Billy Walton & Richie Taz (Photo by Allan McKay)

BW         It’s been great; the turnouts have been wonderful and the shows have been going fantastic and it’s nothing but happiness all round.

AM         The UK’s interesting because it’s always been a good territory for bands like yours hasn’t it?

BW         Yeah, guitar rock’s still alive and rock ‘n’ roll’s still breathing.

AM         It’s been nearly 2 years since we last met up, what’s been happening in that time?

BW         Actually, with my band we’ve been playing gigs and we’ve just recorded a new album called “Crank It Up!” and we’re very excited about it and we’re doing this tour pushing that.  Myself, I’ve been playing with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. I didn’t do the UK tour this time because I was doing my tour and finishing the album and I fly back next Thursday and play with The Jukes again up in Rhode Island, so it’s been a very busy summer, it’s been wonderful.

AM         You mentioned the album, I’ll come back to that in just a minute but I’ve noticed that you’ve become really popular with the Jukes fans as well.

BW         It’s been great, Jukes fans are music lovers and the Jukes are a unique band where nothing’s polished and you never know what’s going to happen and that’s what’s great and the fans dig into that because it’s happening in real time; even we don’t know what’s going to happen next.

AM         As a guitar player in The Jukes, there are some big shoes to fill there when you look at who’s been there in the past.

BW         Yeah Little Steven (van Zandt) and Bobby Bandiera who’s a great, great player but we’re the next evolution of The Jukes, so it’s a cool thing and to hear Southside sing every night is a pleasure.

AM         And Southside seems to be pushing outwards again with The Poor Fools.

BW         He’s always on the go, which we all are.  We all want to do different projects, do different things and evolve musically still, no matter what.

AM         So, tell me about the new album then.

BW         The new album; I’m very proud of it.  It’s a little bit more laid back than “Neon City”; the songwriting is a step up.  I’ve been doing some writing with this guy Randy Friel from Scullville Studios; he’s a good friend of mine, a great piano player and we’ve been hitting it off and writing, we just come with ideas and magic happens.

AM         With the kind of touring schedule that you’ve got with The Jukes and the Billy Walton Band, how do you actually manage to fit in the writing and the recording?

BW         I’m still trying to figure that out.  We did it and after we got the project done, you realise you can’t believe you made the time to do that.  It’s just constantly working and then we’re going to be on to the next album and on to the next Jukes show and the next Billy Walton Band tour, constantly moving, constantly evolving and trying just to get out there and play guitar.

AM         So, have you got a home studio that you use where you put ideas together?

BW         No, I don’t personally because I like being a guitar player and a songwriter instead of an engineer; I know a little bit about it and I have done it in the past to put ideas down but when you’re in a creative mode, you want to capture the creative mode instead of trying to get this take.  You want to stay in that creative mindframe, for me anyway.

AM         You and William (Paris) have obviously been together for a while now and I’ve seen that on stage it’s almost telepathic sometimes, so do you come along with an idea for a song and you work on it together?

BW         Yeah, constantly.  He has ideas he throws at me and I throw them back and they evolve.  We do some jamming in the middle of songs and sometimes that sparks something; every song comes in a different way.  It’s not like it’s cut and dried; okay, next song.

AM         It’s a bit like that that Keith Richards quote that you don’t write songs, they’re just in the air and you have to pick them out.

BW         Well, he had a few.  We were talking earlier about Randy Friel, where the magic was happening.  If you like somebody and you surround yourself with good people, have a good time, pop open a beer, have some fun, do some writing and just let it go then you’re creating instead of just champing at the bit trying to put a song down to get it out there.  That’s what’s different about this album.  Not running out of time, just doing it.

AM         So is most of the material on the new album your own songs?

BW         Yes, it all is; no covers.

AM         That’s great, I’ll look forward to hearing it.  I understand there was some original financing on the project as well.

BW         We did the Kickstarter programme, which is a great, great programme not only for music but for all the arts; for people who want to put movies out or artists.  You’re preselling your album and offering alternatives and people really dig in to it and it’s great for the artist because they don’t always have the money upfront and it gives you the ability to create more instead of being held back financially.

AM         That’s great, thanks for your time Billy.

BW         Thank you.

And that should have been the end of it; get a few photos, have a couple of Buds and enjoy the bands for the rest of the night.  I’ve done a live review of the band already and I’ve seen them a couple of times so there’s no reason to do another review.  Okay, I was wrong; I’ve seen the Billy Walton Band twice doing support sets and tonight they’re headlining which is a whole new ball game.

The support band is The Stone Electric who play a steady opening set which brings to mind early 70s British bands like Free and Stone the Crows or, more currently, The Black Crowes and they feature the powerful voice of Noni Crow.  They get a fairly good response, and the audience are pretty nicely warmed up for the headliners.

The nucleus of BWB is Billy Walton and bass player and co-writer William Paris joined on this tour by drummer Simon Dring and tenor sax player Richie Taz and from the moment they take the stage it’s a bit like being hit by a hurricane.  We’re only halfway through the first song when Plus One makes the observation that Billy’s an incredible guitar player, which is an understatement if anything but I’ll come back to that later.

Billy and William have played together for several years now and could add any other competent musicians to the mix and it would work out pretty well.  This time, however, Simon Dring and particularly Richie Taz (who plays on Billy’s new album), add many different options to the usual BWB power trio set, including the opportunity to throw in a couple of Springsteen covers, “Badlands” and “Rosalita”.  For most bands these would be brave choices but the quality of the playing, particularly the interplay between guitar and tenor sax, is so good that the band produce stunning versions of these songs which have all the power of the E Street Band originals.

The set lasts for a couple of hours and is a mix of material from the new album, older Billy Walton originals and a few covers thrown in.  Although Billy Walton is a great rock player, he’s capable of a lot more besides;  the set tonight includes the live favourite “Soul Song”, the country blues of “Deal with the Devil” and the early Springsteen feel of “The Deal Went Down” (both from the new album) and the band sound tremendous in all of these styles.

What makes BWB so special live isn’t just the outstanding technical ability; the band know how to entertain and to sell the songs as well.  They play with a huge sense of enjoyment and aren’t afraid to inject a bit of humour into the show.  The solos and jams can lead anywhere; how about breaking into the Surfaris’ hit “Wipeout” or the “Peter Gunn” theme during a solo or throwing in a verse from The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” in the middle of “Badlands”?  The band knows how to pace the set, picking the moments for the slower-paced material before building up a head of steam for a barnstorming finish and then it’s all over, leaving the band and the audience completely drained.

Do yourselves a favour and go out and see the Billy Walton Band next time they’re in the UK; I’ll even let you know when it is.  Any band that can make such a glorious noise with an audience of about 150 in a church hall in Whetstone deserves to reach a bigger audience.

Unsurprisingly, there are a lot of Scots in the audience which is fiercely and vociferously partisan. The venue isn’t quite full, but the enthusiasm on display more than makes up for that; they’re all here to see the band triumph.

This is the classic Love and Money line-up with the addition of Ewen Vernal (ex-Deacon Blue among others on bass) and the wonderful Frazer Spiers on harmonica and backing vocals and they’re obviously up for a good show.

The musicianship is exceptional throughout as the band do their bit to showcase the well-crafted songs, James Grant’s baritone vocals and exceptional guitar work. James Grant is the perfect frontman; stick-thin, suited, in shades and able to entertain the audience between songs with stories about BB King, Tina Turner, Simply Red and his dad’s life in Glasgow.

The night is split into 2 halves. The first half is the whole of the 1991 album “Dogs in the Traffic”, which the band obviously feel is slightly less popular, followed, after the interval, by all of “Strange Kind of Love”. Whatever the band might think, there are plenty of highlights in the first half including “Whisky Dream” and the anthemic “Looking for Angeline”. “Pappa Death” shines out from the set as a song which was made for live performance; the album version seems insipid in comparison with version delivered tonight.

The “Strange Kind of Love” half of the performance features all the tracks except one from the album. The squeaky-clean, shimmering Gary Katz production of the album is impossible to recreate live, so the songs are much more raw, but no worse for that, relying on great playing rather than studio expertise. It’s difficult to pick out highlights because the performances are all great but the audience are all shouting for the big single “Jocelyn Square” and it’s a huge moment when the guitar intro finally kicks in and the band launch into a powerful version of a great song about lost love and innocence.

The song from the album which doesn’t feature in the set is saved for the encore; “Walk the Last Mile” is dedicated to the late Bobby Paterson, former bass player with band who died in 2006. It’s a touching tribute to a great musician, who is obviously still missed by the rest of the band. Throughout the evening James Grant makes references to Love and Money working together again and confirms this towards the end of the set, announcing a new album and full UK tour next year. The band go out on “Candybar Express”, which James Grant describes as “the most moronic song I ever wrote” and it’s all over.

Love and Money are back, they’re as good as they ever were and they’re recording new material. If you like songs that are well written and well performed with a nice line in Glasgow patter between songs, then you really should get out to see these guys next year.

This doesn’t mean that the band hadn’t had a good time up to this point. They had already bounced their way through the hit “Peaches” amongst others to everyone’s delight. The Stranglers almost didn’t play the Picture House. It quickly became apparent that Baz Warne had suffered some sort of accident involving a hotel shower door before the show and had one hand almost completely covered in bandages, making the energy of their performance even more surprising. There was of course the odd wince and moments where the guitar would stop as Warne inspected his hand but all this did was make the performance seem more human, something all crowds love, this one in particular.

Despite this, bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel seemed to be doing a very good job at looking as unimpressed with anything as he possibly could. Drummer Jet Black was an extremely tight performer but at his current age of 72 he seemed to be putting all of his energy into keeping this up: at the start of the band’s second song, “Was It You?”, there seemed to be a bit of a mix-up with the setlist. A total of three false starts were played and the culprit seemed to be Black playing the drum part for an entirely different song. Each time the band stopped, Burnel and Warne both turned to Black and exchanged confused and amused looks as they attempted to run it again.

At the age of 46, Baz Warne is the youngest here, replacing Hugh Cornwell as lead vocalist. He brought most of the band’s raw energy to the stage and did all the talking, which didn’t amount to much: only a song introduction here and there and an explanation of his own hand injury.

The band gave the audience a portion of the show to calm down, playing songs that were perhaps not as well known as the obvious hits and favourites of big fans.  This made the return to the signatures extremely welcome and showed how well the Stranglers can craft a setlist, managing to raise the excitement even further by cheekily leaving the enormous rocker “No More Heroes” until the final song of the second encore, finishing the night with a boom. Other songs included in the encore were a stellar version of the Kinks’ “All Day And All Of The Night” and “Hanging Around”.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair not to mention support act Wilko Johnson who played for a good hour beforehand, still strutting all over the stage as he is famous for. It was remarkable what a sound his band of three, including himself, managed to make as he stormed his way through Dr. Feelgood hits as well as solo material. This was a perfect opening for a consistently rocking night.

You can hear the band’s first recorded song here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI1TsYGm874

Jake Morley is a singer-songwriter who gained a strong following from his early YouTube recordings showing him playing the guitar in a very peculiar and jaw-dropping style. As he sings the upbeat love/hate-song to London, entitled “This City”, his hands flash around his guitar, plucking at strings, banging it on top, on the side, whacking and plucking a whole band out of the one instrument.

This was a very popular video, but there is always a danger that the musician can be trapped by the popularity of this one thing, to become an online only flash-in-the-pan.

This night, in a gig that launched his first album “Many Fish to Fry”, Morley proved that he has the potential to be much more than a one-hit-youtube wonder. Looking 100% at ease with where he was, and what he was doing – playing to a packed Bush Hall – Jake and his talented band proceeded to grab the already eager audience into the palm of his hand and lead them through his collection of songs that were at times heartfelt, funny, revealing and emotional – and ultimately uplifting.

This is a man to follow, but not just on social media sites, but in real life whenever he plays a gig.

This is music to cherish, an album that is personal, but speaks to you on many levels.

This is Jake Morley.

www.jakemorley.com

Some sections of the music press in the early 80s saw Squeeze songwriters Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford as the latest incarnation of Lennon and McCartney, with some justification. The early songs were scenes from Jack-the-lad territory in south-east London but as the band developed they moved on to more adult themes such as relationships and hangovers. In common with The Beatles, Difford and Tilbrook were self-taught which led to a less orthodox approach to chords and melody and gave their songs a very distinctive Squeeze sound.

On to Shepherds Bush Empire, November 2010. The Lightning Seeds open the bill with a tight greatest hits package which demonstrates Ian Broudie’s ability to write the perfect pop song. The set includes “Pure”, “Sugar Coated Iceberg”, “The Life of Riley” and a delicate, stripped down version of the classic Ronettes single “Be My Baby”. It’s a good set of great pop songs played well and the crowd appreciate it, but most of them are here for the main event.

When Squeeze are introduced one by one before the set opener “Black Coffee in Bed”, it’s obvious that this isn’t just a set of oldies cobbled together to make a quick buck. The production values on sound and visuals are very high (including a Scooby Doo style Squeeze cartoon as a backdrop) and even Difford and Tilbrook’s guitars (Telecaster and Stratocaster respectively) are co-ordinated, with a Damien Hirst “Spot” finish. Joining the 2 songwriters are John Bentley on bass (almost an original member, he joined just after the “Cool for Cats” album), drummer Simon Hanson and the joker in the pack, Steve Nieve, the man whose keyboards defined the sound of Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook have had a tempestuous relationship at times in the past, but this show is about mutual appreciation and celebration and everyone’s at the top of their game.

It’s difficult to pick out highlights because everything is played so well and the material is taken from virtually the entire span of the band’s career, but here we go anyway. “Up the Junction” sounds like the pop classic it is, “Labelled With Love” has everyone singing along, “Tempted” is still a great song and one of my favourites and “Goodbye Girl” gets yet another new arrangement. The encore of “Slap & Tickle”, “Pulling Mussels From the Shell” and “Another Nail In my Heart” is a trio of perfect pop songs which leaves the audience satisfied and exhausted. The finely-crafted lyrics of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook’s inventive melodies still sound fresh in 2010 and the performance of the band can’t be faulted. Glenn Tilbrook’s voice has lost none of its character and his guitar solos still sound fresh while Steve Nieve’s keyboards complete the sound and inject the occasional random element (a solo built around the Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg 1969 hit “Je t’aime…”, for example).

It’s difficult to say who enjoyed this gig more, the band or the audience; a great night all round.

It would have been even warmer, had the audience known what a show they were about to witness. Kicking off with the opening staple “After Hours”, frontman Tyler Spencer (aka: Dick Valentine) had everyone in the palm of his hand. This set the tone for the rest of the night.

“Everything you do here, you do the correct way!” Valentine claimed at one point, to enormous cheers from all. It seemed the same for him onstage: during the guitar solo on “Infected Girls”, he assumed a power stance and didn’t move a muscle until the vocals returned. This delighted the audience.

However, the band’s success in winning over the crowd not only resided in Valentine’s charisma. The songs themselves had people moshing, pogo-ing and chanting, with their hit, “Danger! High Voltage”, bringing the venue to an even higher excitement level. In between songs, the band burst into a short cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” and during the encore almost ended up playing the Proclaimers’ “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”, a moment of comic genius much appreciated by the Scottish audience.

The songs’ delivery was reminiscent of the Ramones with many of them lasting less than three minutes. They were pumped out fast and plenty and Valentine even seemed to be tallying them as they went. “This seventh song goes out to all the ladies! Sorry guys, but everything we do is pretty much all for the ladies.”

It must be pointed out that Dick Valentine is not the only member of the band worth mentioning. While he may have had enough character to be shared out among everyone onstage, the rest of the sharply-dressed rockers were just as charismatic. Guitarist Christopher Tait (aka: Tait Nucleus?) donned an all-white suit with a tartan tie and carried a cooler-than-thou persona, occasionally offering the hint of a smile from behind his white sunglasses. Drummer Mike Alonso (aka: Percussion World) often found himself in a drum battle, locking eyes with Valentine as the latter pounded the timbales. He even finished a song with a Bonham-esque drum solo, the crowd cheering him along.

Despite the group’s stellar performance however, the night was not even a sell-out. The venue was a small one and it was a surprise to see such a fantastic live act performing to such a small audience. It seems that the band has missed some sort of trick over their fourteen year career: despite having released seven albums Electric Six’s fan base is fairly modest. However, this has obviously not affected the way they treat live shows: these guys could up the atmosphere at any event and frankly if anyone is missing a trick, it’s festival organisers. While Electric Six are not headline act material, they are exactly what headliners want as a warm-up act. They certainly stormed the ABC Glasgow.

James is trying not to swear too much because his dad’s here and Nicky manages a whole gig with only 1 costume change.  It would be easy to be complacent on a night like this but the Manics just don’t work that way; they’re incendiary from start to finish.  Songs from “Postcards from a Young Man” feature throughout the set and are well received by the partisan crowd, particularly the title song.  The strength of the performance, however is in the Manics back catalogue and their ability to deliver them with just as much venom as when they were originally recorded, although between songs the love and respect within the band and between the band and the audience is obvious.  There are a lot of references to Richey tonight and the tone is one of fond remembrance, which suggests that maybe the band are beginning to come to terms with that particular tragedy.

While they’re on the fond memories, James takes the opportunity to mention Newport’s finest, the legendary 60 Ft Dolls and give a mention to Rockfield studio as well as reminiscing about TJ’s in Newport. Apart from the new material, the set is a greatest hits package delivered with all the fire of a band on their first tour.  There’s at least 1 song from every album here (except “Lifeblood” as James helpfully points out) and all of the classics get the treatment, including storming versions of “Motorcycle Emptiness”, “La Tristessa Durera” and “Everything Must Go”.  With so many great songs to choose from, it’s inevitable that some favourites will be left out, but the quality of what they do play is so high that it just doesn’t matter.

Manics on stage - via Watt_Dabney on Flickr

James does his usual acoustic set before being rejoined by the rest of the band for the last onslaught of the night, ending with the inevitable assault on “Motown Junk” when even the seated section of the venue is brought to its feet.  It’s great to see that Musos’ Corner, as James calls the additional musicians added for the tour are namechecked along with the rest of the band instead of being hidden in the shadows. And that’s it, out into the Newport night.

After a performance like this, it’s easy to see why the Manics inspire such fanatical devotion; they don’t let up for a minute and they’re totally committed to what they do.  With great songs, great playing and singing, what more could you ask for?

The show ‘Where We Are’ featured some of the best songs from the album of the same name. They sang ‘What About Now’, ‘Shadows’, ‘Where We Are’ and a jazzed up version of ‘How To Break a Heart’’.

As well as the new tracks, they also played some old favourites such as ‘If I Let You Go’, ‘Uptown Girl’, ‘Tell Me What Makes a Man’, ‘When You’re Looking Like That’ and of course ‘Flying Without Wings’ which had me in tears for yet another year.

As is tradition for a Westlife gig, the boys did a medley of cover songs in the middle section. I look forward to this every time as I never know what they’re going to sing. This year we were treated to ‘The Boys Are Back in Town’ (very appropriate for this tour), ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and ‘Sex On Fire’ – all were huge crowd pleasers.

The encore was definitely one of the highlights of the show as it was full of emotion that could be felt rippling right throughout the audience. The lads sang ‘I’ll See You Again’ as a dedication to both Kian and Nicky’s Fathers both of whom passed away last year. They sang with their eyes closed and with images of both of their dads coming up on the screens behind them. The emotion emanating from the stage was incredible and it was such a moving moment that I bet there was hardly a dry eye in the house. It really was a brilliant dedication and a strong testament of their ability to move between up-beat feel good songs and deep emotional ballads.

The scenery on stage and on the big screens for this tour was very varied which wasn’t always a good thing. The props and images ranged from giant multicoloured inflatable balls, an arch of red roses and an enormous robot with lighting and fireworks attached to a scantily dressed woman dancing sexily on the screens (which was obviously there just to keep the men who had been dragged along by their partners interested in the show) my only criticism of the show is that this wasn’t such a great idea as it was hardly a hit with most of the female fans and seemed a little out of context with the songs they were singing.

The vocals from all the lads were spot on as usual and the banter and chemistry between them on stage is great to watch, they really know how to put on an entertaining show; there are very few acts with the ability to make me laugh and cry in the same concert.

This year’s gig at the CIA really was amazing, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world and I look forward to next year. It’s a relief to see them back and doing what they do best.

a)want to hear the band play all their recorded material exactly the way it sounds on the album or;

b) want them to hit the stage with the aim of blowing you away with technique, dynamics, showmanship and sheer enthusiasm. If you’re in the b) set then the Billy Walton Band are the band for you.

The 100 Club is a venue with a fascinating past. If you’re interested in the history of rock music, it’s worth a visit just to look at the photos on every wall, where you can see everything from early jazz to The Damned and beyond. The Billy Walton Band set takes inspiration from many of the bands featured here and many, many more.

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that Billy Walton plays guitar; he started to play professionally at the age of 15 and he’s now the leader of a power trio in the mould of the Jimi Hendrix Experience with William Paris on bass and backing vocals and new drummer John Hummel laying the foundations for Billy’s guitar masterclass.

Billy’s playing developed on the New Jersey scene based around the Stone Pony club whose previous alumni include Springsteen, Southside Johnny and Bon Jovi and he’s highly respected by the members of that scene. That respect was demonstrated in the autumn of last year when Southside Johnny asked Billy to play guitar for him on part of the British tour, replacing Bobby Bandiera, who was on tour with Bon Jovi.

The live set is a mix of Billy’s recorded work (including the beautiful “Soul Song” from the “Neon City” album), ambitious covers (Hendrix’s “Little Wing” and, unsurprisingly, Springsteen’s “Cadillac Ranch”) and crowd pleasers like the finale “Cannonball”. It’s obvious from the start that Billy (and the band) live for that moment when they walk on stage and start to play. Technically, Billy Walton is a great player and demonstrates a wide range of styles and techniques through the set but there are thousands of players who can do that. What makes this band such a great proposition live is that they are completely fired up and they want the audience to have a good time while they do what they do.

Billy (aided and abetted by William Paris) creates a great rapport with a Sunday night audience which might just scrape in to treble figures but you get the feeling that he would perform the same way with an audience of one. It’s obvious from this set that you have to see the Billy Walton Band live to really appreciate them. The 2 recorded works, “The Billy Walton Band” and “Neon City” are certainly worth a listen, but in front of a live audience is where they really work. The band are back in the UK in May 2010 (details on the website:www.billywaltonband.com) so, if you like your blues, rock (and a bit of soul) served with a bit of fun and showmanship go and watch these guys; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.