Inglorious - Plymouth Review

Being a new hard rock band from the UK has often meant that the path to any kind of meaningful success is a treacherous one. When I was teenager there were so many new rock bands that I got into, only for them to split up a few years later. It was really hard for any new band to take a foothold, but thankfully over the past few years things have changed somewhat. This is not to say that success comes easily to new UK-based hard rock bands now, as it certainly does not, but there seems to be a much more willing audience for new hard rock bands now - as the NWOCR movement can attest to. There are a good handful of UK-based hard rock bands that are starting to make a name for themselves, and the band that is possibly leading the charge is Inglorious who were formed back in 2014. Inglorious' road has not always been an easy one, although some of their hardship has likely been self-induced, but the band are really now starting to reap the rewards of the hard work of the past few years. The band now have four albums of original material to their name, and have also recently released the covers album Heroine - which features covers of songs by female artists. Heroine followed hot on the heels of We Will Ride, the band's latest album of original material, meaning that the back end of 2020 and much of 2021 has been busy for Inglorious - despite being kept off the road by the COVID-19 pandemic. To promote We Will Ride, the band were originally supposed to be touring back in April - but the tour was inevitably postponed. When the tour was postponed even the replacement September dates seemed unlikely, such was the COVID-related negativity and malaise at the time, but this was not to be as last night there were a lot of us crammed into The Junction on Mutley Plain in Plymouth enjoying a storming Inglorious set. The Junction has been pulling it out of the bag recently, and it was the third excellent gig there in the space of a month that I attended. It is one of those venues that occasionally manages to book someone that would usually play bigger venues, and the bands always seem to come away loving the experience of playing to an enthusiastic crowd in a sweaty old-fashioned rock pub. The Junction is probably one of the smallest venues that Inglorious play on this lengthy tour, as they are capable of playing some decent-sized venues these days, but I am sure that the band will remember their first ever gig in Plymouth.

Before Inglorious' set however, the growing Junction crowd was treated to half an hour or so of spiky rock from the Scottish/Italian band Mercutio. Mercutio were also the support act when I saw Inglorious in Exeter in 2019, but this time the band fronted by the former Spandau Ballet frontman Ross Wild were out with Inglorious for the whole tour. I remember the band somewhat impressing last time, and that was also the case in Plymouth. While the band's songs, on the whole, do not really grab me - Mercutio are certainly an entertaining live act. Wild is a diverse and active frontman, and he covered every inch of the small stage throughout the band's set, while the other three band members created a strange tapestry of sounds not common for a three-piece. Guitarist Fabio Staffieri mixed traditional rock riffs with a range of other sonic experiences - many of which involved turning his guitar into a synth to add some depth to a track, while the bass and drums supplied the rhythms. Mercutio's sound is certainly not typical, but I like the band's ambition. Being a support act with a limited soundcheck however, the band's sound mix was not always the best - and Mercutio's sound seems to be one that needs to be heard pristinely for it all to make sense. I imagine that some of the nuances are lost when the band play live, especially with a somewhat iffy support band mix, but despite this they were well-received by the crowd. At first I was disappointed that Inglorious' support act was going to be the same as it was last time, which I always feel to be a lazy choice by headliners, but I enjoyed my 30 or so minutes with Mercutio - as did much of the Plymouth crowd it seems.

The changeover between the two bands was relatively quick, and half an hour or so after Mercutio left the stage Inglorious replaced them to a chorus of cheers - and immediately launched into She Won't Let You Go, the opening track from We Will Ride. With two new albums to promote, the setlist was very different to the one that I saw the band play in 2019. One thing that was the same, thankfully, was the band line-up. Following a few changes over the years, Inglorious now seem to have settled down. The current line-up is possibly the band's strongest yet - with founding members frontman Nathan James and drummer Phil Beaver joined by Danny Dela Cruz (guitar/vocals), Dan Stevens (guitar/vocals), and Vinnie Colla (bass guitar/vocals). Regular touring keyboardist Rob Lindop rounded out the line-up, and the six-piece performed their 16-song set with real vigour. Most of the We Will Ride album was featured in the set, with seven of the album's songs being performed, while three of Heroine's covers were also included. The rest of the set was made up of older favourites, but the crowd seemed to enjoy hearing so much new material. She Won't Let You Go got the set off to a great start, before the muscular Messiah showcased the pipes of James perfectly. Despite the heat, James' voice held up fantastically throughout the set - and he seemed to really enjoy playing in such an up-close and personal setting. The whole band seemed to be heaving a great time, despite being cramped on the stage, with the two guitarists in particular impressing with plenty of excellent solos. The rocked-up cover of Miley Cyrus' Midnight Sky was sung enthusiastically by the crowd, as was the strutting older single Read All About It. Where Are You Now? also featured some strong crowd interaction, with James encouraging the crowd to respond to the song's enquiring title throughout - which helped to stoke the already-strong atmosphere further. Heart's Barracuda and Alanis Morissette's Uninvited were then the final two cuts from Heroine to be played but for me it was the new originals that shone the brightest. The bluesy Medusa impressed a lot, due to Dela Cruz's strong slide playing, before the blues vibes were retained for the old-school Free-esque stomp of Holy Water. The song has always been a vocal showcase for James, and he owned it as he always does. With the exception of the Whitesnake-esque I Don't Need Your Loving, the rest of the main set was made up of new songs. The strutting He Will Provide included multiple excellent solos throughout, but the highlight for me was the closing number We Will Ride. The new album's title track is one of the band's most epic compositions yet, and it was great to hear it close out the set. Following a brief step away from the stage, the band returned to play one last tune - their debut single Until I Die, which raised the roof. Stevens' main riff elicited a strong cheer, and the chorus was sung back at the band with gusto. It was a triumphant end to a strong set, and one that certainly sent the Plymouth crowd home happy. The setlist was:

She Won't Let You Go

Messiah

Breakaway

Midnight Sky [Miley Cyrus cover]

Where Are You Now?

My Misery

Read All About It

Barracuda [Heart cover]

Uninvited [Alanis Morissette cover]

Medusa

Holy Water

He Will Provide

I Don't Need Your Loving

Eye of the Storm

We Will Ride

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Until I Die

I had enjoyed the band's Exeter show in 2019, but I think that last night's experience in a packed Junction was the better night overall. The We Will Ride material is some of the band's strongest, and The Junction can really help to whip up a strong atmosphere when certain conditions are met. It is a shame that a mid-set acoustic segment that has been included at the other shows on the tour so far was not dusted off in Plymouth too - but the cramped stage and the heat in the venue probably would have made it tricky to pull off successfully. As such, the band's set was very much a hard-hitting affair, which meant that the pace rarely slowed at all - which helped to cement an excellent atmosphere throughout that the band really fed off.