It's a very long time indeed since I last went to a gig in Leytonstone. I think I might have been to one since I moved out of Redbridge nearly 20 years ago and it isn't because nothing's been happening as this club has been putting on great bands for years. It's more my being lazy and not wanting to spend an hour or so getting to a gig. Still the bands on offer are better than they used to be in the days when the likes of Peters & Lee or pre-comeback Sandie Shaw would have played here.
I arrived just before The Sweat came on to get things going. I have to say I was bored by this trio by about halfway through the second song of turgid by the 70s-style Rhythm and Blues pub rock that back in the day would have seen the bottles flying at the long gone Green Man. I was so bored that I went and hung out outside to chat with several musical legends.
By the time I went back in The Sweat still had another couple of numbers left. They both seemed to have the same riff they were playing when I went out and it didn't matter how well they played, the guitar solo was dated and forgettable as were their songs; all of which suffered from a lack of excitement, but then I have seen some great gigs recently and in that company The Sweat just don't even come close.
Still I was here to see Jim Jones And the Righteous Mind which as I'm sure you can guess is the new band fronted by Jim Jones, formerly of the Jim Jones Revue. Now I hadn't heard more than maybe one song of the new material before this show and don't know any of the song titles.
Right from the outset (and throughout the show) the vocals were too low in the mix for my ears but it was the sort of musical mix you'd expect: half revival meeting rock and roll testifying and half punk rock mayhem with a dose of experimentation to throw a curveball or two.
They certainly got us going with dark almost Stooges meets Nick Cave testimonials played by a very tight band. The guitars seemed to be in some sort of precision timing battle to stop and start at will to really get into the soul of the listeners. As Jim and the other guitarist advanced forwards and stood on the front tables as some of the Christmas decorations fell down it had an air of festive menace about it. All full of superficial bonhomie while ready to knife the unbelievers as they turn to walk away.
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Not that there were that many unbelievers present, mind, and as the bass player switched to a double bass it added another dimension to the sound that took it away from The Revue's territory. Indeed, some of the new, very dirge-y songs certainly take things into a new place: sort of like Anathema if they were a bit more cheerful.
I really liked the song that had no bass on it at all. Instead there were maracas and hand claps and a dark twisted tale in the lyrics. All very cool indeed and at about this time the folks that run the club came round with large glasses for us to all put in some money for the band!! Yes, pay what you like after you've heard most of the night's music!! I think they did quite all right out of it.
The first song back with a normal bass guitar was introduced as Alpha Shit and is a good and angry song about all those alpha male dipshits ruining the world. You can't argue with the song's message, especially as it comes all wrapped up in a Stooges-like riff.
They still had time for a couple more fairly rocking numbers; the last of which had a whole load of "Oooh's" and !"Aaah's" for us all to sing along to as Jim kept standing on that tables to get us all going.
Of course they got an encore and played a great song about feeling guilty while wishing us all a very merry Christmas. It made for a fitting end to a good set and I look forward to snapping up the band's album and seeing them again in the new year.
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