Tonight was one of those nights, one that may very well be told to my children and to their children and to any other children that will listen! I was due to take photographs and review a band called Supersonic Blues Machine at the Shepherds Bush Empire. I knew little about the band other than blues rock legend Kris Barras was singing and playing guitar and that a very special guest in the form of Billy F Gibbons from US blues rock legends ZZ TOP would be making an appearance on stage at some point during the evening!
So, back to earlier in the day….it was my birthday, I had been in London bombing about, shopping, had a meeting, lunch, a bit more shopping prior to popping back to Greenwich and dropping off my spoils of the day and picking up my recording gear and camera equipment before heading BACK into the smoke to attend what would be one of THE best gigs I have attended in a long time….
I turned up at the venue bang on 5pm, I was meeting Davy Knowles to do an interview about his life so far and anything else that tickled his fancy. He came and found me and we made our way into the venue, climbing about 4 flights of stairs before finding his dressing room. We chatted for a long time about various topics including the Isle of Man (Davy’s birthplace), moving to Chicago, his recording process and some more techie stuff about his guitars. During the interview, I heard the door open and assumed it was one of Davy’s ‘people’ telling him it was time to sound check, imagine my surprise and shock when I turned round to see the one and only Bernie Marsden (most famous for his time with Whitesnake) stood in the doorway! I let Davy and Bernie catch up and we finished up shortly afterwards.
Fast forward an hour and it was showtime.
Davy Knowles was first up, the Manx born, Chicago based bluesman took no time at all to demonstrate his guitar skills and I wondered just how the remaining acts would even be able to reach the bar that Davy had seemingly effortlessly set during his performance. It wasn’t just his guitar playing that impressed, his voice was something to be witnessed too. It was as if this was his calling, could you picture him doing anything other than standing on the stage, flanked by his band (who were absolutely superb by the way), belting out blues soaked riffs that stank of the greats that he has been influenced by along the way.
Having lived on the Isle of Man for the best part of ten years, I recall seeing Davy at various pubs around Douglas over the years and I now understand just why he decided to spread his wings and take flight to the ‘windy city’ of Chicago, where he has flourished ever since.
His set included “What Doesn’t Kill You” and “Coming Up for Air” and featured some soaring guitar solos as well as some solid sounds emanating from his back line who did a terrific job of laying down the groove for Davy to jam over. All in all, a sublime set, far too short for my liking but that’s the way the cookie crumbles!
The second act on the bill was the Rob Chapman Band, if you’re into your guitars, you’ll probably know that Rob runs his own guitar company (www.chapmanguitars.co.uk) and is therefore no stranger to belting out some amazing music which he and his band did in droves!
When they were setting up, people asked why Billy Gibbons was on the stage running cables and generally helping out, I had to look twice myself as their guitarist is the spitting image of Billy, albeit a fair bit younger and WAY less handsome (sorry, I had to write that to ensure no legal proceedings were sought!)
Their set consisted of some solid tracks showcasing the talents of every band member, Rob really knows his shit when it comes to making his guitars sing and sing they did!
They announced that rather than being known as the ‘Rob Chapman Band’, they are officially changing their name to 'River Thief' from now on, now I’m not sure where the connection of stealing rivers comes into the world of Blues rock but either way, they certainly raised the roof off the SBE and set the scene perfectly for the main act.
After another shuffle round on stage, it was set for the final act of the night, the atmosphere was electric, would Billy join them for the entire set? What songs would he play? Would there be any ZZ TOP songs on the setlist? Being in the photo pit, I managed to take a sneaky peek at the setlist and without giving anything away, I told one of the guys on the front row that he was in for a treat later on in the show!
Supersonic Blues Machine can ONLY be described as a blues rock supergroup, featuring Kris Barras on lead vocals and guitar, Fabrizio Grossi on bass guitar, Serge Simic on guitar, Alex Alessandroni Jr on keys and the one and only Kenny Aronoff on drums, they took to the stage and launched straight into their opening track “I am Done Missing You”, setting the scene for the evening ahead.
The set comprised of a good balance of songs from their latest long player Californisoul (“Broken Heart”, “L.O.V.E.”, “The Stranger” and “Elevate”) and some from their previous release West of Flushing, South of Frisco (“I Ain’t Falling Again”, “Remedy”, “Watchagonna Do”, “Can’t Take It No More”). The band took it in turns to showcase their own talents, Barras really taking it to the next level with his Hendrix style onstage tomfoolery, but I think the trophy went to Aranoff for his 3 minute drum solo which literally had the foundations shaking!
The crowd were getting restless, they wanted more……cue Davey Knowles from stage left to join them for “Sunshine”, taking over the lead guitar art from Kris whilst he took a well-earned break stood back from the limelight for a few minutes. The room was STIL not satisfied, they knew that there were more gifts in the bottom of the sack and started shouting for Billy Gibbons, he took heed and arrived on stage to a massive roar and strapped on his guitar and launched into the ZZ Top classic “La Grange”. He stayed with the band until the end of the set and when he kicked into the opening riff of “Sharp Dressed Man”, I thought the pace was about to lose it!
“Got My Mojo Working” saw Bernie Marsden take to the stage, providing 5 axemen up there, I thought it was going to be a car crash but Billy orchestrated things perfectly, allowing each player to play a solo whilst the rest stayed back providing rhythm duties, this worked really well and you could easily pick out their individual styles. I wanted to say how good Bernie Marsden’s playing sounded, he was playing a tremendous looking Les Paul, no doubt it was worth more than the third world debt but even so, he really made that baby sing!
The final song of the night was the classic “Going Down” by Moloch, this track has been covered by just about everybody and it was amazing to hear how these guys made it their own. After a standing ovation which lasted forever, the band left the stage, leaving the audience to take stock as to what just happened! It’s not every day you get three incredible acts on the same bill and to see Billy F Gibbons and Bernie Marsden was a treat in its own right!
As the place emptied, I remembered that I’d left my copy of “Eliminator” in Davy Knowles’s dressing room earlier in the day. I wandered up to get it and on my way back down, Billy Gibbons was just leaving his dressing room to go for a drink in the backstage bar, he was more than happy to sign it for me and have a quick chat about the show. I thanked him for his time and left a very happy man!
Words & Pictures by Steve Muscutt
You can see all of the photographs we took at the show by clicking on the respective band below.