The Painswick Centre
Saturday 20th May.
Local man Steve Browning played a competent acoustic set to start things off and then returned during the interval. He has a good technique and a good voice but, somehow, didn’t quite make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Storm Warning however got spines tingling from the moment they appeared on stage. They were heralded by an almighty thunderclap and their tempo [and temperature] raising drums and bass, keening keys, howling harmonica, expressive vocals and lightning guitar licks blew through Painswick like a Mississippi dust devil.
The band; front man, Son Maxwell on harp and vocals, Mad Dog Moore on guitar, Derek White on bass, Ian Salisbury on keys and Roger Willis on drums, are all seasoned pros. Roger, for example, is ex Capability Brown and has worked on albums with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Derek is the man behind many blues festivals and events around Buckinghamshire.
Their experience shows; this is a band that plays contemporary blues/rock the way it should be played. Their debut album, Breaking Out, scored 10/10 in Blues In Britain, Network Pacific Record Company in California is including a track from it on a blues sampler CD and the track played on the Paul Jones Show a short while ago drew such a response that they were invited back to record a live session.
Toes were tapping as the band went into the first number The Blues Are Back, a Storm Warning original. Son Maxwell’s harp put in an appearance on Long Grey Mare and again on Dangerous Mood where it had a lovely, haunting quality.
Robben Ford’s Prison of Love followed but these guys made it very much their own.
Nothin’ But Smoke was introduced as being about the dark side of the blues, which according to Son, and shouted comments from the audience, ranged from women and lying to drummer’s shirts and sparkly drums. There was a nice keyboard solo in this one and some excellent guitar from Bob throughout the set.
A trio of originals, The Devil and the Lord Above, Ballad of 64 and the slow paced Whisky Blues got the dancers up until the break.
The 2nd half went by all too quickly with the dancers up straightaway for Woman? Or the Blues? [another original] then on into New York City and She moves Me. The latter showcased Derek White’s bass skills, as did the next song, Peter Green’s Heart of Stone.
Talk To Your Daughter, Don’t Start Me Talking and original instrumental, Are you All Right With That Phil? brought the set to an end amid whoops and applause from a delighted audience.
We weren’t ready to let the guys go though and they came back on stage to give us Son Seals’ Going Home.
This is ‘grown up’ blues/rock, the band don’t feel the need to deafen the audience or indulge in OTT solo histrionics as so many do, yet every member gets a chance to come to the fore, including the drummer who ‘doesn’t do drum solos’ and who gave us a quirky ‘non-event’. Their song writing ability is a strong point with many numbers, I suspect, destined to become much loved standards.
A while ago, on the strength of their CD, I described Storm Warning as cogent and cookin’. Live, they are all that and more. This is a tight, classy outfit that should be on every promoter’s wish list.
Linda Fisher