Stiff Little Fingers - The Slim Jim Phantom Trio
..it’s March so it must be time to see Stiff Little Fingers in Norwich!
I do not want to seem like I am damning STIFF LITTLE FINGERS with faint praise but they are the most, well, reliable band that I know of. I have seen them well over a dozen times over the course of more years than I care to remember and I have never, ever seen them play a set that is less than great. Tonight is no exception but first up, it’s THE SLIM JIM PHANTOM TRIO.
Featuring legendary Stray Cat Phantom on drums and vox, along with his wife Jennie (Eagles of Death Metal) Vee on bass and box, unsurprisingly the Trio play old school rock ‘n’ roll and rockabilly. The set list includes covers of the likes of Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran, although the highlights of the set are The Damned’s New Rose and The Stray Cats’ Stray Cat Strut. Phantom may not have the strongest of voices but he ain’t bad, the between song chat is entertaining and it is always great to watch him play. I didn’t get the guitarist’s name (and haven’t been able to find it anywhere on line either) but they deliver some damned fine guitar work. The SJPT don’t do anything earth shattering but it is damned good fun and a great warm up for the main attraction.
As they have seemingly for time immemorial, STIFF LITTLE FINGERS take to the stage to a tape of their own instrumental Go For It. As always, the crowd - a good spread of ages from teens through to those old enough to have seen SLF first time round - sing along to the guitar parts and it is clear that everyone is here to have a good time.
I’ve reviewed SLF for this august organ several times over the years so I won’t go into the minutiae of the set list this time. Suffice to say, it is a good mix of the old classics through to new song The Tower In London, a notably angry, passionate but melodic protest song about the Grenfell disaster. There’s also a fair few songs that I can’t remember hearing live for a good few years.
Stage left, whip-thin and clad in black, bassist Ali McMordie remains one of the coolest men in rock and is a damned fine bass-player to boot. At the back, Steve Grantley powers everything with some phenomenal drumming, particularly on the rumbling, tribal intro to Full Steam Backwards and Get A Life. Ian McCallum is stage right, going about his business of playing rock solid rhythm guitar and cracking leads in his defiantly unflashy way, although there’s more jumps tonight than usual and even a bit of larking about with McMordie. At the centre of it all, Jake Burns is in fine, fine voice, possibly the best I have heard him. Like McCallum, his guitar playing is solid and unflashy but never anything other than perfectly suited to these songs.
Takes on Bunny Wailer’s Roots, Radics, Rockers, Reggae and Marley & The Wailers’ Johnny Was are evidence that (with the possible exception of The Ruts), SLF have always been the best of the rock bands at injecting reggae into their sound both without losing their own essence and without turning into pastiche or cultural (mis)appropriation. Each Dollar A Bullet and Harp take things into folk- and country-rock territory. Set closer Suspect Device is as thrilling as ever whilst encore Alternative Ulster never fails to give me goosebumps.
I say it every time I see SLF: if you like rock music – not just punk but ROCK music – go see them. They will NEVER disappoint.
And can I finish by saying seeing SLF at Epic made a very welcome change to the annual shindig at the Waterfront, not that I have anything against the Waterfront but it was good to actually be able to see every member of the band without having to struggle into the mosh pit!
