The Crooks: The Water Rats, London

Chesterfield’s The Crooks headlined The Water Rats for This Feeling this past Saturday. Copy we originally had penned in 2020. Four years on from the crushing despair of that tour cancellation hadn't caused a lack of interest, but it had caused trepidation.

*banner image credit: Charlie_green19 - Courtesy of the band.

In 2020, the buzz for the cancelled tour was off the scale. There was a clear sense of glory awaiting the band as, single after single, amassed legions of fans. In the build-up to Saturday, a lot of what-ifs lingered. What if their time had passed? What if the band and fans were not as one anymore?

We needn’t have worried.

The electrifying opening of ‘What You Know’ and ‘Silhouette Sunshine’ was a pulsating moment of release. The band are still us, we’re still them! Their time apart clearly left its mark, as there is a real sense of now or never. Rock ‘n’ roll needs this desperation to thrive, and the Water Rats faithfully needed it more.

On ‘In Time’, the band make the intimate room feel like Knebworth. Modders’ guitars on ‘In Time’ howled into the night like warning sirens of hope. Frontman Jacko, stepping off the gas to allow a cuter DMAs-esque vocal to offset the colossal-sized guitars to shine, confirmed that all “what ifs” can get in the bin.

Wave upon wave of euphoric emotion is packed in the set. ‘Nevermind spirals towards pure ecstasy, while ‘She Walks Alone’ took you into the emotional trenches and spat you out with King-sized belief in humanity again.

On ‘Better Days’, the band breathes, leaving Jacko to do something utterly magical. His vocals were blessed with the infectiousness of Tommy O’Dell (DMAs), the raw power of Tom Clarke (The Enemy), and Noel’s ability to make simple melodic twists sound like messages from God. This stripped-back moment was a moment for the lost. For rock n roll fans fed up with overpaying for the old guard to half arsing the past. This was about now! As he decreed, “We need to find our way again”, a collective sigh of relief oozed through the air. Being in the moment for something youthful, a spirit that wanted (and will) change the world, was spine-tingling.

You spend a lifetime waiting for bands to pull it all together, to have the look, the melody, the politics. Only when it appears in front of you do you realise that you allowed pretenders to take the throne in the intervening years. The Crooks are the real deal. They allow you to pour your dreams, heartache, and regrets into their chest out of a sense of working-class glory. This gig will be etched into the minds of all who were there. Triumphant, yes, but this felt like the beginning, not a crowning moment.

Marseille: The Water Rats, London

Last week, Derby’s Marseille headlined a sold-out Water Rats in London, and we were there to check it out. It was almost a year since their London debut at The Slaughtered Lamb; the contrast couldn’t have been starker. In 2022, they were part of a line-up which, at best, could be described as ill-thought-out. Most had come to see a piece of performance art by a student dressed as a spaceman whose guitars were on hip-height glitter-covered stands. It was an odd precursor to Marseille’s incredible debut (full review here).

*banner image courtesy of Nima Chappell

Image courtesy of Mark Chappell

Fast forward to the Water Rats and Marseille were supported by the songsmiths Mansfields and Maze, who delivered a superb hazy rock n roll set. This felt proper. The anticipation for Marseille was palpable in the room. The EP and single releases had whipped up a tangible buzz. For TT, it was a chance to see if Marseille could deliver another night of heady guitar-driven rock n roll.

They could!

Vast proof of this came from the reaction to three new tracks from their upcoming new EP.  ‘Monkey In The Middle’ and ‘She Can Fly’ followed one another in the set with devastating effect. A split-second pause of silence followed both. The sheer disbelief of a room in total awe of raw potential emerging on stage. The former swirled with the hysteria and fever that called time on all who headlined the stages they had their sights on. ‘She Can Fly’ was blessed with the shoegaze power and celestial beauty of Nick McCabe and Andy Bell, whose frontman Will Brown lets rip a vocal howl sent from the devil. The other new song, ' If It Hurts, Don’t Cry’, leans into Noel Gallagher and Richard Ashcroft’s timeless songwriting with sweeping euphoria.

Image courtesy of Nima Chappell.

Whilst Marseille have a great groove-laden rhythm section and a charismatic frontman, this gig belonged to lead guitarist Joe Labrum. A young man so unassuming of the spotlight has otherworldly powers on his Gibson Les Paul that you cannot help be drawn to him. The closing stages of ‘If It Hurts, Don’t Cry’ were utterly spellbinding. His majesty made the intimate Water Rats feel like Knebworth with John Squire and Noel Gallagher smashing Champagne Supernova into another galaxy. On 'former single ‘This Dream of Mine’ he injects Squire’s paisley era of the Roses with punks urgency, aided by the incredible Reni-esque fluidity of Tom Spray on drums.

Marseille closed the set with their early jingle-jangle classic ‘State of Mind’. The elegance of Labrum’s riff looping alongside Brown’s angelic vocal was the touching full stop this set deserved. Brown gracefully bowed out early to allow the band to meander to a lysergic close with the artistic integrity of Bobby Gillespie. There is nothing this band cannot do!

Go see them do it!