It’s a balmy May evening with clear blue skies and mellow sunlight filtering through the trees as we head to a leafy suburb of Birmingham to catch Troy Redfern. Nestled away in Lickey Hills, Joe Joe Jim’s is an incredible find and it is without any surprise that we find they have been voted one of the top 20 blues venues in the country by the Blues Federation – a much-deserved accolade they display proudly on their walls.
Modelled after an American Roadhouse, the venue is split in two, with a public bar (serving an impressive array of real ales, ciders, and even food); and a venue space with ample seating and, surprisingly, floor service, meaning that gig-goers are able to enjoy the show without having to make regular trips to the bar. The atmosphere of the place is just incredible, from the decent house music (Pearl Jam rocking the bar, a healthy dose of blues in the venue section) to the incredible friendliness of the staff. Time and again you hear them going above and beyond for each individual customer (they certainly did for us), and you can’t help but sense that the bar is as much of a passion project for the owners as the music is for the bands. All in all, Joe Joe Jim’s is an absolute gem, and we can’t recommend it highly enough to anyone who may be in the vicinity or even farther afield – trust us, it’s worth the trip.
Kicking off the night, we have Red Giant. Promoted as a blues band, it feels a somewhat elastic definition for, with every blues number the band play, there’s a grunge throwback waiting in the wings. Indeed, with singer Dave Simpson sporting an Alice in Chains t-shirt and the cover art for the band’s album eerily reminiscent of both AIC and Godsmack, there’s a definite vibe.
Nevertheless, the band kick off with the surprisingly tech-blues rocker Friends, which offers some heavy rhythms and some impressive guitar work. It’s a surprising start and it gives way to the funky Tell Me, which sounds like an amalgam of Pearl Jam’s Dirty Frank and the Talking Heads. It’s a solid introduction to the band to be sure, and there’s more than a few in the venue nodding along.
It’s at this point, however, that Red Giant start to lose momentum. While the short Don’t offers some dizzying percussive elements, it’s followed by a grungy pair of songs – The Dark Of Me and Why? both of which cleave to the more accessible end of the alternative rock spectrum – think Silverchair or Bush. Unfortunately, these songs lack the energy of the blues numbers, and they’re not helped by a somewhat polite guitar tone that simply cannot compete with the frenetic energy of, say, Nirvana or Mudoney.
Things pick up significantly when the band return to the blues for an absolutely epic What You Gonna Do (played for the first time on this tour), which is a slow blues leading to a blistering solo. Similarly, the band display impressive chops on Rory Gallagher’s Bad Penny, which elicits a solid cheer from the crowd. It leaves the band to wrap up their slightly uneven set with Monsters – another grungy track with a leaden pace – and a cover of the 22-20’s Devil In Me.
With the majority of the crowd clearly impressed by Red Giant, there’s no doubting the band’s potential. However, there’s a sense that they haven’t yet quite found their identity, with the grungy numbers failing to land with the force that the genre requires. Any number of bands from the US alt-rock scene, from Pearl Jam and Screaming Trees to Mad Season and Green River have incorporated elements of the blues successfully into their ferocious sound, but it is always with a splenetic energy that feels a little lacking here. Nevertheless, the band go over well with the wider audience, and they warm the venue up nicely for Troy.
It’s fantastic to see Troy Redfern delivering a headline set. Having been endlessly impressed when we’ve caught him supporting the likes of Philip Sayce, our one issue has always been that he has had to cram too much into too little time. Tonight, we have no such worries and Troy has the chance to spread his wings across a dynamic and frequently enthralling set.
Once again opting for the two-piece approach he adopted on the Philip Sayce tour, Troy is joined by the awesomely talented Nicky Waters on drums. It is a remarkable testament to Nicky’s skill that, despite playing a stripped-down kit (comprising floor tom, snare, and crash), he manages to inject considerable dynamic into his playing, imaginatively using his meagre resources to craft an incredible array of sounds that perfectly augment Troy’s flights of fancy.
As to Troy… it’s arguable that he’s never been better. From the moment Nicky paves the way for his arrival with the bone rattling tribal beat of Shaking, Troy is on fire. Armed with a resonator and his trusty slide, he rings sounds from his instrument that shouldn’t be possible. And this is just the opening number. From there, Troy takes on a wild ride through his imagination – the monstrous beat of Taking My Soul with its epic, grungy riff and psychedelic lead break; the stunning Take Me High from Invocation – a dry and dusty slide rocker with a soaring chorus that finds Troy’s voice echoing in the void. Clever use of a looper pedal, meanwhile, fills out the space behind an impressive solo, once again showcasing the care Troy and Nick have put into arranging this series of live shows.
Having comprehensively threatened the foundations of poor Joe Joe Jims, Troy relents, offering up a sitar interlude that provides a lengthy, mesmerising break. A beautiful moment, it segues perfectly into The Calling, a mid-paced melodic number with hints of Soundgarden. A stunning song, it is one of the only numbers tonight that misses a really solid bassline to underpin it, but it’s played with such heart that the absence can be forgiven.
Changing things up a gear, Nicky paves the way for Native with a shuffling beat as Troy rings ambient, arty noise from his guitar before allowing the shards to coalesce for a heavy slide rocker. It’s followed by a new piece – an evocative instrumental, tentatively titled Western, which finds the audience lost in the old west, drawn out of their world by Troy’s hypnotic playing. It’s so successful that, when the duo slip straight into a devastating John The Revelator, it’s like being hit with a jolt of electricity. Similarly, spirited rocker All Night Long, which has a hint of Steppenwolf about it and some cool vocal effects, sets the adrenaline surging and it’s good to see Troy and Nicky rocking out, simply enjoying their time on stage together.
With the set approaching its end, Troy harks back to Wings Of Salvation for Sweet Carolina and Come On, the latter including a singalong that has the venue joining in with only minimal prompting from the stage. It leaves Waiting For Your Love and an always impressive Sanctify to bring the night to an immensely satisfying close.
A charismatic and exceptionally capable artist, Troy Redfern is one of the hardest working musicians currently on the UK circuit. His presence on a bill is not only guaranteed to liven the night, but it’s also impressive how much he changes things up from tour to tour. Over the last two years or so, we’ve seen him solo, with a full band, and in the two-piece format showcased tonight. In whatever format, it says much of the strength of his songs and his presence that he always captivates, and tonight is no exception. With the time to really dig into his exceptional catalogue, Troy took the audience on a sonic journey that will not be easily forgotten and we will be eagerly awaiting his next adventure.
