we say, to some classics), some spot-on high harmonies, and a few guitar harmony licks into the bargain.  You also get the odd corny lyric here and there, but hey, what the hell?

So check out the massive crunch of the ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’-like riff on the title track.  Check out the slide solos from Stuart Dixon and Julian Burdock and blazing harp from Alan Glen on ‘Too Long Gone’, over Chris Nugent’s shuffling drum rhythm.  Check out the 21st century grandchild of ‘Shakin’ All Over’ that is ‘Philomene’, with its chirping organ from Moz Gamble and winning exhortation to “shimmy shimmy shimmy, shake’n’shake’shake”.  Check out ‘Can’t Go Back’ and its ‘Heartbreaker’ riff.  Check out – well, you get the picture.

Marcus has a few other song-writing strings to his bow though.  There’s the AOR soul of ‘Stand Up (Love Of Life)’ for example.  ‘In Your Arms’ is a Foreigner-style slice of reflection – though with a lead vocal about an octave lower than Lou Gramm – that culminates in a cascade of highly polished vocal harmonies.  ‘Feelin’ Bad Blues’ goes for an easy-going down home porch vibe, opening over a simple, stomping kick drum and featuring honky tonk keys from Gamble. Most remarkably, ‘The Only One’ heads off into Byrds territory, with a psychedelic guitar wig-out from Sean Nolan while Chris Nugent belts the living daylights out of his kit.

I could go on.  The point is that Marcus and chums may not do anything wildly original, but they do it very, very well.  If David Coverdale were able to make an album like this nowadays, instead of fannying about with retreads of Purple tracks, he’d win back a lot of listeners from days gone by.  Mind you, he’d have to match Marcus Malone’s vocals too.

So strap yourself in front of your speakers, and get ready to have the blues rocked out of you!

A Better Man is released by Redline Music on 30 March, and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.

Sean Webster Band - Leave Your Heart At The Door

It’s reassuring to find that Sean Webster dedicates Leave Your Heart At The Door to his wife, because otherwise – boy, you’d think the guy had an unhappy love life.  Or to put it rather differently, Webster specialises in dramatic monologues about heartache.  Deceit, despondency, defeat – these themes are his stock in trade, lyrically.

But if that sounds a bit miserable, it should be said that Webster and his pals carry it all off marvellously.  He has the happy knack of his setting these tales to melodies so natural that they sound like someone must surely have written them before.

The eleven tracks here come divided almost equally between soulful slowies and funkier, more upbeat tunes – for all that the words may sound pretty bleak across the piece.

Sean Webster - sure got the blues

So on the one hand we get a plaintive ballad like ‘Wait Another Day’, with its gentle arrangement and a soulful delivery.  On the other there’s the melodic opener ‘Give Me The Truth’, with its “woah-oh-oh” vocal theme, a great blend of guitar and keys, and a tasteful guitar solo from Webster resolving neatly back into the melody.  And there’s ‘You Got To Know’, with its rolling groove and surges of organ from guest keyboard player Bob Fridzema, who adds a few trills of adornment for good measure over the pushy drum rhythm from Joel Purkess.  For once the lyric here is determined rather than desperate, the protagonist insisting on getting the girl to whom the song is addressed.  Either way, Webster’s vocals sell the story in the rasping, emotional manner of Joe Cocker.

A couple of the more downbeat outings may not really hit the mark, but down the stretch the album really hits top gear.  The brisk friends-and-lovers narrative of ‘You Can Say’ is reminiscent of Texas on a good day – although Webster sure is different from Sharleen Spiteri – and builds up to a repeated refrain before fading out.

The title track ‘Leave Your Heart At The Door’ ups the ante in the manner of a top drawer Deacon Blue ballad.  It’s a cautionary tale about the emotional upheavals that await in adulthood, fatalistic about life’s ups and downs – mostly downs – with some nice chiming guitar lines.

Which just leaves the closing double whammy of ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’ and ‘Til’ The Summer Comes Around’.  The former has an insistent groove and great melody, especially on the chorus, and musically could easily be taken for a steamy booty call song.  Lyrically though, this duet with PennyLeen Krebbers has the air of a bedtime conversation in the dark between a couple where the woman has just confessed she’s met someone else.  Dark stuff it’s true, but it doesn’t half develop some rousing momentum.  Album closer ‘Til’ The Summer Comes Around’ meanwhile, is an exquisite reading of Keith Urban’s narrative of young love and estrangement, wistful in the manner of Springsteen’s ‘Sandy’, and with an excellent guitar solo to boot.  Suffice to say it became a favourite of my other half when we caught the Sean Webster Band supporting King King on their recent Netherlands tour.

If you like a bit of bluesy soulfulness, delivered with conviction and great musicianship, Leave Your Heart At Door will surely fit the bill.  Just keep the Kleenex handy.

Leave Your Heart At The Door was released on 24 February 2017.

Taking the Low Road - King King in the Netherlands, Part 3

Dateline: 12 February 2017   Venue: Luxor Live, Arnhem

To be honest, I don’t know what visitors might find interesting about Amersfoort, other than that it’s the birthplace of the modern artist Piet Mondrian, and so home to the Mondriaanhuis museum.  But for whatever reason the sizeable dining room of this business-type hotel on the outskirts of town is heaving for Sunday breakfast.

Suitably fed and watered, it’s off to Arnhem for Sunday’s gig, which involved a replacement bus service part of the way because of engineering works.  It’s all very efficiently done

Let's hope that t-shirt was washed from the night before!

though, and we get dropped off at Arnhem railway station, just across the road from our hotel, the Best Western Haarhuis.  It’s pretty basic, but on the upside it’s handily placed for the town centre, and barely a hundred metres from tonight’s venue.

The snow has stopped, but it’s still brass monkey weather as we set off for a wander round the town centre, and in particular Airborne Plein, the small pedestrian space close to the John Frost Bridge which commemorates the Battle of Arnhem during the Second World War.  If you’ve ever seen the movie A Bridge Too Far, this is the bridge of the title.  Sadly the Airborne Museum is outside town – perhaps another time.

After catching the France v Scotland rugby in an Irish pub – Scotland lost, unfortunately, but the Chouffe beer compensated – there’s just time for a cracking steak in Vlees & Co before heading along the road for the gig.

The show is in the smaller of the two rooms in Luxor Live, a compact ballroom with high ceilings and a good stage, and even though it’s sold out the sight lines are excellent.

Gonna get funky!

Sean Webster and pals open the bill with another impressive set, getting under way with ‘Give Me The Truth’, featuring a strong solo from Webster, and as on previous nights including a convincing reading of ‘Thrill Is Gone’.  ‘Give Me Time’ is well constructed and soulful, and they close with a slinky take on ‘I Don’t Want To Talk About It’, with guest PennyLeen Krebbers duetting with Webster as she does on the forthcoming album version, helping to turn it into a steamy torch song.  Look out for a review of the album Leave Your Heart At The Door very shortly.

King King come onstage, and there’s an immediate reaction to ‘Lose Control’, signaling that once again this is no casual audience – they’re ready to rumble.  The band are on it from start to finish tonight, but ‘Rush Hour’ in particular catches the ear, right from it’s delicate guitar intro, and as it rolls forward Wayne Proctor and Lindsay Coulson dig out incredibly deep foundations.

By now it just needs the intro to ‘Long History Of Love’ to kill me, and remarkably Alan Nimmo manages to back it up with an even more incendiary guitar solo than the previous night.  It’s the same with ‘You Stopped The Rain’, which provokes dancing, singing, and

Sean Webster and PennyLeen Krebbers get slinky

immersion in its emotion – and again Nimmo nails the last of these with his guitar solo.

As a matter of personal preference I might replace ‘Take A Look’ with ‘What Am I Supposed To Do’ or ‘Taken What's Mine' but apparently it’s Mick the merchandise man’s favourite, and it has to be said that the rising scales at the end are gripping.

Are tonight’s crowd the best behaved ever during the quiet passage in ‘Stranger To Love’?  They must be contenders.  But by now it’s the way Alan Nimmo and Bob Fridzema climb back out of that segment that grabs me, as a preface to the storming solo that brings the song to a close.

It’s the end of the road in the Netherlands for both us and King King.  If the weather was cold the hospitality was warm, and the shows were a blast.  Now, new album coming soon is there?

You can find Part 1 of Taking the Low Road here.
And you can find Part 2 here!