The Strypes bring A* performance on Norwich Waterfront debut

Having already seen The Strypes once before this year (5 May at The Portland Arms, Cambridge - http://ramblingsofanessexlad.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/the-strypes-rock-is-alive-and-kicking.html) I knew what kind of show the audience and I were in for. And despite not being sold out, The Strypes made their Norwich Waterfront debut on Wednesday in smashing fashion!

Perhaps due to it being The Strypes' debut in Norwich, the organisers had put on not one but two warm ups bands; fellow Irish rockers 'The Mighty Stef' and local alternative band 'Secret From Richard'.

Secret From Richard
Unsurprisingly, being on two hours before the main event, Secret From Richard didn't have much of an audience but none the less put on a decent set. They remind me very much of Kings Of Leon i.e. interesting musical arrangement but nothing too remarkable in the lyrics and vocals department. I'll give their drummer a lot of credit; he'd definitely studied some John Bonham tapes!

The Mighty Stef
My friend Dan had seen The Mighty Stef before as the warm up band for Irish punk band Flogging Molly about two years previously and was very complementary about them and to be honest they weren't half bad. If I had to summon up a comparative artist I'd probably say U2 are as close as I can get. An aside, and rather distracting in an amusing way, is that the lead singer of The Mighty Stef had a haircut very similar to Howard Wolowitz from The Big Bang Theory...

I probably wouldn't mind seeing The Mighty Stef again. Musically very alternative rock and with a great engaging stage presence I can imagine they'll break into the mainstream sooner rather than later.

The Strypes


L to R: Pete, 19, Evan, 18, Ross, 18, Josh, 20. Picture credit: Karl and Jane Dawson

I literally can't stop banging on about how good The Strypes are! From first hearing their debut record Snapshot I was hooked. The raw rock 'n' roll they emit is so refreshing and I imagine the feeling is similar to how people my age felt the first time they saw The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and other such ground-breaking bands in the early 1960s. Their combination of everything that's great from the 60s and 70s, i.e. rock, blues, R&B (the old kind not rap kind), and punk, portrays them in a way that means you get a taste of all those brilliant bands rolled into one. And it's just fantastic to watch live!

For a group of four lads in which one has only just turned 20, one 19 and the lead singer and drummer are still the tender age of 18, it's incredible how experienced these guys act on stage. Ross Farrelly, the lead singer, for example, shows the frontman-ship of a performer twice his age and is even more stunning when you know that for years he's worn very, very black sunglasses because he's so nervous of going on stage.

Josh McClorey on lead guitar. Picture credit: Karl and Jane Dawson

One member of The Strypes who doesn't have such reserve is lead guitarist, and oldest head, Josh McClorey. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this guy has serious skills with six strings! Having seen them in May I knew exactly how good he is, however since then the young Irish axeman appears to have added quite a bit of showmanship into his repertoire - the inventiveness of the kid is just a joy to behold. He may have borrowed a move from Hendrix, Page, SRV and the like but seeing a guy play a solo behind his back live is still jaw dropping to watch whoever's doing it. A gimmick I'd never seen before was laying the guitar on the floor and playing it like a lap steel, except instead of a slide Josh used his fingers (imagine him with his hands in a piano playing position), which add in the plethora of effects pedals he was using made for incredible, heavy, distorted, masterfully controlled chaos.

Evan and Ross. Picture credit: Karl and Jane Dawson

Back to the start of the gig itself, and after some momentary apprehension, the boys began with the bouncing, banging, riff-tastic track Eighty-Four from the new record Little Victories and with that the nervous energy amongst the crowd soon turned into whooping, foot stomping and applause. The Strypes clearly picked up on this and notched up the intensity a few clicks, thriving off the newfound admiration coming their way. Ross was without his signature sunglasses and early on Pete mimed through the cacophony of noise, "where are your glasses?" with Ross replying with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders; clearly after more than three years of touring Ross feel confident enough to just get on with the show. For the first few songs he didn't really know where to look, however soon after embraced having a few hundred people staring at him and took to it like a true rock star.

As for the set list, it was non stop full throttle from start to finish and played through a selection of tracks both old and new, including a couple I hadn't heard before off their first EP. They went off, only for the Norwich crowd to scream and bay "MORE!!!". Of course The Strypes obliged and performed an encore of three songs ending with the crowd favourite Bo Diddley cover, You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover.

One of my favourite moments from the gig was during the encore when Josh said: "We're going to play you a slow Leonard Cohen song now, just to warm you up again". That 'slow Leonard Cohen song' turned out to be in fact the opposite; their fast paced, punk driven, hard rock track from the Flat Out EP - Kick Out The Jams! The thing I find so great about Kick Out The Jams is the insanely fast bass line Pete bangs out. As a player of a bass myself I was trying to follow it to see how to play it but even standing at the very front of the stage watching his fingers whizz around the fret board was confusing.

To say it was an excellent gig wouldn't do the show justice; it was purely and simply everything you want in a rock 'n' roll gig. I've been to a number of performances this year and I would easily put this one second in the list only to AC/DC at Wembley in July. I mean c'mon it's AC/DC! The Strypes aren't that good...yet.