After being unavailable for the invite to review these guys recent sell out gig at Gulliver’s due to already being engaged across the other side of the city at the Ritz to experience Ist Ist’s biggest headline gig to date I find myself back to the wonderful Trades Club in Hebden Bridge tonight to catch them here instead. When the email offer came through I initially ignored it as it was simply titled His Lordship and I just thought it was our lord and master Carl with his latest demands from us mere mortals, that could wait…
After finally checking it out the email first thing I thought was Who? but after a few clicks on Spotify I was intrigued during the first few tracks the streaming service offered up so absolute no brainer to go over the damp foggy moors to get here but first up it’s onto the support band,
Bruno & The Outrageous Methods Of Presentation.
The thing that instantly hits you about the support is this could be a family outing of son, mother, father and grandad on the drums but as soon as the first cord is struck it’s clear this is nothing of the sort. The band might be missing revered Punk legend Glen Matlock tonight who records with them but the sound is loud and pure punk as they open up with Rickenbacker, it’s fast and furious and the set never lets off, not even giving the audience a chance to applaud. At times even the band don’t seem quite sure what’s happening next as Bruno shows no signs of letting up, crazy!
Towards the end of the set the music crosses over to a bit more Rock & Roll bias but the set doesn’t slow down, even the one “ballad” to finish on is attacked at pace. Just to give you an idea of frenetic the music is, the band flew through their 11 song set in just under 30 minutes and that included a slight delay with a pedalboard issue. If you find the Sex Pistols too pedestrian then Bruno & OMP are probably right up your street.
His Lordship
His Lordship comprises of James Walbourne (The Pretenders, The Pogues, The Rails) on vocals & guitar and Kristoffer Sonne (Chrissie Hynde, Willie Nelson) on BV’s & drums. Playing with a rosta of bands and artists such as that listed gives them quite a bit of experience to draw from over the years and right from the start it shows.
This, tonight is nothing short of everything you would expect from a Rock & Roll band who know their craft. From 50’s sounding Rockabilly, into bluesy gloriousness then on to the late 70’s sounding current single Buzzkill that apes the likes of Ramones and Vipers, moving into stuff that Motorhead would have in their arsenal. Chuck in a bit of Wilco Johnson for good measure and beyond and you pretty much have His Lordship summed up.
The next hour is nothing short of a masterclass in the AtoZ of variety the R&R genre contains from the opener, I Live In The City, a spectacular version of The Repenter and even when
Kristopher comes out from behind the drums for Pixelated Polly (where at times he’s stood atop his drumset swinging the mic above his head) the format doesn’t change, the energy is electric, the musicianship nothing short of perfection and there’s an on-stage charisma between the two rhat many well established bands would kill for, this doesn’t look like a band that only formed just before lockdown.
The time has simply flown and before we know it we’re being treated to the aforementioned Wilco Johnson’s track Red Hot as the only song of the Encore, it’s been powerful, loud, relentless and I’m shellshocked!
So to sum up my night and this band, it can only really be done one way and that’s to paraphrase the legendary Lemmy as an equil to how he played.
“They are His Lordship and they play Rock N Roll!”
You can find out more about His Lordship here https://www.facebook.com/HisLordshipUK/
His Lordship played.
I LIVE IN THE CITY
ALL CRANKED UP
I’M SO BORED OF BEING BORED
JACKIE
ROCK FALL ECHO DUST
THE WAY I WALK
BUZZKILL
PIXELATED POLLY
THE REPENTER
BROTHER
SLEEPWALK
JOY BOY
CATCALL
I AM IN AMSTERDAM
RED HOT