This show was the launch night for the new single Halo by Jonny Cola and the A-Grades in the Black Heart in Camden. It's a likeable dive of an indie venue above a bar down an alley if that helps remind you. I forget what the place was called back when I used to see bands there in the late 80's early 90's but I'm sure I saw both Gallon Drunk and Five Thirty there back in the day, if not on the same bill!
I got up there just as THEE ORPHANS came on, or if they were already on I could have only missed one or two songs at most. Thee Orphans, for those of you who don't know, is the current featuring Boag and Hooligan (who is now Jonny Orphan) from former NME favourites These Animal Men who are signed to Hail Mary records!
Whose first song started out using the riff to Jean Genie at full on pummeling volume as the gravelly toned singer shouted at us about the hard times we are living in. They were totally visceral from the off, ripping away at us as they upped the Slade Glam stomp on a song which could have been called Dead Billy. Damn they were in our faces and sounded great; very Jim Jones Revue in places with some great splayed legs guitar toting ramming the songs into our brains.
The singer told us the next song was a Rolling Stones rip off as were all the bands songs (I hadn't heard any stones influence at all, much more the 'orrible Who than Stones) but it had a good rama lama feel to it whatever. The only shame being that the soundman seemed to lose his way and reduced the volume on both vocal microphones so the words were becoming harder to hear above the guitars and drums.
They played at a good pace and while I'm not sure what the song that had the screaming about "You Don't Wanna Cheat" is called they way the sang and played it made you fear they would rip your still beating heart from your chest if you dared to cheat on them. That led to a tune that I guess in my notes is called WHAAAOAH WAAAHOOO but could have been Average Kinda Savage which is the title of the band's latest CD.
They finished a sweat drenched set with Hold Fast, Stay Fearless in the Face of Love and I have to say they left a bit of an impression on me as the sort of band that would wake up the middle of the afternoon at a festival and make you want to find out who they hell they are.
After the break during which Heidi Heels and David Ryder Prangley were spinning the glam tunes, on came JONNY COLA & THE A-GRADES and right from the start they gave off the vibe of a group who would love to be the new Suede when Jonny Cola sings about how he is falling over. The guitars are splintering a little but not too much. They sound good but the soundman has still not sorted out the vocals and not even being asked to by the band made any difference.
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Still they took a risk by playing a song called The Parties Over only three songs into the set and perhaps it was a signal to some members of the audience that they could behave as if at a party and just talk all through the set. Unlike the song name suggests, it isn't exactly a totally upbeat song about being thrown out at the end of the party and not being quite ready to go while sounding like they had just been listening to the album the Spiders From Mars recorded after they lost David Bowie as singer, while also being a bit like the Crocketts who toured opening for tonights DJ's old band Rachel Stamp back in the day if memory serves.
Alpha Male was a barbed tune over another Suede style tune with some notable guitar work on it. This led us to the title track of the new EP, Halo: a song that has really worked it's way into my brain over the last few weeks and sounded really good live. Apart from the vocals needing to be louder of course.
As on the EP, the next tune was Rain Stopped Play: a song that sort of ramps up the Brett meets Jake Shillingford factor to 12 as Jonny goes on about drowning. It works as long as you love very mannered vocals. Hold it Together Boy was the point in the show where it seemed like half the people around me were spending more time chatting than listening, like they had lost interest a bit. I'm sure the quiet vocals didn't help but the band deserved a bit more attention than they were getting.
Still, the next couple of tunes had a bit of the Mott the Hoople about them as they moved towards the end of the set. They closed with Ripples (also off the new EP) which opened with Jonny playing keyboards and got more and more histrionic in the best possible way.
They came back for an encore with a song I have down as To Know and followed it with what I think was their cover of Ship Of Fools, which sounded really good. They finished the show for good with Heroics which was okay but felt almost like a bit of a soft landing.
It was a good show apart from the sound problems and they would benefit from playing a lot more live shows to hone the sound a bit more but there is plenty of potential for them to make a decent breakthrough, just perhaps as the new Suede.
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