The support act, The Wynntown Marshals took to the stage at around 20:00 and played a tight, rocking set for the next 40 minutes or so. This five piece on the night (Lead guitar – Iain Sloan/acoustic guitar & lead vocals – Keith Benzie/bass guitar – Murdoch MacLeod/drums – Kenny McCabe/keyboards – Richie Noble) sound for all the world as if they hail from America, the band name and the country rock musical style lend weight to that thought, however, they were formed in 2007 and come from much closer to ‘home’, a short drive across the M8 – Edinburgh!
The set on the night showcased the new album The Long Haul which is due for mainstream release on 15 July 2013 and, as someone with extremely limited knowledge of the band (I had heard Ballad of Jayne on Spotify!), I found the show exhilarating, exciting, energising, euphoric (too many E’s?!) and downright wonderful. The songs that stood out for me included Canada, Low Country Comedown and The Submariner, however, all the numbers were good and the lead guitar and keyboards filled out the sound to great effect with some fine solos, whilst Keith Benzie has a sound not unlike Brian Fallon of the Gaslight Anthem. The 'bottom end' of the band's sound is provided by a tight drum and bass combo and I couldn't help but think of the Scottish actor James Cosmo whenever I looked at Murdoch MacLeod on bass!
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| The Wynntown Marshals |
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| Chuck Prophet |
So next up was the wonderful Chuck Prophet and Mission Express, another five piece but this time they really are American! Chuck is a former member of the allt.country band Green on Red circa 1980's and he has steadily been gaining a cult following both in the US and the UK and is a regular visitor to these shores.
Perhaps somewhat unusually, there was no new album to promote and therefore much of the music came from the current album, last year's excellent Temple Beautiful, although there were a few new songs in the mix, most notably Doubter out of Jesus which apparently isn't Chuck's mum's favourite song of his, however, I liked it!
The set up consisted of Stephanie Finch (Mrs Prophet) on keyboards and the youthful James DePrato on electric guitars up front with the energetic Mr Prophet stationed in the middle, the result of this line up was a fabulous show of nimble finger work by both guitarists on their many, varied and wonderful solos.
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| Stephanie Finch & Chuck Prophet |
At the back of the stage we had Kevin White (bass guitar) and Vicente Rodriguez (drums) both of whom had donned bowler style hats for the night which had the extremely disconcerting effect in the case of Mr Rodriguez of making him look almost the spitting image of Freddie 'Parrot face' Davies, or was it just me?! That aside, the two pounded out a rock solid rhythm to underpin all the songs and at one point whilst Chuck stood back we were treated to a lead vocal and acoustic guitar by Stephanie Finch accompanied by Chuck on the chorus. We were also encouraged to join in as an audience on several numbers including Temple Beautiful, You Did (Bomp Shooby Dooby Bomp) and White Night, Big City.
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| James DePrado |
I would like to make special mention of James DePrado's guitar work which was never less than great and often sublime, it was a real treat to see and hear the interplay between him and Chuck, and it was a highlight of the show for me. So all in all a fabulous night out which could only have been improved if we had been treated to a personal fav of mine Let Freedom Ring!
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| James DePrado |
Finally, a big thank you to Kevin Morris and the Fallen Angels Club for putting together such a wonderful set. Cheers.
Doubter Out Of Jesus is the name of the tune. The first time I heard it, it had not been released at the time, I thought it was called You Can Make A Daughter Out Of Cheeses.
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