Photo by Phil Honley

Having narrowly avoided stumbling into The Exploited’s show at the slightly larger Academy1 right next door, I was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty full venue for this early kick-off.

The Cold Stares, a trio based in Indiana, are led by guitarist/vocalist Chris Tapp and long-time associate and drummer Brian Mullins. Recent recruit Bryce Klueh completes the line up on bass and floppy haircut.

I was immediately struck by the assured sound of the band, peeling off some engaging heavy blues and rolling, lowdown hard rock. The guitar tone that Tapp found deep within his Gibson Les Paul was particularly lovely: thick and rich as black treacle. Demonstrated to full effect on tracks like ‘Come For Me’ and ’Heavy Shoes’ from the band’s last two albums.

Although the stage presence was generally low key, Tapp had an easy manner chatting with the crowd and Klueh was an enthusiastic presence, stage left.

‘Giving It Up’ changed the pace, dealing a funky, complicated time signature from the extremely competent Brian Mullins and then a new track ‘Blowing Slow’ featuring another impressively heavyweight, grinding riff.

Despite the bluesy feel to much of the material, the tracks were short and punchy. No long-involved solos or indulgent nurdling. It resonated with the crowd and when the two final numbers from older albums were played, there was a noticeably buoyant atmosphere cooked up by hardcore fans. For the first time, I noticed that there were as many t-shirts emblazoned with The Cold Stares motifs as there were for ‘The Damn Truth‘.

‘Two Keys and Good Book’ laid down a couple of sweet, sharp, psychedelic solos and ‘Nothing But The Blues’ finished the show with a rumbling, infectious groove, aided by a distinctly jiggy crowd down the front. Good band, new to me, but I won’t be a stranger any longer.

The Damn Truth have been creating a little bit of a buzz and the crowd was expectant. The Montreal rockers flounced onto stage in their colourful flower-power inspired fashion garb and immediately looked to own the stage.

Photo by Simon Green

First up was ‘This Is Who We Are Now’ from latest album ‘Now or Nowhere’, an album that to my ears is a real step up in songwriting and production compared to earlier material. This track was a great set-opener with a hard-driving rhythm, layered backing singing and characteristically strong hook on the chorus. Tom Shemer on lead guitar and PY Letellier on bass were immediately chucking themselves around the stage, creating quite a spectacle.

But it was front-woman Lee-la Baum that commanded most attention with her outstanding vocals. ‘Full On You’ delivered another big old refrain that hinted at the range and quality of her delivery. There’s something of Lzzy Hale in the soft/hard power dynamics that she wields, with greedy dollops of tuneful blues and soul to savour as well.

Photo by Simon Green

‘Too Late’ was next and it was good, though the sound had been persistently inconsistent up to that point. I’d moved round a couple of times to try to catch the top end on the guitar solos and avoid the feedback and swampy bass. By the time ‘Pirates and Politician’ rolled through the mix had settled down. The whole show moved up a gear with clarity to match the passion.

Two of the best from the new album came next in the shape of ‘Lonely’, a blues rock ballad with a scything guitar solo and crowd sing-along moments; and then ‘Only Love’ which absolutely rollicked along with a honeyed vocal and catchy riff on a deliciously radio-friendly track. This really cut through in the live arena and concluded with a drum solo from Dave Traina which was tight and precise enough not to lose the mood.

There is something a little different about this band. The sound is commercial hard rock, with blues undertones, but there’s a sense of spirituality and hippiness that seemed to permeate at a softer level through the performance.

The band worked the crowd hard all night: frequent hand-clapping, ‘we’re all in this thing together’ chats and then during the quirky-lyric ‘Look Innocent’, Tom Shemer climbed down from the stage to deliver a towering solo and sashay amongst us on the dance floor, without missing a single note. Even more impressively trailing his guitar lead behind him without tripping over. I thought he had a passing resemblance to a young Paul Stanley as he tip-toed past me and back on to the stage. Very striking all round.

All concerns about the sound quality had long departed as ‘Devilish Folk’ found a lovely, dirty growl and an increasingly confident Shemer contorted his body in wringing out a lead break from the lip of the stage.

Photo by Justyna Serafin

Maybe the highlight of the set was the closer, ‘Tomorrow’ with a swaggering blues lick and Baum again in top form with an epic soul-searching vocal on the melodic chorus, powered by a satisfying bassline.

Photo by Simon Green

A slight surprise on the first encore with a cover of U2’s ‘Love is Blindness’ that this band released in 2016. Much edgier and rawer than anything else played tonight, but no bad things with Baum again hitting the heights in a register we hadn’t heard so far. The final track was ‘The Heart Is Cold’ from the ‘Devilish Folk’ album which stretched into noodle territory, and an almost folky interlude with a gravelly dedication by Baum to rock and roll and peace and love and all points in between. The track was brought home by some firework guitar, bass playing on PY’s head and finally a long goodbye, selfies and kisses.

Photo by Digital Island Photography

Moments after they had left the stage, they were making for the merch stall at the back of the hall, immediately chatting to punters, shaking hands and signing everything put in front of them. An impressive thing to see.

This was a top gig by a talented, hard working band who are writing better songs, playing well and polishing a fine array of showbiz tools. They deserve to do well. And that’s the truth, dammit.

Review by Dave Atkinson

The Damn Truth – July 2023 UK Tour. Tickets – https://rb.gy/rh4w5
With special guests **EMPYRE

**Leicester, Musician – Tuesday July 25
**Buckley, Tivoli – Thursday July 27
**Leek , Foxlowe Arts Centre – Friday July 28
Steelhouse Festival – Saturday July 29
The Greystones, Sheffield – Sunday July 30
**Milton Keynes, The Stables MK – Tuesday August 1

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)