C J WILDHEART + SCOTT SORRY + GRAND THEFT AUDIO – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 21.9.22
With the Wildhearts officially on hiatus, CJ Wildheart is not one to sit on his laurels. With his new album, he returned to the studio and re-recorded 20 tracks from his lifelong career, spanning his work in The Wildhearts, Honeycrack, The Jellys and his solo career to date. He’s now teamed up with Grand Theft Audio, Scott Sorry, and his own band, taking this album on tour and each band on the bill has a present or former member of the Wildhearts amongst their line ups. Tonight’s Brighton concert is taking place at Patterns.
First up, Grand Theft Audio, I’ve not seen these guys since the end of the 20th century, and a few decades down the road, they’re still a class act. Vocalist Jay Butler prefers to spend his time in the crowd for the whole set and wrapped around my leg at one point!
I heard a great story from the recent show in Birmingham that he went off stage still singing with his extremely long mic cable only to disappear and reappear with a step ladder which he proceeded to climb and continue singing. That’s rock n roll!
There’s no step ladder tonight, but he is still all over the place, on the bar, on someone’s back, and on the floor. The band featuring The Wildhearts Rich Battersby on drums, Rob Lane on Bass, and Ben Marsden on guitar, belt through a set of pure electro-rockers. The infectious ‘Ici Mon Decree’ and banger ‘Bury The Day’, both from the recent L.P ‘Pass Me The Conch’, Which is well worth getting your ears around. Vintage G.T.A. is catered for with storming run-throughs of ‘Death To The Infidels’, ‘Stoopid Ass’, and the catchy as f*ck ‘As Good As It Gets’. A fine start to the evening, and look forward to seeing these guys again real soon.
After a quick turnaround, Scott Sorry and his bandmates hit the stage. Sorry, a former bassist with The Wildhearts and Amen along with his band Sorry and The Sinatras and his solo career, he’s another with a pretty tasty back catalogue. The classic ‘Broken Hearts And 45s’ opens, followed by ‘End Of Summer’ and my favourite from the ‘When We Were Kings’ L.P. ‘Close Calls’.
It’s so good to see Sorry back on stage after his well-reported health problems at the end of 2017, when doctors found a brain tumour that affected his speech and motor functions. After a successful operation and with the help of friends, bands and fans across the globe helping to raise funds to help with medical costs, Sorry is finally back where he belongs and tonight spitting out some sweet punk-edged rock n roll. ‘Hated Heart’ from The Sinatra’s album is a frantic punk rock tune that comes alive on the stage. The latest single ‘Black Dog Dancers’ and the anthemic ‘When We Were Kings’ close a faultless set.
With barely enough time to grab a drink at the bar CJ Wildheart and his cohorts are on stage, and after the intro ‘Peking Duck’ blasts from the stage, followed by the incendiary ‘State Of Us’, it’s a pretty clear message that C.J. puts the ‘Wild’ in Wildhearts!
Even the Jellys pop-punk favourite ‘Lemonade Girl’ has its sugar-coating stripped away. ‘F.U.B.A.R.’ is fast-paced and in your face, and Honeycrack’s ‘Sitting At Home’ and ‘Go Away’, even with their glorious melodies, still bang harder and faster than ever.
The main set closes with an absolute tear-up with ‘O.C.D’, the Wildhearts B-side. For the encore, C.J is joined by Ritch and Scott as they proceed to smash their way through Warren Zevon’s ‘Carmelita’ The Jim Carroll classic, ‘People Who Died’ and two Wildhearts numbers, ‘Little Flower’ and the Scott Sorry penned ‘The Only One’.
The Wildhearts co-founder, C.J. tonight proves as the years roll on, there’s still life post-Wildhearts for some punked-up rock n roll, and he looks like he’s clearly enjoying the current tour, so let’s hope this won’t be the last!
