Music / Reviews
Review: Tom Killner/Preacher Stone, Louisiana
It’s a very Bristol Saturday night out there. That mysterious sound system bus is parked in its usual spot on Turbo Island blasting half a dozen homeless folks with THUNK-THUNK-THUNK noises. Further into town, the Pride hordes – all rainbows and face paint – are starting to look a little bedraggled after a hard day’s partying. Also making their presence felt are the Chanting Football Blokeys, already inevitably pissed. Let’s hope they’re not so hungover that they miss their wretched game.
Down in the docks, the rock audience is making a rare pilgrimage to the Louisiana for an evening of authentic and not-quite-so-authentic Southern Rock. No one would claim that North Carolina’s Preacher Stone are the biggest stars in the Southern Rock firmament. But unlike so many of their peers, they seem to have a particular affinity with the UK, drawing a modestly proportioned if loyal fanbase. They’ve been in Bristol for 24 hours before this first show on their tour, arriving at around the same time that news broke of the, ahem, ‘suitcase incident’, which provides material for many a pleasingly off-colour joke from frontman Ronnie Riddle about the ill-advisability of disposing of bodies in an area ringed by CCTV cameras.
is needed now More than ever
These guys are veterans who’ve toured with the best, notably Lynyrd Skynyrd and ZZ Top, and have cunningly distilled their finest songs into an hour-long set that’s heavy on new album, V. Ronnie starts by extracting a hearty “Hell yeah!” from the audience. (Mind you, this audience participation thing can go a little too far. When he asks the band to “Gimme an A”, the audience all shout “A!” “That has literally never happened before,” confesses the guffawing if suitably chastened frontman.) Operating confidently at the foot-stompin’ hard rock end of the southern rock spectrum, they have no need of those traditional chicken wire defences. The double-whammy of Ain’t as Easy as It Looks and Hard Life, PhD, both from V, kick off the show and it’s obvious that these fellas are on top form despite their lengthy journey to get here.
That’s particularly remarkable given that 2024 has been a tough year for the band, with the deaths of their co-founder Marty Hill and keyboard player Johnny Webb. Nashville guitarist Nick Nguyen is Preacher Stone’s newest recruit, playing a mean slide guitar and slotting in perfectly alongside Ben Robinson for those lengthy twin lead breaks. Nattily attired, super-tall drummer Wyatt holds down the beat (and even gets a brief solo), forming a formidable rhythm section with bassist Jim Bolt – a man who clearly knows how to enjoy himself.
Gravelly-voiced Riddle has an easy rapport with the audience, no doubt born of many years on the road, and seems genuinely grateful that we all turned up. Mercifully, there’s none of that Trumpy ‘god and guns’ nonsense that rather too many southern rock acts engage in, as he informs us that the most political he’s going to get is the plea for “everybody to be nice to one another”.
Old fashioned Ass Whoopin’ Sum Bitch is introduced as being a song about his father and grandfather. Elsewhere, all those familiar lyrical bases are touched, from Horse to Water to That’s Just the Whiskey Talkin’ (driven by particularly gut-punching bass line by Bolt). And, of course, there’s no way they’ll get away without playing the splendid song that made their career – Not Today from the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack.
Preacher Stone are obviously the main attraction for much of this audience, so tonight’s co-headliner Tom Killner begins by playing to an almost empty room. Fortunately, punters soon begin to filter back from the bar and merch stand, so the well-drilled five-piece Killner band wind up performing in front of a reasonably sized crowd.
Curiously, nobody seems to care about ‘cultural appropriation’ when the culture being appropriated is that of white America. To his credit, amiable twentysomething Yorkshireman Mr. Killner makes no bones about hailing from “oop north” (i.e. Rotherham) even though his music is pure hard-edged ‘Americana’.
Since this is his first Bristol show, it’s difficult to tell whether he’s tweaked his set to take account of the bill he’s playing on and the audience it’s likely to attract. But it’s certainly well sequenced, starting relatively slowly and building to a selection of rockers – Heart of Gold (not the Neil Young song, obviously), Get Back Up, Light It Up – that succeed in hitting the spot. Killner has a powerful voice and plays a great slide guitar and even a bit of harmonica. Perhaps the highest compliment he’s paid tonight is by the members of Preacher Stone, who are out there among us rocking away and applauding loudly.
Read More: Metal & Prog Picks: July 2024
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