JIM JONES & THE RIGHTEOUS MIND + SCARE TAXI – THE GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 27.09.19
After a stint of around eight years with the Jim Jones Revue, Jim Jones and Gavin Jay went onto form the dark psychedelic combo Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind in November 2014. The band took ‘The Righteous Mind’ part of the name from the title of a then recently published social psychology book by Jonathan Haid. Frontman Jim Jones distinctive recording history has spanned other incarnations including Black Moses and Thee Hypnotics.
Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind set about releasing a few singles, starting with the ‘Boil Yer Blood’ EP in 2015, which led up to the release of their debut ten track album titled ‘§uper Natural’ on 26th May 2017. A year or so later, they were at it again and unleashed their current offering ‘ColleçtiV’, which also featured ten compositions. Their latest release is ‘Get Down Get With It’, which is available as a 7” transparent pink vinyl limited edition single.
Jim is certainly no stranger to Brighton as he last appeared in the city up at The Hope & Ruin just six months ago on Friday 22nd March. Sadly I was unable to attend that particular concert as I had already arranged to go to church – to a concert of course! It was an opportunity to witness a set from Ulrich Schnauss up at St Luke’s Church on Queens Park Road and having never ventured inside the building before, this was my opportunity – read the concert review HERE.
As often is the case in buzzing Brighton, there are many clashes of gigs. In fact this evening, myself and my colleague Sara are hot footing it from the Green Door Store down the hill to The Richmond Bar to witness performances from THUMPER and Swoon – read our review HERE. Not only that, but we had another team stationed in a chapel in Kemp Town in order to report the goings on from Kirk Brandon’s Spear Of Destiny’s concert – read the article HERE.
Tonight is my first encounter with all things Jim Jones and one is immediately struck by the fact that him and his four chums are all clad in demonic black and are certainly dressed the part in order to entertain the sold out crowd.
The first thing that you notice whilst watching these boys live is that they have raw energy and power by the vat load. This is something akin to a loud version of The Velvet Underground, with former Slade frontman Noddy Holder (or AC/Dc’s Brian Johnson) style shouty vocals. The hot and sweaty Green Door Store is filled with glorious noise, being led by Andy Marvell’s tribal drumming skills. This is certainly music to have a few beers to!
I can see the inspiration by the final years work of The Beatles (The ‘White Album’ etc) in operation this evening and indeed we are gifted an absolutely stunning raucous version of ‘Helter Skelter’. Also, we even get a couple appearances of a go-go girl throwing her moves to certain tracks, in order to convey, I guess, the nostalgia rock’n’roll vibe.
I was also reminded tonight of the feel and the look of Depeche Mode, especially during their ‘Personal Jesus’ phase and was almost expecting a cover of that to turn up too.
Part way during the set, the zither (I think it was) was traded in for the more conventional guitar and things got even louder and the place was surely rockin’. Although I’m not totally sure Jim should deliver any jokes during the show, as I personally felt that they didn’t quite belong. Although the “Got any books on paranoia?”….”Behind youuuu” did make me laugh. I thought that the penultimate track ‘Hold Up’, which was delivered acapella and drums only, went on a bit. But hey, Jim had previously just entered the crowd and climbed on the wall at the back, so the interaction was great.
Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind performed a 19 track set that was compiled of six tunes from their latest 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album and seven from the predecessor 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album. A majority of the remaining songs were to be found on the various single releases.
So in conclusion, a hot and sweaty night was had by all and Jim remains an elemental, innovative force in the world of rock ‘n’ roll. To be honest, they were much better than I thought they were going to be.
Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind setlist:
‘Boil Yer Blood’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘No Fool’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘Till It’s All Gone’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘Heavy Lounge’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘Shazam’ (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘Get Down Get With It’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Down Get With It’ single)
‘Satan’s Got His Heart Set On You’ (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘Sex Robot’ (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘Dream’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘Attack Of The Killer Brainz’ (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘Voodoo Workin’’
‘Something’s Gonna Get Its Hands On You’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
‘Helter Skelter’ (The Beatles cover)
‘Walk It Out’ (found on 2017 ‘Till It’s All Gone’ single)
‘Out Align’ (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘I Found A Love’ (Wilson Pickett cover) (found on 2018 ‘ColleçtiV’ album)
‘Base Is Loaded’ (found on 2017 ‘§uper Natural’ album)
(encore)
‘Hold Up’ (found on 2015 ‘Boil Yer Blood’ single)
‘Alpha Shit’ (found on 2016 ‘Aldecide’ single)
Clearly the band thoroughly enjoyed their night as they have posted this on social media “Whoah, Brighton! That was a crazy, hot riot of a sold out gig last night, right? Between us, we all raised the temperature so much that the lacquer on Jim’s guitar started to run!
Now, as you know, we’re a band of unity and bringing people together but we couldn’t help but chuckle at the argument that we overheard afterwards:
“That was the gig of the year!” declared one fan.
“No, it wasn’t,” countered another. “It was the best gig in 10 years!”
Thank you – let’s do it again sometime!”.
The band comprises:
Jim Jones (lead vocals / guitar /maracas)
Gavin Jay (electric bass / contrabass / backing vocals)
Mal Troon (guitar / pedal steel / backing vocals)
Matt Millership (piano / organ / backing vocals)
Andy Marvell (drums)
Find out further information on the band by visiting their official website: www.righteousmind.co.uk
Support this evening came from the omnipresent Scare Taxi, who have very recently released their brand new album entitled ‘Death By Music’. We have seen these guys a number of times recently and the glaring omission tonight is where is drummer Jonny 8 Track? How’s it all going to go with just Alexander Boag, Tara ‘Guitara‘ Harley and programmed drums? Answer: very well actually! We were served ten tunes with the exact same charisma and rock moves from Mr B. that we have previously encountered from the former frontman of 1990’s chart band These Animal Men; and Tara was exactly the same too. Both were sharing the vocal duties as usual. Standout tracks being ‘Great Things On My Mind’ and their cover of ‘Tainted Love’.
Scare Taxi setlist:
‘If It Bothers You?’, ‘Sisters/Brothers’, ‘Kickin’ Down Doors’, ‘Get Up Get Off’, ‘The Revelator’, ‘Lunacy’, ‘Anna’, ‘Great Things On My Mind’, ‘Fly’, ‘Tainted Love’.
For further info on Scare Taxi visit HERE and HERE.
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