Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons - Birmingham Review

I have been lucky of late when it comes to finding replacements for postponed gigs. Despite the UK being largely 'open for business' currently when it comes to live music, the same cannot be said for many European countries. As such, those tours which rely heavily on dates in mainland Europe to make them financially viable are still being postponed - meaning that a lot of the bigger bands' European tours are still falling foul of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, I have still managed to get to a lot of gigs since the summer - and I have even managed to replace a few cancelled shows with others in the same city to ensure that travel plans can remain intact. Last month Blaze Bayley replaced Opeth's postponed London show, while yesterday I took in Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons at the O2 Institute 2 in Birmingham's Digbeth. Phil and Co. replaced a Trivium show that will now take place in January 2023(!), but as replacements go a night with the former Motörhead guitarist is a bit of a jackpot hit. Before yesterday, I had seen the band live five times - and each time was a memorable night. The band's two albums and lone EP are packed full of catchy metal anthems, while Phil's Motörhead legacy helps to bulk out the setlists. Over the past few years the band have become real fixtures of the UK rock and metal scene. They are often out on tour, and they have shown over the years that they are not afraid to play venues that are somewhat off the beaten path - so much so that I have seen them live three times in the South West alone. With the exception of a fun acoustic show from The Quireboys' Spike back in May, Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons helped to kick off my gigging year back in July when they played a strong set along with Orange Goblin, Massive Wagons, and others at The Yard near Truro in Cornwall. It was a treat to see the band in Cornwall, and it was a great addition to previous local gigs in Plymouth and Exeter. Sadly their closest show to Plymouth on this tour is in Bristol later this week, and I could not really justify taking any more time off work this month to go to the gig when I had seen the band fairly recently. I was delighted then when I was able to replace Trivium's postponed Birmingham show with a Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons gig on the same night across town. It was also a good opportunity to reacquaint myself with the O2 Institute 2, a venue which I had not been to for a number of years. It looks like it has been done up somewhat since I last visited, and from my position on the barrier the sound was excellent for most of the night - with a notable exception, more on that later.

Before the headliner's set, however, the good-sized crowd was treated to two short support slots. The first was courtesy of The Nova Hawks, a six-piece organic blues rock band - which included a guitarist who had come dressed up as Dickey Betts circa 1975. On a more serious note, however, those who have been following this tour know that its main support act was supposed to be Wolf Jaw - until the sudden and shock passing of their frontman Tom Leighton last month. The tour is continuing on in his memory, but the Birmingham show was made into more of a tribute due to the presence of Tom's widow Heather - who fronts The Nova Hawks. She led heartfelt tributes to her late husband from the stage, and dedicated some of her band's numbers to him - but perhaps her best tribute to him was her passionate performance. The Nova Hawks play a sort of blues that is expansive, percussive, and filled with slide guitar - and as such requires a big voice. Heather's voice suits the band's sound perfectly, and she really belted it out during the band's 30 or so minutes on stage. Slide guitar riffs, quirky solos, and some of the most powerful drumming to ever be played on a tiny drum kit made The Nova Hawks' set a really enjoyable one. Having looked online, it seems that the band are quite new - although they did release their debut album Redemption earlier in the year. I will be picking up a copy of the album shortly as I really enjoyed what I heard. I hope that this is a band that will start to make some waves going forward, as their powerful performance showed a lot of potential.

Up next was the Welsh three-piece Florence Black, who are joining Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons on most of the dates on this tour. I had heard a lot of good things about Florence Black, so I was looking forward to seeing them live, but sadly they did not really do a whole lot for me. I do not think it helped, however, that the sound mix opted for was the 'everything louder than everything else' option - which meant that the bass and the drums really drowned everything else out. As such, any nuance in the music was totally lost - and most of the songs crashed by without any real dynamics or respite. The only song that really stuck out to me was the slower Sun & Moon, which was less heavy and as such I could actually hear what was going on properly. It revealed that Tristan Thomas (vocals/guitar) actually has a great voice when it is not buried under a mush of volume, and his guitar playing throughout the song was full of bluesy licks that had a Mark Knopfler-esque flavour at times. It is a shame that the mix was so loud, as I imagine that as a result I did not get a true representation of what Florence Black are about. I think that they are probably heavier than I expected them to be, but when a live sound mix is so loud and mushy it can be hard to tell what is going on. It is not really fair for me to judge Florence Black on this performance as a result, so I hope that in the future I will get another opportunity to see the band live. I would like to hear the band properly so that I can understand what all of the fuss is about - but for now I shall reserve judgement until such an opportunity presents itself.

Luckily the sound for Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons was much better, and when the band hit the stage with the anthemic We're the Bastards the venue erupted. This was despite Phil suffering from guitar trouble throughout the song (a roadie had been fiddling with the guitar constantly throughout the changeover only for something to immediately break), but he got it working in time for his first solo of the evening - which the crowd duly acknowledged. Following the recent departure of Neil Starr, and Buffalo Summer's Andrew Wood's period as a stand-in coming to an end, the band were joined by yet another singer in Joel Peters. Peters has been fronting the band throughout the tour, but it is unclear whether he is another stand-in or whether he will be the band's permanent singer going forward. While I thought that Wood had a better voice, Peters is the better frontman. He was all over the stage throughout the band's set, and he provided a focal point that the band have always lacked (Starr was often quite reserved on stage, as was Wood). His voice still suited the material well too, so as a complete package Peters is a great fit. With him at the helm the band felt even more energetic than usual too, and it helped that a lot of faster tracks were played. New songs like Bite My Tongue and Son of a Gun sat nicely alongside Motörhead classics Rock Out and Born to Raise Hell early on, and the band steamed through track after track without ever really pausing for breath. The setlist was largely an expanded version of the one that was played at the Truro show earlier in the year, but it was padded out to make it headline length. It was great to hear Spiders from the band's first EP, while the fast-paced Get On Your Knees was as good as ever - with its customary crowd sing-a-long section in the middle getting a healthy response from those in the room. Phil then plugged his 2019 solo album Old Lions Still Roar by playing the stomping single These Old Boots. Todd Campbell (guitar/vocals) played a shredding solo during the song, while Tyla Campbell (bass guitar/vocals) had his own time in the spotlight shortly after as he introduced the Motörhead classic Ace of Spades with a rumbling bassline. The band's customary cover of Hawkwind's Silver Machine and their own anthem Ringleader brought the main set to a close, and the crowd cheered loudly as the band left the stage. Drawn back by the noise, a four-song encore followed. Two Motörhead songs and two more originals made up this excellent mini set, with the bluesy Going for Brazil whipping up some more energy, before the doomy Dark Days proved to be the set's only slower moment. The punchy Big Mouth and a sing-a-long heavy Killed by Death brought the evening to a close, and given the energy throughout the set I very much doubt that anyone left disappointed. The setlist was:

We're the Bastards

Bite My Tongue

Rock Out [Motörhead cover]

Spiders

Son of a Gun

Born to Raise Hell [Motörhead cover]

High Rule

Get On Your Knees

These Old Boots [Phil Campbell solo material]

Ace of Spades [Motörhead cover]

Silver Machine [Hawkwind cover]

Ringleader

-

Going to Brazil [Motörhead cover]

Dark Days

Big Mouth

Killed by Death [Motörhead cover]

Seeing Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons live is always a real treat, and I am glad that I got to catch this tour after all - even if it means having to wait quite a long time to see Trivium! The band always bring the energy, and there is a reason why they have already become a much-loved feature of the British rock and metal scene. Their shows are old-fashioned, no-nonsense displays of riffy heavy metal, and they are a band that I will take every opportunity that I get to see them live as a result.