Review by Gary Spiller for MPM
Fire
Smoke, she is a rising fire
Oh, smoke on the horizon, yeah
Fire
Smoke, she is a rising fire
Oh, smokestack lightning, baby
Fire Woman (Duffy, Astbury) – The Cult
The autumnal equinox has passed, and the hours of darkness are, day by day, increasing in their ascendancy. The season’s grip grows firmer too with leaves descending deciduously and the recent first frost a sharp reminder that winter awaits. All in all, it’s high time to draw the curtains, check the heating is on and begin the ‘hibernation’ process.
Not the hardy gig-goers amongst us all though, with the summer festival season edging further behind in the rearview mirror our attention is switched to the touring acts. On tonight’s menu is Swedish blues n’ roll outfit Blues Pills, a quartet I was keen to see in action at last year’s Steelhouse Festival. Sadly, with fiery vocalist Elin Larsson suffering illness their personally much-anticipated appearance was cancelled.
The post-covid period has, other than 2022, been a quiet period for this band of, in main, songwriting and recording along with Larsson becoming a parent for the first time. A solitary appearance at Sweden Rock in ’23 has, this summer, been followed up with prestigious slots at Wacken and Hellfest as well as the release of their fourth studio album ‘Birthday’. The visible cogs of industry are turning once more with more than a whiff of excitement regarding this evening’s proceedings.
Opening up tonight is Ontario quartet Daniel Romano’s Outfit. In the last couple of years I’ve been introduced to a steady stream of impressive, and varied, bands coming out of Canada including the likes of The Commoners, Bywater Call, Unleash The Archers, and The Damn Truth. With an impressive set as I’ve witnessed from an opening act in a good while Romano and his musical troubadours are now added to that list.
Completely unknown until the moment they take Bristol’s Thekla by the scruff of the neck and give it a damn good shaking this hi-energy are in the faces of the crowd from the very first moment. “We’ve been a lot of boats recently!” Romano quips reflecting on a quick stop in Dublin between tonight and Manchester three nights previous.
The four-piece despatch a frantic, punked up pugilistic blues rock with a hyped kinetic. Guitarist Romano at times cuts a bearded Wilko Johnson shape, darting and jerking back and forth if part-possessed and at others, whilst cart-wheeling powerful chords, appearing in line with Pete Townshend.
Alongside their frontman Romano are the equally hard-hitting combination of vocalist (and occasional guitarist) Carson McHone, bassist Roddy Rosetti and drummer Ian Ski Romano.
There’s a psyched-up touch of The Ramones herein, with the frontline of the band kitted up with matching logos upon the back of the waistcoats / jackets further enhancing a togetherness in kinship.
Rattling through an unrelenting barrage of seven or eight songs – it’s that frenetic I struggle to match their undying pace – it’s breath-taking in its delivery. From the first notes of opening number ‘Field of Ruins’ – the first single from this year’s ‘Too Hot To Sleep’ album – through to the tubthumping Rn’B of ‘Toulouse’ the nitro-burst is fully engaged throughout.
The Thekla crowd gathering early doors (opening at 630pm) are, like myself, left aghast with the high levels of musicianship on display. If Armageddon is nigh, then we’re gonna be entertained royally right to the end. There’s no drawing breath as we cascade and tumble through ‘Sucking The Old World Dry’ before the bluesy country Eagles-infused ‘The Long Mirror of Time’ sooths the inner soul.
It’s seamless and contagious in equal measure with the freight-trucking ‘Nerveless’ surging and flowing with complete precision I’m enthralled. Latest single ‘Where’s Paradise’, a blistering meld of Springsteen and Petty on amphetamines, catches the ear as does the moody 60s head-nodder ‘Toulouse’. Killer blues rock for the 21st century you can’t help but be impressed.
It’s about the twenty-five-minute mark before Romano looks up, takes a deserved breather, and greets the crowd with a quick “Hello”. To his right vocalist Carson McHone picks up a black Telecaster and saddles up for lead vocal duties on the hard driving country-rock of ‘Downhill’. Right across the front-line can sing and bassist Rosetti takes the baton for a rumbustious ‘Firebreather’ that leaves impressions of New York Dolls in its wake.
Elin Larsson wasn’t even born when Astbury and Duffy penned the anthemic ‘Fire Woman’ but if The Cult duo had witnessed her tsunamic vocal performance, then it’s not inconceivable to consider the plausibility that this conflagrant Swedish vocalist could have been the track’s subject.
Smokestack lightning without a doubt; fire is raised upon a smoky horizon whilst prancing like a cat on a hot tin shack. Truly, for myself, this succinctly summarises her combustible dithyrambic on-stage presence in a consummate nutshell. Appropriately emerging to The Beatles’ track ‘Birthday’ (Opening track of side 3 of the classic ‘White Album’ if you’re really interested) Blues Pills take their stations in readiness.
However, the technical gremlins have materialized too, and guitarist Zack Anderson’s pedal board requires a couple of minutes worth of attention before it flickers into life. “Oh well, shit happens!” remarks Larsson before they roll into opening number, and title track of their fourth album, ‘Birthday’. The first of four consecutive tracks from the latest release its short stabbing riffs are complemented with powerhouse bass and drums from Kristoffer Schander and André Kvarnström respectively. The dirty, growling blues rock quake the boat and send watery shivers across the waters of the dock the other side of the hull.
The tidal wave blues rock of ‘Don’t You Love It’ follows with touches of local lass Elles Bailey and Greta Valenti (Beaux Gris Grid & The Apocolypse) in Larsson’s vocals. Her livewire character and output are more than matched voluminously by the other components onstage. Blending a slice of Duffy with a slight dash of Amy Winehouse Larsson remains afire in ‘Bad Choices’. The ever-filling Thekla clap along to the stallion’s stampede.
Bluesy ballad ‘Top of the Sky’ is a captivating moment of gentler tempo with a 50s/60s undercurrent sinuously teeming. With Anderson supplying fretwork akin to a woodsman’s axe in full flow the volcanic explosion that is ‘Bliss’ proves to be the solitary offering from their debut EP of the same name. The spotlight switches to ‘Holy Moly!’ for a rousing ‘Proud Woman’ and heavy, blues-fringed rocker ‘Low Road’. The atmosphere continues to rise.
The sultry midnight blues of ‘Like A Drug’ beckons the unwary towards its rocky shores. Mercifully the Thekla, in its forty years alongside in Bristol hasn’t ventured any further than the city’s drydocks over the decades as one of the vital entertainment hubs of the region. With her long hair blowing and mic stand angled alongside Larsson mimics an Ian Gillan stance in the raunchy ‘Piggyback Ride’
Feral in its predatoriness ‘High Class Woman’ is one of five tracks lifted from 2014’s eponymous debut long-player. Refreshing as a bathing session in glacial meltwater it’s an engaging presentation. Via a funky interlude we’re led into the runaway freight train of ‘Ain’t No Change’, the deities watching over approve.
Etherealness swirls in the hazy ether during ‘Black Smoke’ before Larsson illuminates, indirectly, upon the early start to this evening. Reflecting upon parenthood and looking forward to seeing her partner and son, for the first time in a fortnight, tomorrow in Paris. That’s one heck of an overnight trek! Good job there’s an awaiting luxuriant tour coach outside.
‘Little Sun’ is one of those special moments to close your eyes and permit yourself to drift along. Ascending upon unseen thermals towards a soaring Anderson solo we reach what should be the end of the main body of the set. However, the faff of the exiting and then returning for the encore is sensibly dispensed with.
With its fringes of countryana the hi-energy dynamics of ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Back on That Horse Again’ – a cover of a track by fellow Örebro band Grande Roses – maintains the pace neatly. Heralded by the pounding beat laid down by Schander and Kvarnström ‘Bye Bye Birdy’ is contagion maxed out. The storming set closing ‘Devil Man’ explodes forcibly with an underworldly rage untethered. With one final cloudburst and thunderclap Blues Pills raise the deckhead.
From Amaranthe to Sabaton and Amon Amarth to Opeth we’ve caught many great Swedish bands during the course of the last couple of years we can now add Blues Pills to them now. What a stunning night!
Photography by Kelly Spiller for MPM
