Stop Stop Start Again / Stiltwalkers / The Vipers
@ the Black Box, Belfast, 11/06/2011
I'm feeling gigged out as this is my fourth show attended in the past 8 days which shockingly seems to be more than enough for me these days .$$ has done 5 gigs in 8 days and he's not feeling the strain at all , oh! to be young again lol.
Being one of Stage B's biggest fans and the persistant rumour that there was going to be a possible reunion here tonight (minus 'Owen Howell' RIP) meant knackered or not there was noway I was going to miss this gig just incase.
Sadly the reunion didn't happen, but that doesn't mean its not going to happen sooner rather than later another time another place !!!!!.Watch this space. Around 9.00pm master of ceremonies 'Paul Rowan' (SSSA) sporting his repro 'BOY' eagle print tshirt ( loved those ,had a couple of them myself in the mid 80s) introduced the first band 'Stiltwalkers' who are a duo made up of frontman 'Dessie Potter' the ex 'Stage B' songwriter /guitarist and hooded up behind his bank of synths 'Mike Scott' ex 'The Rose Garden' .
The electronic wall of sound this dark and sinister duo produced was massive ,and with 'Dessie's visualy theatrical style delivery, the black cross painted on his forehead and his deep deep vocals I have to say as someone who was a 'Batcave' member and into the likes of the 'Danse Society , Bauhaus' & the'Sisters of Mercy'etc back in the day I thought they were very impressive .
'Stiltwalkers' have some really good original songs in their set like 'Facination st, Fashion freaks , Fear of the lord' and their very different take on the old 'Stage B' 45 flipside 'Light on the hillside' which they've seriously remade & remodelled and which they've technologicly dragged screaming into the 21st century.
Excellent band ,we will defintely be checking them out again in the very near future .
'Nine Inch Nails' biggest fan '$pikey $teve' lapped them up and was itching to grab one of the onstage 'Yamaha sg' guitars and ask to play along, 'Glenn Kingsmore' from 'the Defects' who was at our table with one of ye olde belfast punk good guys 'Sammy Haveron' also fancied joining in on the vacant onstage drumkit.
If 'Stiltwalkers' need a talented teenage lead guitarist sometime they now know who to ask.
There was a short interval to allow 'Stiltwalkers' to pack up their very expensive looking gear so punk book author 'Guy Trelford' and myself took the opportunity to approach 'Dessie Potter' who we both knew to different degrees from the 'Harp bar 'days about getting up to play guitar with the next band on 'The Vipers' (who are actually 'SSSA' with 'Charlie Reilly' on vocals) & aswell as being old friends of his and some of his ex Stage B bandmates they were about to play a three song set of Stage B tunes to promote the free covers ep being given away here tonight . Its not everyday you get the three remaining members of Stage B in one room but disappointingly 'Dessie' declined due to not having played the songs for years and no rehearsal which is totally understandable and which we respected. Hopefully he'll do it sometime soon as theres no-one else who can do 'Darkness' lol (the strobes await).
So no longawaited 'Stage B' reunion this time, up next we had 'The Vipers' .
The Vipers ( SSSA & Charlie Reilly) were formed to play a 'Stage B ' tribute set here tonight to tie in with the new ep and they did the 'Stage B' legend justice. After a shakey start they found their stride and never looked back . 'Charlie Reilly' did an excellent job , his vocals were really strong much better than last time at th CQAF . Charlie' is a real character and you could see from this onstage performance he was really up for it tonight .I just wish they could've done more 'Stage B' songs including the lost gems 'The Viper'& 'Open up, well maybe next time.
Its been a while since I last saw 'SSSA' live and they've certainly tightened up a lot since our last encounter, they've played live quite a few times in recent months and it shows . Good to see the increasing number of self penned original tunes like 'Serge Gainsborough' & the smutty inuendo of 'Banging on your back door' in their set these days fitting in nicely amongst the 'Magazine' & 'Placebo' covers .Stop Stop Start Again and me haven't always seen eye to eye in the past but I enjoyed them tonight.
The end of the night was drawing near and its was now left to 'Paul Rowan' ( SSSA frontman who has worked his nuts of throughout) to take us on a trip back to our glam rock youth (should have known this was coming by his glittery silver shoes lol ,the clues were there ), this time on bass it was 'Maurice Maxwell' with 'Matty Maxwell' on drums. They did really good covers of my fav 45 of alltime 'Mott the Hooples' anthem 'All the young dudes' and the 'David Bowie' classic 'Ziggy Stardust' , I love those songs dearly, it was a great way to finish what turned out to be an excellent night.
more photos here
Joe Donnelly Belfast 13.6.11.
Being one of Stage B's biggest fans and the persistant rumour that there was going to be a possible reunion here tonight (minus 'Owen Howell' RIP) meant knackered or not there was noway I was going to miss this gig just incase.
Sadly the reunion didn't happen, but that doesn't mean its not going to happen sooner rather than later another time another place !!!!!.Watch this space. Around 9.00pm master of ceremonies 'Paul Rowan' (SSSA) sporting his repro 'BOY' eagle print tshirt ( loved those ,had a couple of them myself in the mid 80s) introduced the first band 'Stiltwalkers' who are a duo made up of frontman 'Dessie Potter' the ex 'Stage B' songwriter /guitarist and hooded up behind his bank of synths 'Mike Scott' ex 'The Rose Garden' .
The electronic wall of sound this dark and sinister duo produced was massive ,and with 'Dessie's visualy theatrical style delivery, the black cross painted on his forehead and his deep deep vocals I have to say as someone who was a 'Batcave' member and into the likes of the 'Danse Society , Bauhaus' & the'Sisters of Mercy'etc back in the day I thought they were very impressive .
'Stiltwalkers' have some really good original songs in their set like 'Facination st, Fashion freaks , Fear of the lord' and their very different take on the old 'Stage B' 45 flipside 'Light on the hillside' which they've seriously remade & remodelled and which they've technologicly dragged screaming into the 21st century.
Excellent band ,we will defintely be checking them out again in the very near future .
'Nine Inch Nails' biggest fan '$pikey $teve' lapped them up and was itching to grab one of the onstage 'Yamaha sg' guitars and ask to play along, 'Glenn Kingsmore' from 'the Defects' who was at our table with one of ye olde belfast punk good guys 'Sammy Haveron' also fancied joining in on the vacant onstage drumkit.
If 'Stiltwalkers' need a talented teenage lead guitarist sometime they now know who to ask.
There was a short interval to allow 'Stiltwalkers' to pack up their very expensive looking gear so punk book author 'Guy Trelford' and myself took the opportunity to approach 'Dessie Potter' who we both knew to different degrees from the 'Harp bar 'days about getting up to play guitar with the next band on 'The Vipers' (who are actually 'SSSA' with 'Charlie Reilly' on vocals) & aswell as being old friends of his and some of his ex Stage B bandmates they were about to play a three song set of Stage B tunes to promote the free covers ep being given away here tonight . Its not everyday you get the three remaining members of Stage B in one room but disappointingly 'Dessie' declined due to not having played the songs for years and no rehearsal which is totally understandable and which we respected. Hopefully he'll do it sometime soon as theres no-one else who can do 'Darkness' lol (the strobes await).
So no longawaited 'Stage B' reunion this time, up next we had 'The Vipers' .
The Vipers ( SSSA & Charlie Reilly) were formed to play a 'Stage B ' tribute set here tonight to tie in with the new ep and they did the 'Stage B' legend justice. After a shakey start they found their stride and never looked back . 'Charlie Reilly' did an excellent job , his vocals were really strong much better than last time at th CQAF . Charlie' is a real character and you could see from this onstage performance he was really up for it tonight .I just wish they could've done more 'Stage B' songs including the lost gems 'The Viper'& 'Open up, well maybe next time.
Its been a while since I last saw 'SSSA' live and they've certainly tightened up a lot since our last encounter, they've played live quite a few times in recent months and it shows . Good to see the increasing number of self penned original tunes like 'Serge Gainsborough' & the smutty inuendo of 'Banging on your back door' in their set these days fitting in nicely amongst the 'Magazine' & 'Placebo' covers .Stop Stop Start Again and me haven't always seen eye to eye in the past but I enjoyed them tonight.
The end of the night was drawing near and its was now left to 'Paul Rowan' ( SSSA frontman who has worked his nuts of throughout) to take us on a trip back to our glam rock youth (should have known this was coming by his glittery silver shoes lol ,the clues were there ), this time on bass it was 'Maurice Maxwell' with 'Matty Maxwell' on drums. They did really good covers of my fav 45 of alltime 'Mott the Hooples' anthem 'All the young dudes' and the 'David Bowie' classic 'Ziggy Stardust' , I love those songs dearly, it was a great way to finish what turned out to be an excellent night.
more photos here
Joe Donnelly Belfast 13.6.11.