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Review: 'Stage Door Guy'
'Wroclaw'   

-  Label: 'Stagedoorguy.com'
-  Genre: 'Blues' -  Release Date: '30.10.20.'

Our Rating:
Stage Door Guy are a Post-blues punk and poetry duo of Adam Brody from Manchester and CJ Williams from New Orleans where they got together and performed the band's first gig on the day they first met apparently. This is the bands second album and it has been mainly produced by the very busy Jono Podmore with a couple of tracks produced by Colin Thorpe. While they manage to prove that I've never known how to pronounce Wroclaw.

The album opens with Stop Your Whining that has a whole bucket list of reasons for you to Stop Your Whining and none of them are because you are a miserable git! In some ways vocally at least this has more than a few nods towards Sleaford Mods, being fairly bile ridden spoken word/singing although in this case not set to a computer generated backing track instead spare alt blues backing.

Car Crash Blonde is clearly a woman he's happy to be rid of and although he is not over her, he is trying to re-build his life listening to Dead Or Alive and adjusting his lipstick, over a very spare blues backing that harks towards North Mississippi All Stars territory as he's spun round a good few times.

The Death Of Stage Door Guy is sort of the bands re-working of Death Of A Salesman into a barely 2 minute song come diatribe about the love he wants to end and disappear, while needing the odd better part of the relationship, as he eulogizes his own demise.

Cartoon Man has a very early rock & roll intro to accompany the sing song style lyrics that could almost be done as a call and response, I like the bit where they hit the echo button otherwise this could easily be a street corner busk of a tune.

Hopeless has a slow bass line creeping across your mind as the poetry of the lyrics of despair for being in love with someone your better off without. Somehow every time he sings the word love he reminds me of Barry Wom.

Amazing Grace is a cover of the classic hymn, that takes that as a base and then well goes off on one, sounding a lot like Heavy Trash and lists all sorts of misdemeanors as they lost the plot with hatred for Trump and how can anyone blame them for that, just don't play this version for any real bible bashers.

Guy That Stole My Bike is a detailed list of how they'd like to wreak havoc upon that bicycle thief and not in the way Italian cinema might suggest, this has some great harmonica from Joff of Jimmy Regal And The Royals.

Song For Alex has a real RL Burnside type feel to the blues riff that the rap that goes over the top of that riff it's angry and bitter at how bad things have gotten.

Karen's Sexless Marriage is a song you may have to be careful who you play it too, as many women called Karen or there partners may object to this spare blues, that seems to musically marry together the Jazz Butchers Caroline Wheelers Birthday Present to something by Stiv Canterelli And The Silent Strangers. Oh and let's hope we are not all living in Karen's Sexless Marriage.

Lonely Day may be a bluesy version of a Beatles riff that is then riffed over by Adam Brody as he claims we all face a Lonely Day.

Wroclaw the title track is about them driving with an ex from London to Wroclaw for Christmas with a partner they have come to hate this is stripped back and despairing as they hope they haven't been driven to hang themselves.

The album ends with Standstill which is one last bile ridden rage filled rant at the ex that is now decaying at least in their minds as finally they have rid them from their lives just as the backing singers almost feel like a church choir serenading them out the door.

Find out more at www.stagedoorguy.com https://www.facebook.com/StageDoorGuy/
  author: simonovitch

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