Voodoo Six – King Tuts Wahwah Hut, Glasgow – 26th March 2013

Voodoo Six are a relatively new discovery to me, and after checking out a lot of their music I was really looking forward to the night’s entertainment billed at King Tuts Wahwah Hut, Glasgow.

First support band Toby Michaels Rolling Damned begin proceedings tonight. A highland band from Inverness, and I must say they did have a mixed look about them. Vocalist and guitarist Toby Michaels did look like the hairy highlander (minus the kilt), a younger looking bass player, complete with a hoody. The drummer looked like well, a drummer really. With less expression than the other band members, and I must say guitarist Johnny Gash did remind me of a Keith Richards look, though on a good day!

First song “Rolling damned” was a hard rock number mixed with a little blues. This had a great little groove. “Save Me” reminded me a bit like a serious Tenacious D track, with maybe a hint of Pearl Jam. Toby introduced next song “I Miss You”, about a girl he used to love. Toby did have great powerful vocals and this featured some solid bass playing from Steve Robertson. Toby Michaels Rolling Damned did have a good sound about them, generally did sound tight.

It was hard to categorise them definitively, but did have a good mix of rock and roll, hard rock, blues, soul, and sometimes all of these at once. This I did like, very versatile. There was some crowd interaction with Toby but this was limited however, and most of the talking generally seemed to be from the music. The bass-line for Queen/Bowie song “Under Pressure” kicked in, and I did think it was interesting. This had a slightly harder edge than the original version, and it was mildly amusing watching a big hairy highlander hit the high notes here. Toby just about passed in this task. Last song “A Little Bit of What You Fancy (Does You Good)” was just straightforward, down the line loud rock and roll. Just a lot of fun, and rounded off a pretty nice set.

Set List

Rolling Damned
Save Me
I Miss You
Under Pressure
A Little Bit Of What You Fancy (Does You Good)

Second Support band Alavano were a 6 piece band, complete with a keyboard and several guitars. When they first walked onto the stage I thought oh dear, not a boy band! They had that boy band look about them. Young public schoolboy image, with the keyboardist looking like something out of the band Madness, complete with shades! Right away there were some technical issues and a faulty lead had the vocalist withdraw his semi-acoustic guitar. This seemed to shake up the band a bit, but they did try to soldier on. First song “On The Rocks” had The Killers feel about it. The acoustic was tried again for “My My”, but the technical issues continued and it was put down again.

Have You Ever Seen The Sun?” had a heavier riff. Things sounded a little better, The song “Hollow”, a ballad, potentially could have been good but there was some further issues with microphone crackle. and it did sound loose to me. In fact a lot of the set was pretty loose. I was wondering how much the technical issues effected any of the performance? With vocalist/guitarist Ocean Adams trying some light hearted humour to keep things ticking along, but to me it did seem some of the band were rattled, and the band were not very tight. “Never” was their heaviest rocking song of the night and it started to wake me up again. The band finished with the fast paced chorus of “Roseta’s Revenge”. Alavano’s Facebook page had listed influences including Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I never heard these influences in their performance. To me it sounded more like Alternative, or the New Romantic sights and sounds of the eighties. I found it strange to hear them supporting such a heavy rock band such as Voodoo Six. It contrasted completely different and for me, didn’t manage to work on the night.

Set List

On The Rocks
My My
Have You Ever Seen The Sun?
Hollow
Lost On You
Never
Roseta’s Revenge

Now for the main event! An introduction of The Great Escape plays out in King Tuts. What this does is remind me

Luke Purdie
Luke Purdie

that it’s a British/English band (and a Scot) that I’m here to see. I thought this is pretty quirky, and quite liked it.
Then on come Voodoo Six, who immediately let rip into “Like The Others”.  Not long in I could see the majority of people doing some head shaking and nodding of heads in approval for this explosive start. A solid start, with some super bass playing from Tony Newton. A slightly slower start for second song “No Friend Of Mine”. I could see the crowd were captivated, all full of smiles and grins. The band themselves looked pretty comfortable and settled. I was thinking were Voodoo Six aware themselves, of the technical issues had by the previous band on the night?

Next the unmistakable bass punch that could only be “Falling Knives”. What did impress me here is how much Tony really seemed to get into the performance, moving around a lot, posing. He was really connecting with the audience. Wearing an Only Fools and Horses vest I was thinking he’s some character. Energetic and kept the rhythms tight and solid, along with drummer Joe Lazarus. Joe looked like a mere youngster next to his band mates. Sorry Joe! In fact the band generally had that laid back denims and Tee shirt Casual look. They looked comfortable on stage as a band, and as individuals.

When “Take Aim” came along I was thinking this is gonna be some great fucking night. Hard rock song after hard rock song, a lot of heavy riffs and some melodic sections. Big sing along, and one of my favourites of the night “Take The Blame” had the crowd chanting. During a brief quiet pause in the song, vocalist Luke Purdie asks, “Still with us?” Oh yeah! They are still with you! With a guy standing behind me, pointing to Tony and nodding. As if saying in admiration, Fucking Yes! At one point I thought he was gonna jump on the stage!

New song “Lead Me On” from the forthcoming album “Songs To Invade Countries To”, had some very sweet guitar sounds coming from Guitarist Matt Pearce. I really enjoyed the sounds I was hearing. Tony raises a fist

Tony Newton
Tony Newton

to the crowd giving a shout and most of the crowd responded back! The song “Stop”, which featured on Voodoo Six’s Falling Knives EP, has bass man Tony produce some incredible bass sounds that begins the song. Carried through with some fantastic guitar, it had a beautiful hard groove and very tight. Luke did some clapping just before the solo, and most in the venue joining in. Seeing most of the songs seemed to be from the Falling Knives EP and forthcoming new album, the more recognisable songs had plenty of fans joining in. None more so than the fantastic “Something For You”, which had the whole place participating with Luke for the “Hey’s”. It was a joy to witness nearly the whole of King Tuts joining in as one for this moment.

Next came a string of new songs and new song “You Don’t Know”, had more of a hard, funky kind of groove. “You’re Way” had Matt playing a beautiful guitar intro, with Luke’s vocals coming in slightly after. The song then builds into something a lot heavier, showing off Luke’s deep, throaty growls wonderfully. In fact both guitarists Matt Pearce and Chris Jones worked well together, swapping lead and rhythm roles as required.

Another favourite of mine, “Long Way From Home”, had Luke telling the crowd at the start, “You’re always good to us”. The crowd responded by cheering their approval for the night. Towards the end of this song the music lowered and Luke again had everyone clapping along, before the volume again increased for the finish. The Glasgow crowd literally erupted. The band briefly left the stage before returning for the encore to perform one final song “Live Again”, and the band left the stage to rapturous applause.

Set List

Chris Jones
Chris Jones

Like The Others
No Friend Of Mine
Falling Knives
Take Aim
Take The Blame
Lead Me On
Sink Or Swim
Glitters
Stop
Something For You
Sharp Sand
You Don’t Know
You’re Way
Waiting In Line
Long Way From Home
Encore
Live Again

All in all it was a superb night of hard rocking music I thoroughly enjoyed. The evidence tonight suggests that new Voodoo Six album “Songs To Invade Countries To” released 29th April, is going to be one major kick ass album. It’s one I’m already looking forward to hearing. Voodoo Six have won me over, and I will of course return to see them again.

http://www.voodoosix.com/

The only thing that didn’t work for me tonight were the second support band Alavano. I am not sure how much the technical issues affected their performance, but musically, they seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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About Del Preston

So there I am, in Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, at about 3 o'clock in the morning, looking for one thousand brown M&Ms to fill a brandy glass, or Ozzy wouldn't go on stage that night. So, Jeff Beck pops his head 'round the door, and mentions there's a little sweet shop on the edge of town. So - we go. And - it's closed. So there's me and Keith Moon and David Crosby, breaking into that little sweet shop, eh. Well, instead of a guard dog, they've got this bloody great big Bengal tiger. I managed to take out the tiger with a can of mace, but the shop owner and his son, that's a different story altogether. I had to beat them to death with their own shoes. Nasty business really. But sure enough, I got the M&Ms and Ozzy went on stage and did a great show.