It’s been all change since I last visited The Craufurd Arms. With a “new” elevated stage installed, the whole dynamic of the venue has altered and has certainly given the music room an edge over similar sized venues and putting it to good use is opening act Ross Connor. In our current age of singer/songwriters, Ross brings something new to the party, a distinctly European brand of Americana that sits easy on the ear and soon pulls all the stragglers in from the smoking area. Tracks such as ‘Nose On The Grindstone’ and ‘Whipping Post’ wrap serious lyrics up in well crafted tunes and it all conspires to signpost a bright future.

While we’re on the subject of bright futures, it’s time to grab your shades because things are looking decidedly fluorescent for The Chesspieces. Imagine Bitches Brew era Miles Davis on steroids and you’d have something approaching opening salvo ‘Scumbag’. A nice fusion of jazz/soul/funk, this crew have a genre fluid sound, but one thing which unites it all is a strong focus on groove and ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ gets the whole venue bobbing like Hasidic kids rocking the Wailing Wall. There’s a nice tension of opposites to their sound (kinda like The Fat Boys’ collaboration with The Beach Boys) that pits the heavy against the lithe, with the ethereal keys creating a nice foil for the bombastic rhythm section. It takes a brave band to put their own spin on The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’, but in a case of fortune favouring the fearless it really works and gains The Chesspieces a lot of kudos. A local band who could make a national impact, I shall be keenly watching The Chesspieces’ next move.

Having supported the likes of Rival Sons and played festivals such as Steelhouse, it would be easy to categorise Creeping Jean’s rise as meteoric, yet there’s been a whole lot of hard work to get to the position of tonight’s headliners. Despite its title, sophomore album Business Is Dead (reviewed here), has been garnering them some great press and despite an aesthetic and sound that harks back to the golden age of rock, deliver it with an energy that places them firmly in the present. With the stage bathed in demonic red light, Creeping Jean arrive with little fanfare but make a big impression with opening salvo ‘Ten Kisses’. Aided by a thick and lustrous sound (akin to a warm Marshall amplifier with hot valves), this Brighton bunch attack the stage like an unruly street gang (which they pretty much are) and as such lock in tightly to give their songs the punch they so thoroughly deserve. Imagine Free jamming with Leaf Hound and you’d have something encroaching on the physical presence of ‘Spice Rack’. The band are obviously happy in their own company and you can almost feel the chemistry that crackles between them, which means that the band don’t need to look to each other for cues and can spend their time on the sweet stuff (i.e., bludgeoning the crowd with monstrous riffs). The great thing about tracks such as ‘Warm & Fuzzy’ is they do exactly what they say on the tin and with soulful vocals, devilishly good drumming and foot firmly on the distortion peddle, ‘Warm & Fuzzy’ wraps the crowd up in a comforting Novocaine buzz.

Returning for a well deserved encore, Creeping Jean drain the tank for an amphetamine-fuelled version of The Rolling Stones’ ‘The Last Time’ and with hopes that the band will return soon.

Creeping Jean Set List:

1. Ten Kisses
2. Spice Rack
3. When’s The Blowout
4. Fluorescent Orange Skies
5. Sassy Got Shakes
6. The Big Cheese
7. Business Is Dead
8. Money Road
9. Warm & Fuzzy
10. Bandit

Encore:

11. The Last Time

The Chesspieces Set List:

1. Scumbag
2. Sad
3. Tennessee Whiskey
4. Yesterday
5. Icarus

Ross Connor Set List:

1. White House Road
2. Go It Alone
3. All Again
4. Nose On The Grindstone
5. Drowning
6. Whipping Post
7. Something In The Orange
8. King Of Oklahoma
9. Cover Me Up
10. Cowgirl In The Sand