Santa Cruz – barfly, London – 17/11/14

It was a very unique era of debaucherous legend, the embodiment of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, so who wouldn’t want to emulate that. Sleaze/glam rock is one of those love it or hate it genres in the rock world and one that is making a resurgence thanks to countries like Sweden and Finland which as nations seem to breed the pretty men required, effortlessly. The delights of Santa Cruz were to come later.

The bluesy and funky Dirty Thrills are the rocked up love child of Foxy Shazam and Rival Sons and that is a pretty cool thing. Whilst not a fan of Rival Sons musically myself, the amalgamation with Foxy Shazam is far more interesting and entertaining to me. Dirty Thrills put on a high energy stage performance. Singer Louis James swaggers around the stage in his black and white striped trousers, the tightness of which are certainly helping him to hit some of those key notes in their material. Their energy is undeniably infectious and they prove themselves more than capable of warming up the audience at Camden barfly.

I like to be proved wrong and boy did The Amorettes do just that. Yes my initial thought was a sarcastic “yay a girl band”, but these three Scottish lasses ripped the words off my tongue, threw them on the floor and squished them with their sneakers, before kicking them right back at me. They have the right amount of attitude with just enough girlishness, they are not trying to use the sex sells angle, for they can play their instruments, have decent songs and a great camaraderie between themselves on stage. The Amorettes played a mix of songs including some new material (set list below) that made all us doubters (and I wasn’t the only one) come away going “D’you know what, I really enjoyed that!” and I really did. Thank you ladies. I implore you all to put your doubts like mine aside and go and check out The Amorettes.

With the front two rows filled with girls including what I call the Archie Arch in front of lead singer Archie Kuosmanen, there was no mistaking who was up next….Sexy….I mean Santa Cruz. This is a momentous gig for the guys, their first headline show outside of Finland and the barfly was ready for them.

It was an adrenaline fueled, fast paced set from the start with Relentless Renegades, before Santa Cruz got the party started and had the bleached blonde hair on and off stage whipped up into a frenzy as Archie and fellow guitarist Johnny Parkkonen fed their guitar lines into the blood of the assembled crowd. Bassist Middy Toivonen is engaging as he coves his corner of the stage with his very best limbo inspired yoga moves and it was clear that these guys need a bigger stage, even drummer Taz Fagerström was desperate to get off his stool!

Latest single Wasted’n’Wounded goes down a storm and hints at the heavier changes a foot with the forthcoming second album, whilst hankering back to the historic sleaze rock sound that has built their worldwide fan base that is already pushing 30,000 likes on Facebook.

Santa Cruz love their guitar solos and they are a plenty on songs like Velvet Rope. They also treated fans to Remedy, which I believe is off the forthcoming album; before playing their most 80’s, combined with a hint of modern pop number Nothing Compares To You, which Archie says seems to be one of their most popular songs in the UK. It’s a good old arm swinger!

They round off a blinding gig with quadrangle of Screaming For Adrenaline, Let Me (Lay My Love On You), We Are The Ones To Fall and Aiming High. These Finns are certainly aiming high and I do wish this genre was far more popular than it is. With young bands like Santa Cruz coming through the ranks and across waters there is hope yet.

Dirty Thrills Set List: Shivers, Rock’n’Roll, No Resolve, Burn Down Los Angeles, The Man Who Lost His Way, Follow Me Home, Sigh

The Amorettes Set List: Rock Me Roll Me, Get What’s Coming, Bull By The Horns, Heartbreaker, Shoot From The Hip, Son Of A Gun, Hot’n’Heavy

Santa Cruz Set List: Relentless Renegades, Let’s Get The Party Started, Anthem For The Young N’ Resteless, Wasted’n’Wounded, Velvet Rope, Remedy, Nothing Compares To You, Screaming For Adrenaline, Let Me (Lay My Love On You), We Are The Ones To Fall, Aiming High

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Links

Dirty Thrills – http://dirty-thrills.com/

The Amorettes – www.theamorettes.co.uk

Santa Cruz – www.santacruz.fi