2017 began as the year Cabbage looked set to conquer but, ended up being the year The Blinders invaded our consciousness. The Doncaster trio, support act for so many gigs, upstaged all and sundry. Pulled from the great This Feeling tour last autumn (starring Shimmer Band, Blackwaters and Bang Bang Romeo) to head into the studio, would they emerge with the substance to headline?
The new material is greeted to a positive stunned silence. The Lexington crowd are fully aware that something special is happening. Not only have they continued their visceral punkadelic song writing, but now, the full package is emerging.
Frontman doesn’t do Thomas Haywood justice. He is a post-apocalyptic William Blake wrapped in the soul of Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain. The dank Orwellian poetry oozes from every pour so naturally it feels utterly spontaneous.
For those who imagine the other two In the band sit in the background and follow the coat tails, you imagine wrong. Bassist Charlie McGough is a baby faced Nick Drake who has adopted a Wilko Johnson approach to playing. He fires out behemoth bass lines with a venom and a style unrivalled today.
So, insert drummer joke here right? Wrong again. Matt Neale is hugely reminiscent of The Enemy’s Liam Watts. Neale looks great and like any drummer whoever mattered, drills the skins as though he’s life depends on it.
The Blinders already had half a great album made, it appears another great half is on its way. With only Leeds and Ramsgate left to play, we urge and deplore you to go see them!
Image from http://www.paulhusbandphotography.com/