Music / Reviews
Review: CJ Wildheart, Thekla
B 24/7 has already carried plenty of well-deserved praise for chirpy, hard working and absurdly young Bristol trio Flowerpot. Tonight, they were personally selected by CJ Wildheart as local support act and made the most of their 7pm opening slot, despite playing to a rather sparse crowd. Wisely, they’ve now ditched the covers and play original catchy, guitar-driven heavy-ish rock of no fixed genre. Rather too many all-female bands settle for simple, generic and rather boring garage rock, so it’s refreshing to find an act with a little more musical ambition.
Annoyingly named tour support VH Yes trudge through 40 minutes or so of one-dimensional pop-rock before promising to brighten things up with a cover. Woo-hoo! Freebird? The Trooper? Angel of Death? Nope, another song that sounds just like all their own stuff – possibly by Weezer.
Christopher Persaud-Jagdhar, aka CJ, is generally to be seen stage right with the Wildhearts, where his duties include guitar, harmonising and, he suggests cheekily tonight, remembering the lyrics that Ginger frequently forgets. Although he’s quite prolific in the studio, he hasn’t toured as a solo artist for nearly a decade. (“I’ve got a family now, so I prefer to stay at home and record . . . and masturbate,” he confesses.) For those of us who’ve seen the Wildhearts hundreds (possible exaggeration) of times, it’s actually quite weird to hear him speak for once, since Ginger usually does the talking for at least a dozen people.
is needed now More than ever
Resplendent in his trademark pork pie hat, he’s not the most natural of frontmen and doesn’t address the audience for a while as his rather excellent band rattle through tracks from fine new album Robot and its predecessor Mable. Unsurprisingly, these don’t stray too far from Wildhearts territory, with heavy guitar riffs welded to irresistible melodies and huge choruses. Down the Drain is built on the sturdy scaffold of a huge Glitter Band beat, F.U.B.A.R. is pure (non-metal) thrash in the tradition of the Wildhearts’ Suckerpunch, and Always Believe Her (about Mrs CJ, apparently) is a splendidly non-sickly almost-ballad.
They don’t bother pretending to leave the stage before the encore, which showcases CJ’s work with other, non-Wildhearts bands, perhaps underlining the fact that he’s at his best when working with collaborators. The Jellys’ Lemonade Girl is as sweet and frothy as the title suggests, but it’s the material from the one and only Honeycrack album, Prozaic, that really shines. This fruitful creative partnership with Willie Dowling yields the skilfully crafted hit-that-should-have-been Go Away and gloriously Beatlesy Sitting at Home.
All pix by Donna Coombs.