Stevie R. Pearce & The Hooligans/Silverjet/Dirty Scarlet –
Corporation, Sheffield, Friday 26th August, 2022
Back to the little room again at the Corp where the intimacy is in abundance where we get to experience another 3 band smattering of varied styles and levels.
Set List: Queen Of Hearts/Breakout/Your Mistake/Black As Gold/Paranoid/Out Of Sight/Snakecharmer.
First up are a young local act that go by the name of Dirty Scarlet who are obviously early on in their career. They deliver some cobbled together songs that are not exactly flowing at times but the members have the zest and spirit to just about overcome it.
Style-wise they are kinda hard to describe but let's just call them a melting pot of metal. The frontman definitely needs to learn how to use a microphone better as in his mouth positioning because he was way too far away from it to be heard making it a distant intelligible bellow – plus also work on his clarity too.
Give them a few months and they will get there. Apart from that they were as a while working hard but need to iron out the rough spots. They can play fine enough but its a bit like listening to premature demos that have not been fully perfected.
At least the friends they brought with them did not vanish after they were done and stuck till the end of the night. Highlights included the fast paced almost NWOBHM 'Breakout'; the heavy bass riffed 'Your Mistake' and the closing, thrashy 'Snakecharmer'.
Set List: Looks Like Trouble/Take My Pills/Life Is Better/Machine/End Of Day/Nasty Wish/Everybody Used To Love You/Fuck You/Topside/Hell Yeah!
Not seen Silverjet since their headline performance in the tent at RTB and they've got a new bassist in tow too since then. The line-up now is Dave Kerr (Vocals/Guitar), Noddy (Bass), Alex Brookes (Drums) & Andy Mewse (Guitar).
They are a tight and well-established unit who have been at it since the early 2000's – Wow! Is it really that long? Makes me feel old – Hahaha! They've modernised their style quite a lot over the years and have a harder and heavier vibe to them these days both lyrically and musically.
Silverjet Still managing to grab the audience just as much as they always did back in the day regardless of their change in members or image since their original conception. You can no longer label them as the 'Baby Quireboys' – a moniker they were known as in their formative time and heyday.
I remember frontman, Dave Kerr with long flowing blonde hair who as you can now see, sports more of a designer swept back, shaven on each side look. The band really has matured a lot and more the better for it and have really come into their own as can be heard and seen from their set tonight.
Standouts included the opening ballsy 'n' rhythmic 'Looks Like Trouble' with the cool backing vocals, the abrasive rocker 'Life Is Better'; the tight melodics of 'End Of Day' and the tell it how it is 'Fuck You' that everybody got into the spirit of.
Giving us a fabulous ending to the proceedings was the name of the game here since we got treated to the classic Rock 'N' Roll of 'Hell Yeah' from their debut self-titled album. Now that's a fitting way to conclude a great all-round performance on a Friday night!
Set List: Over The Top/Thirteens/I'm On Fire/Going Down/Rush Of Blood/Can't Turn Your Back On Blood/Nobody Loves You/Fleshwound/Lunatics By The Pool/Educated/Bad Day/Folsom Prison Blues/Hooligan.
Encore: Punk And Belligerent.
Okay, so I have been wanting and meaning to see the headline band for a few years now but for one reason or another I have not had the chance – this issue has at last been fixed! Now Stevie and the boys, call it cliche on my part, know how to Rock and absolutely punk it up hard at the same time too. The Hooligans being Charles Evans (Drums), Christian Kimmett (Bass) & Ash Tustain (Guitar).
I wouldn't want to be those speakers as they are really driving out the volume in here – forget them going to 11 – this is 13 at least! How apt since its one of their numbers played tonight. One of those instances where I am not sure if the old tab protectors are in or not – I best check – ouch that burns – yes they are definitely working! Hahaha!
Mr. Pearce is certainly seasoned as a frontman who instantly immerses everybody in their take-no-prisoners assault on our ears and minds. There is no doubt that he is the real deal and I bet he's slept on his fair share of floors over the years in order to keep striving forward as a full-on authentic maverick of unadulterated Rock 'N' Roll!
Highlights include the venomous opener 'Over The Top'; the shouty and snarly ' I'm On Fire'; the slower but still as powerful 'Rush Of Blood'; the in-your-face rocker 'Can't Turn Your Back On Blood'; the Ramones like 'Lunatics By The Pool' & 'Bad Bad Day' that puts me in mind of Mountain's 'Nantucket Sleighride' with a pace closer to that of Iron Maiden's 'Phantom Of The Opera'.
The whole set was a rollicking let loose barrage of blazing, unapologetic glory that took you back to an energy that equalled The Sex Pistols and early rawness of Motorhead – in fact, the latter end of the set was so Lemmified that it was as though their spirits had simply sauntered in and took of the minds of each member with one number, 'Hooligan' being a mirror image of 'Overkill' with that machine-gun powerful drumming technique that Filthy Phil was so famous for.
It really was worth the wait after all these years since I was so pleased I had come to witness Stevie's gang who were so energetic and full on.
By Glenn Milligan