It turned out we showed up a bit early for this free gig in a local bar within walking distance of home. As we shouldn't have turned up till 10pm (we got there around 9) and so heard some of the Undercard: pretty much a jam session and was more background than anything.
Anyway we were there in plenty of time to see the 3 main acts the first of which was JC & TH DISCIPLES which of course is JM Carroll's side project when he's not touring with his band The Members whose new album Ingrrland is out now.
Itt was being billed as the bands Resurection back in the stomping ground that JC has written about before as he opened with NW10 a song about the area about a mile or so west of the venue. Trouble was, while JC was playing some great guitar licks the rest of the band were not quite there: loose to the point of being told the chords as they went along. The proceedings had a real jammed feel to them.
Still, Shades Of Blue had a great blues riff around which JC sang about how there are so many shades of blue and how bad we could feel. It was a pity it sounded at times like the drummer was playing a different song to the rest of the band. Before the next selection, JC told us it was his self-help tune and it was for everybody who has ever chanted before, and being as it was just a day before the Hare Krishna festival in Trafalgar Square it had perfect timing to be chanting I Ain' gon' Be Yo' Bitch No Mo' with a good list of reasons why you ain't. It was perfect to be sung with a band that wasn't quite there as they were another reason to be bitching.
We then got JC's classic paen to Golbourne Road that we were literally about a 100 yards from the start of. I'd have loved to have heard it with a band that knew the tune as well as JC does but that wasn't to be. They then started Midlife Crisis and at the end of the first line( or was it second line?) something was wrong and JC called it to a halt and that was that a somewhat abrupt end to a rather scruffy set.
Next on was GARY LAMMIN of Cocksparrer and Bermondsey Joyriders fame who started playing while his drummer was still setting up. Again, it was primarily a blues jam that seemed to feature bits of several songs while Gary played some really good blues licks.
At some point the drummer came in and then a guy got up onstage and picked up the bass to jam along with them. Gary then did Football off the first Bermondsey Joyriders' album: not forgetting to check the local team is QPR and while it sounded good it was nothing like as good as when it's played with the BJ's. He finished his short set with Nadine that wrung plenty of emotion out of his guitar and vocals and saw Steve Dior wander up to blow some harp. A cool little set.
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Soon enough the living cadaver that is the Legendary Punk STEVE DIOR who was in The Idols with the late great Arthur 'Killer' Kane and Jerry 'Needles' Nolan and then the London Cowboys with everyone from Glen Matlock to Terry Chimes and Johnny Thunders and Tony Levin etc. The list there is endless.
Well, considering how he makes Billy Rath look a picture of health and was, I believe, a member of the Living Dead he still cuts it live as this was a great set from start to finish, full of blues-y punk tunes with a dark dark glamour to them. The opening tune about driving and never arriving and being on that road to who knows where was great and the band all sounded like they knew what they were playing.
The second tune (which may have been called Baby I Want Your Love) seemed more like a love song to a drug than a woman but could have been for a woman who was like a drug. Either way it was an intoxicating sound before Steve was singing about how he'd Never Been To Rome. If it had been sung in a smoke filled pub it would have sounded perfect.
Little Black Book was full of bitter regrets, though the best song of the set came when he was singing about Living on The Dark Side Of The Spoon. It was as menacing and nasty sounding as it needed to be to convey the lyrics properly.
I think the next song was Hollywood as Steve sang about the "California Rain" and the band just cooked along with - for the first time all night - a fairly full dancefloor. They finished with a song about Slim Harpo and it has to be said this current band sound pretty much how you'd expect Steve Dior to sound. That's more than fine by me.
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