Friday 8 February 2013

The Jim Jones Revue at Concorde 2, Brighton - Wednesday 24th October 2012


Though individually they've been playing in various genre bands a lot longer The Jim Jones Revue have been perfecting their sound for the best part of five years now and they just keep getting better. One of my friends read a quote that ran something along the lines of if you added The Stooges to Jerry Lee Lewis and The MC5 and The Sonics you'd have the perfect Rock'n'Roll band and that is exactly what The Jim Jones Revue do. I might not have that exactly right but the sentiments are there and I completely agree. The JJR perform visceral garage punk like no other band on the planet right now.


The new album has seen the band explore new areas and add a bit of light and shade to their live show. That's not to say there's any let up in the sonic assault. They were careful to ensure that if they played a slower or more challeging tune they'd follow it with a faster, better known one. And they have so many great tunes now that towards the end I felt any one could have been the perfect ending to the set. They've always seemed tight live but three years of what seems like almost constant touring has made them better than ever. With the gig over my first thought was that I really wanted to go see them again, and that has to be the sign of a band that is hitting it's peak.


We'd arrived a little later then intended and only caught the last couple of numbers of Mudlow's blues soaked R&B. This was a pity as they had a decent sound with the vocalist singing in what one of my friends described as a "passable Tom Waits impression". From Waits to Beefheart as Honkey Finger took the stage. Effectively a one man band but with an extra man. I couldn't quite see why the second guitarist was required as main Honkey Finger man seemed to be doing everything important. They produced an ear-shredding blues noise which sounded promising at first but started to drag after a few songs.




Photo courtesy @TrevorMakey

Review submitted by Dave Harris.


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