PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Apparently we are having a “weatherbomb” here in the UK this week. This means high winds, rain, hail, snow, basically the worst the sky can throw at us. So what else are you going to do on a cold Wednesday night in December than take a 150-mile round trip along the North Wales coast to see a living legend perform? Well if you’re me, obviously not a lot! So off I went, not really knowing what to expect as all 3 bands on offer were a bit of an unknown quantity to me.
First up we got the Western Sizzlers. So what do we know about them? Not a lot it seems, the google force is not strong with this bunch. I know the big brooding “main man” with a mop of curly black hair and Orbison-alike shades is an American called Rick Richards who was previously in the Georgia Satellites, but other than that it was pretty much take them as I found them. What I found was a 5-piece band who played what back in the day we would have called RnB when it meant Rhythm and Blues, not whatever they have hijacked it for these days. First track up, whose title I didn’t catch, was a good old pub-rock Dr Feelgood style original, as was the second. My fingers and toes were tapping all by themselves! Next up came a cover of Quo’s “Break The Rules”, done pretty much in the classic Quo style. A new song called “Incorrigible” was next, very southern-rock with just a hint of bar-room boogie thrown in for good measure. I did feel at this point that the frontman would have really benefitted from a harmonica, unfortunately none was forthcoming. They then went into the more country-rock “Unfinished Business”, a slower and thoughtful tribute to friends lost. I think we can all identify with that emotion. The new single (available at the back of the room folks!) is “The Rebel In Me”, another country-influenced toe-tapper that was much more upbeat and featured some very good slide guitar played with a bottle from the guitarist who wasn’t Rick because Rick was providing the lead vocals on this one. The next song was a drinking song, hurrah! “One More Beer” was a bit Chas & Dave to my ears, with a definite nod in the direction of Quo’s Wild Side Of Life in the riffing. We got a special Christmas song too, “12 Bar Humbug” which was, as the name suggests, a good old 12-bar romp through all the worst things about the season. Last track and we were back to the Quo influence with “Die A Happy Man If It Kills Me”. I liked them. They were fun!
Next up was Warner E Hodges. Warner was for many years the guitarist with Jason And The Scorchers and has also played with Dan Baird and Ginger Wildheart as well as doing his own stuff – sounded promising! I cheated a bit here and managed to grab a setlist later so don’t have to rely totally on my unreliable ears and unreadable scribble to give you the song titles. They opened with “Gunslinger”, the title track from the new album and possibly the single too? Down & dirty southern rock, big riffs, a bit of a nod towards the Black Crowes in the early days I thought. Oh and Warner had proper spurs on his boots, yee-haw! Next song was “Back In Town”, a more upbeat, faster song but still with some big big riffs and a pounding beat provided by the drummer whose name I really struggled to catch. I think he is John Powney? You could dance to this, and I might have – a bit! It also showcased the talents of the bass player, one Jason Knight, who I have renamed in my head the Incredible Bouncing Bass Player (IBBP!) He just didn’t stay still for a second, jumping up and down and having a great old time! We then got “Backwater Girl”, which Warner dedicated to his wife’s ass when she gets up to shake it. The locals obviously took this as a challenge cos suddenly the usually seated Llandudno crowd were up dancing to this catchy country-rock tune. We now got introduced to the second guitarist Mikael Fassberg. He is Swedish and an ex-member of Bonafide, a band I am much more familiar with. He has also just released a solo album and took lead vocals on his song “Parade” taken from it. This was more bouncy county-influenced rock, I liked it a lot. I also liked that the IBBP was on the floor with his head in the big speakers at one point! For the next track, “Hell and Back” Warner invited Rick Richards up on stage to play some scorching lead guitar. This was a very catchy clap-along song with, I thought, shades of Dave Edmunds’ style about it. According to the setlist the next song was called “Messing With My Cranium” but it was actually a rocked-up cover version of that old Olivia Newton-John standard “Country Roads”. Brilliant, the crowd loved it and managed a bit of a singalong, and Warner came down off the stage to dance with them and encourage them in their participation. Warner described “Not Far Away” as going back to the 70s, not entirely sure why but it was harder and heavier and I liked it a lot although the rest of the crowd seemed a bit nonplussed. Warner introduced the next song as being a cover of an AC/DC song (he said they are his favourite band and and inspired him to switch to playing guitar as he was originally a drummer!) He says he always has to play one AC/DC tune in the set but although it sounded like DC I didn’t recognise “The Hard Way” and further research has suggested that it isn’t one of theirs at all? Puzzled…. hope I don’t have to hand in my rock journo credentials before I even get started for not being able to confirm this as it was probably my favourite song of the night! Last song of the main set was another of Mikaels, “Dog”. It was hard, fast and loud and I don’t think the IBBP’s feet did more than gently touch the stage for a second or two all the way through it! We got an encore of an excellent rocking version of Dylan’s “Sweet Marie” and finally a romp through Creedence’s “It Ain’t Me” to finish on a really high note. Excellent band, bit of something for everyone in there and I will happily go and see them again next time they are in town.
On to the main man. Chances are you know one of Mick Ralphs’ songs even if you are not so familiar with his name. As a founder and still current member of both Mott The Hoople and Bad Company and a regular member of Dave Gilmour’s touring band Mick has never really put his guitar down in the last 50 years. Now aged 70 he is also going back to his first musical love, the blues, and is obviously enjoying himself hugely with this current band. The band consists of Jim Mavey (guitars), Dickey Baldwin (bass), Adam Perry (drums) and Adam Barron (vocals and impressive beard). I didn’t get a setlist for this part so I may have the song titles completely wrong but hey, it’s all part of the fun right? They opened with (I think) “Going Down”, a slow bluesy rock beat that then sped up a bit and moved seamlessly into (possibly) “Born On The Badside”, a slightly faster song but still with that underlying blues tone. There seemed to be some sound issues with Jim’s guitar or amp during this one but a random bloke came on stage and twiddled some knobs and it was all fixed quickly. Adam introduced Mick to the crowd to a huge cheer, and Mick in turn introduced the band (although I had to use my old friend google again when I got home to make sure I had the names right – I didn’t……..) The next song might have been “Rock Me All Night Long”, another blues rocker. Again I felt a harmonica or even a tambourine might have slotted in well but neither appeared. Mick had a bit of a sit down for the next one, a song written and sung by Jim which could have been “I Just Want Love”. This one was more funky with a driving bass beat and some stunning harmony vocals from young Adam whose face seemed very familiar. Turns out he was a contestant on BBC’s “The Voice” last year, but as I have never watched it I had no clue until much later! Another funky Jim song followed, with a melody that reminded me of Stevie Wonder’s Superstitious. It may have been called “Working It” or it could have been “Well Connected”, it was a bit hard to tell! They then launched into a new song of Mick’s. I know my ears were deceiving me now cos I would swear this one was called “Tuna Bella” – wait, he’s written a song about his dinner? Nope, it was actually “Should Know Better” and it had a sound quite reminiscent of the Stones’ Undercover but faster and a bit more poppy. Is that even a word? It is now! Again as Adam clicked his fingers, swished his hair and swivelled his hips I couldn’t help but feel he was missing some percussion. Buy the boy some maracas someone, this song needs them! First song from Mick’s back catalogue followed, an excellent version of Bad Company’s “Feel Like Making Love”. That one filled the dancefloor, and I was still stuggling a bit with the whole concept of a dancefloor at a gig rather than a pile of bodies crowding up against the stage. I think maybe it’s an age thing? Mick could very easily do a whole set of nothing but his own greatest hits but no, he is still writing and the upbeat funky sound of another new song “Standing On Shaky Ground” (perhaps) followed. The crowd stayed up for this one and we had some joyous clapping along and waving of arms too even though most of them had probably never heard it before. That’s always a good test for new material for any band I think, if you can keep the audience interested in something new, and Mick’s band carried it off well tonight. A cover followed, not one of Mick’s but that well-known 70s disco tune “I Can’t Stand The Rain”. They deconstructed it a bit and did it slow and bluesy, it sounded really good and was probably my stand-out song of the set. At least I knew for definite what it was called! Time for Mick to have another sit-down (well he is an OAP) and Jim took the lead on another song which I think was “Nothing Gonna Stop Me”. This was also a new one, and had a bouncy almost Quo-like rhythm to it. The crowd loved it. Young Adam then left the stage for a few minutes and we were treated to “Hideaway”, an instrumental 12-bar boogie that was good fun. They finished the main set with possibly one of the greatest pop-rock songs of all time, Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough”. The crowd was rocking now! After a quick break they came back to encore with another cover, which was definitely Robert Johnson’s “Sweet Home Chicago” done in a proper oldskool blues rock style. I would have to admit to being a little disappointed personally that Mick didn’t slip a Mott song in there but overall it was a tight performance of decent tunes played by a band that were obviously having a great time, and that is sort of the definition of a good gig isn’t it?
Review and photos by Jo Crosby
