Review by Tim Marcus with photos from Sam Conquest Photography
Tonight we’re in North London at the smaller of the two 02 venues in Islington, the 250-capacity upstairs room, the Academy2, to see These Wicked Rivers as their “Force of Nature” tour continues to make its way around mainland UK.
Before we get to see These Wicked Rivers though, there is the not-insignificant matter of the support slot which on this tour is being filled by London-based rockers The Karma Effect. Their website describes them as the bastard lovechild of Black Crowes and Aerosmith. Whilst I can kind of see and hear that in their music, I’m not a great fan of either of those two bands however having seen them a couple of times previously in the past 18 months at Dorset’s Loverocks festival, I can confirm, that without doubt, I love the Karma Effect.
They take to the stage at approximately 7:45 pm and the thing that strikes me immediately having been used to seeing them on festival stages, is how cramped it looks up there for them on the Academy2’s tiny platform. Nevertheless, they do not seem inhibited in any way and as they launch into “Wrong Again”, there are smiles all around as frontman, vocalist and guitarist, Henry Gottelier arrives a few moments after the rest of the band exuding his usual confident stage presence – albeit this is a stage on which his step count for the day will be severely restricted. “Mercy” and “Doubt She’s Coming Back” follow, completing a hat trick of songs from last year’s self-titled debut album. We then get a couple of songs from the band’s new album “Promised Land” which is scheduled for release in early May next year. The first of these is “Living It Up”, the latest single, and this is followed by “All Night Long”.
Some funky-sounding “clavinet” playing on the keyboards from Seb Emmins then leads us into “The River” as we return to the 2022 debut album for the remainder of the set. There’s also some further keyboard soloing from Seb as we hear “Stand” and then onto the song that Henry describes as “the song that got us into this mess!”, “Steel Your Heart”. This wonderful opening 45 minutes of the evening is brought to a rapturous conclusion with plenty of audience participation as the Karma Effect delivers us their traditional set closer, “Testify”.
If you like your rock to be fast and powerful, yet still melodic, then The Karma Effect is definitely a band you should see. Whilst on the stage at least, Henry Gottelier appears to be the driving force, it is very much a team effort. As they say, the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts. In addition to Henry’s showmanship, his great vocals and wonderful guitar playing, you also have the extremely talented Seb Emmins whose keyboard playing helps to add some of the great melodic tones to the band’s sound. Equally as adept as Henry with a six-string axe in his hand is lead guitarist Robbie Blake who can deliver some great solos and can more than hold his own front and centre stage too when “dueling” guitars with Henry. And whilst all of this organized chaos is taking place on the stage, the whole thing is held together by a great rhythm section comprising drummer Ash Powell and bassist Liam Quinn. It’s going to be a busy few months ahead for The Karma Effect as once they’ve completed their road trip with These Wicked Rivers they’ll be spending the first four months of next year out there again, either headlining their shows in support of the upcoming album or sharing a stage with fellow rockers Bad Touch; so no excuses not to get out there and see them.
The Karma Effect has left us buzzing, the perfect hors d’oeuvre to the main event. Like their support band this evening, These Wicked Rivers is another band that I’ve seen a couple of times in the past 18 months treading the boards of festival stages. The first of those back in the early summer of 2022 was at the Love Rocks festival in Ferndown and then a couple of months later at the much larger, mountaintop festival in South Wales, Steelhouse. I have to say that I did wonder if they would come across as well on the much larger Steelhouse stage however I was worried, in hindsight I don’t know; they performed simply wonderfully. Currently, the band consists of the frontman on vocals and guitars, John Hartwell, lead guitarist, Arran Day, keyboard player, Rich Wilson, drummer, Dan Southall and touring bass player, Dave Hanson.
They kick things off with their latest single, “Force of Nature”, also the title track of the album due out in March which this tour is promoting. On the previous two occasions I’ve seen and written about These Wicked Rivers I’ve described them as a classic heavy rock band and once again there’s plenty of that in evidence this evening as the set continues with “Evergreen” from 2020’s “Eden” album and then “Black Gold”, a September single release from “Force of Nature”. However, tonight has a very different feel to the two previous occasions I’ve seen this East Midlands-based five-piece. The stage as usual is immaculately dressed with the 1950s style (I confess I’m no antiques expert and am guessing here!) lamps and lamp shades and of course the mic stands are beautifully wrapped in the patterned scarves along with amps and cabinets meticulously covered in matching drapes. I notice from my spot up front by the barrier that even the pedals on guitar maestro Arran’s super-sized pedalboard are carpeted! However, despite that, the intimacy of the venue and its small stage (compared to the openness of an outdoor festival stage), brings a new dimension to the music (to me anyway). Amongst the great classic rock I’m hearing from the guys tonight as they progress their way through their setlist, it slowly dawns on me that for the past 45 minutes or so I’ve been picking up a far heavier sound too: Iommi-like guitar riffs from Arran over repetitive, thudding, Butler like bass lines and even the occasional hint of Ozzy like tones in John Hartwell’s vocal, has me drifting away and somewhere in the back of my sub-conscience mind I find myself in a tiny club venue in the backstreets of Birmingham, listening to the beginnings of Black Sabbath, the heaviness of the low notes added to by the fact that drummer Dan Southall has not one, but two, deep sounding floor toms as part of his kit. That audio illusion is not disturbed any as the band launches into “World in Chains” another masterful piece of classic rock from the 2020 “Eden” album.
Keyboard player Rich Wilson shows us his versatility as he takes up the harmonica (and later in the set, an acoustic guitar too) before they give us a song called “The Family”, dedicating it to their fans and followers. John then moves to acoustic guitar for the song “Lonely Road” which he informs those not in the know, was a single released at the end of last year, while a song we’re told the band had never performed live before the current tour, “Just to be a Man” follows.
We’re now into the home straight of tonight’s blistering performance and two “encore” songs follow in the shape of “Testify”, a single from the beginning of this year (and coincidentally the second song of that title we’ve heard this evening) and the wonderful “Don’t Pray for Me” which sees Arran take up a double-necked guitar on which he plays sublimely on all 18 strings!
And suddenly it’s all over. This has been a great evening with two great up-and-coming bands. Having seen and enjoyed both previously I’d been looking forward to tonight since first being asked to cover this show however without doubt, not only did The Karma Effect and These Wicked Rivers meet and exceed my expectations, they both smashed it out of the park! Two bands are well worth seeing if they’re playing anywhere near you. Check them out you won’t regret it.
+ There are no comments
Add yours