I like Chalk Brighton where I am stood tonight – a good bar, stage, lighting, sound and great aircon! There’s quite a few Seasick Steve lookalikes here tonight. I always find the lookie-likies disarming but hey there’s passion there. I often wonder if they think people will mistake them for him? Is there a prize for the best one?
Centre stage in the audience at the front is the tallest man in the world – well okay not in the world but he’s at least 6ft 6inches and he’s stood right in front of me. I was considering asking him to kneel when openers East Of Reno hit the stage.
The Americana/Rock outfit East Of Reno, the brain child of The Hoosiers’ Brightonian Irwin Sparkes, is a band which is packed full of talent. To quote Irwin about the formation of the outfit “it was just myself and the drummer. I’ve written a lot more of the songs and got involved in that side of it. It took so many years to find the right keyboardist and bassist to the point now where our bassist lives near Sheffield. A lot of the players and I, we’re sort of journeymen – we have played with a lot of artists. The guitarist we have now has played with Beyoncé, Pharrell, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and has completed world tours. Our drummer was a pianist who was up for Young Jazz Musician. It’s that level of talent.”
Tonight they’re a three piece for the first time. Irwin Sparkes on vocals and guitar is looking ridiculously youthful with Chris Vince on keys and vocals plus Patrick Murdoch on lead guitar.
They open with ‘Brothers’ and Sparkes is in fine voice and immediately engages with the audience. Then a great honkytonk intro leads us into ‘Open Door’. They joke that they’re playing a three hour set and frankly I’d be happy with that even from the first two tracks alone.
“Anyone here called Rachel?” calls Irwin and elicits a positive response “No way! Well this one’s called Louise”. There’s a delighted titter through the crowd. There’s great banter and fun between the band members and they’re genuinely having a great time up there.
Next up is ‘Night of Nothing’ which has a beautiful lyrical start and is definitely my song of the set. The penultimate track is ‘Rearview Mirror’ and what strikes me at this point is that this is a true passion project. There’s a joy on stage tonight. Those smiles speak volumes.
They close with a truly ‘heartache track’ ‘Shining Star’ and this remarkably tight outfit have clearly won over the crowd. Their debut self titled EP is out now.
East Of Reno
Irwin Sparkes – vocals and guitar
Patrick Murdoch – guitar
Chris Vince – keyboard and vocals
East Of Reno setlist:
‘Brothers’ (from 2024 ‘East Of Reno’ EP)
‘Open Door’ (from 2024 ‘East Of Reno’ EP)
‘Louise’ (unreleased)
‘Night Of Nothing’ (from 2024 ‘East Of Reno’ EP)
‘Rearview Mirror’ (from 2024 ‘East Of Reno’ EP)
‘Shining Star’ (from 2024 ‘East Of Reno’ EP)
The crowd is heating and filling up as the crew do the final checks for Seasick Steve who has quite a crowd tonight.
Steven Gene Leach, aka Seasick Steve, is often said to be the nicest man in US blues and I have found nothing to dispute that. Despite cooking up a backstory of being a train hopping hobo who just got lucky … he in fact was a jobbing musician who’d previously made transcendental music and disco albums to earn a buck … we’ve forgiven him and taken him to our blues hearts.
With a new album ‘A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees’ released last Friday, Seasick Steve is back out on the road on a UK tour that finishes at Glastonbury. But for tonight we have him all to ourselves at Chalk in Brighton, after a two year gap, spinning his traditional bayou/blues stories and playing them on guitar, harmonica, banjo, diddly bow and stomp box.
The crowd is heating up as the crew do the final checks. Seasick Steve has quite a crowd tonight. He walks on, with drummer Dan Magnusson, to an exuberant welcome. “This one’ll wake you up a bit” he says as he breaks into ‘Move To The Country’. He and his voice are feeling the strain “we’ve done 8 shows in 8 days so I’ll try not to say anything dumb. I know it’s Brighton though!” he says triumphantly.
He moves on to ‘Backbone Slip’ which is a pure groove and we’re all slipping our backbones. ‘Let The Music Talk’ is next up when he says music “sounds better on the record than on your phone”. “Better live” says audience member”. “Depends on the night” replies Steve with a wry laugh.
He’s happy that some people know the songs and were singing along. “Doesn’t often happen when you don’t get played on the radio”. ‘Barracuda ’68’ – great sexy vibe and it seems, and it seems that that every word and note is torn out of his body as with all his songs.
He explains that his guitar strap is a seat belt out of a car “gotta wear it for safety”. Following a throaty laugh he breaks into the next track ‘Self-Sufficient Man’. There lies a totally homemade instrument with, as described by Steve, a single string on a bit of two by two with a can of corn “where you plug it in” on his lap, it’s the phenomenal diddley bo. Cue the song it inspired : ‘Diddly Bo’. “That song is dangerous to play” he comments.
It becomes clear that his fans love the homemade instruments. He proudly displays each one to the audience, standing astride the front of the stage, and they love it.
A football chant suddenly fills the room “We love you Steveo we do” which inspires him to tell the story of him waiting backstage first performing at a UK festival when he heard the distant call. He thought that the audience were booing him “I’m not going out there man – they’re already booing me” he says to the guy collecting him. “They’re not booing you Steve” crew member retorts “They love you”.
Before launching into ‘You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks’ Steve suddenly announces that he’s “genuinely pleased that you all came out. I didn’t know this was gonna be so good. I mean this. I genuinely don’t say this s**t”.
After ‘New Tricks’ he thanks ‘us’ for adopting him “like stray dog” after the Jools Holland Show appearance which changed his life. He follows this with Funky Music and the whole crowd are moving, swaying and twitching to it.
He’s a genuinely humble man and is moved by the response to him and following a jaw dropping encore Bring It On he leaves the stage for the last time. Before quitting though he leans down and shakes the hands of numerous folk at the front. There really isn’t a nicer man than Seasick Steve who performs with remarkable vigour and soul. If you get the chance to see him live then grab it because he will blow your mind.
Seasick Steve
Seasick Steve – vocals, banjo, diddly bo and stomp box.
Dan Magnusson – drums
Seasick Steve setlist:
‘Move Out To The Country’ (from 2024 ‘A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees’ album)
‘Backbone Slip’ (from 2024 ‘A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees’ album)
‘Let The Music Talk’ (from 2024 ‘A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees’ album)
‘Barracuda ‘68’ (from 2015 ‘Soul Sonic Surfer’ album)
‘Diddley Bow’ (from 2009 ‘Man From Another Time’ album)
‘Self -Sufficient Man’ (from 2013 ‘Hubcap Music’ album)
‘That’s All’ (from 2009 ‘Man From Another Time’ album)
‘You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks’ (from 2011 ‘You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks’ album)
‘Funky Music’ (from 2024 ‘A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees’ album)
‘Bring It On’ (from 2015 ‘Soul Sonic Surfer’ album)
