Review by Tim Marcus with photos from Sam Conquest Photography
We’re at The Grace in London, our first visit to this small 150 capacity venue in London’s Highbury & Islington area, situated above its better known big sister, The Garage. We’re here to see Eddie 9V and his band, purveyors of traditional southern blues, heavily infused with plenty of soul and funk, who’re making their London debut at the start of a short UK tour.
First up though we have a forty five minute opening set from award winning Medway based blues rockers, the Zac Schulze Gang, who join this short tour having come fresh from picking up the award for “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at the UK Blues Federation’s annual awards night which was held just a couple of weeks ago in Milton Keynes.
I first came across the Zac Schulze Gang, comprising Zac himself on vocals and guitar, brother Ben on the drums and Ant Greenwell on bass and occasional vocals, when they played at the Alfold Rock & Blues Festival a couple of years ago. From my memory of that day whilst the vast majority of their set was made up of blues covers, a mix of the classics as well as some lesser played songs, there was no doubting the talent and quality of the musicianship on display.
A hint of what was to come came in the form of what I think was the only original song included in that set, “Bally shannon Blues”, a song I believe had been inspired by the band’s recent experience at having been invited to play in the town of that name at the world famous International Rory Gallagher Festival. A brief conversation with Zac following their set at Alfold informed me that the band were planning on going into the studio within the next couple of weeks and hoped to be back in the near future with a lot more original material. True to his word they returned twelve months later with a great, well balanced set, which included just a couple of covers and a whole bunch of great original songs and of course, absolutely no let up in the talent they displayed.
Tonight the set from Zac and his Gang sits halfway between my two previous experiences, with a fairly even mix of covers and originals. Amongst the covers we get tonight and hitting you straight between the eyes, is the set opener, Rufus Thomas’s “Walking the Dog”, Dr Feelgood’s “She Does it Right”, before they slow things down with a very enjoyable version of T-Bone Walker’s “Call It Stormy Monday but Tuesday is Just as Bad”.
Amongst the handful of originals tonight, we hear “Hole in my Pocket” and “Ballyshannon Blues” from the band’s 2023 EP “Made of Three” before they close their set with Rory Gallagher’s “Messin’ with the Kid” which then morphs into Peter Green’s well known and much loved Fleetwood Mac number, “Oh Well”. A great start to the evening and a very enjoyable set once again from the talented Zac Schulze Gang.
After a short break of around twenty minutes it’s time for the main event, Eddie 9V. I was first introduced to the music of Eddie 9V by my now dearly departed friend and DJ, Steve Beastie. Beastie used to broadcast a regular weekly rock show for HRH radio and included within that was a feature called “Winner Stays On” in which he would play three newly released singles and allow listeners to vote for which song they wanted to return the following week to take on two new challengers. Eddie 9V featured in that one week and I believe won the public vote for three consecutive weeks. Fast forward to this evening and this is our first opportunity to see and hear Eddie, hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, and his band in the flesh. They take to the stage and in addition to Eddie himself on guitar and vocals he’s joined by his brother, Lane Kelly on bass, Chad Mason on keys and David Greene on drums.
My first impression on seeing them live is what a “big” sound they produce. So all encompassing is the sound you’d think that they had an entire brass section up there with them, but no, they’re just a four piece, but what talent they have. We’re only two songs in and I’m already pumped. “The Come Up” for me sums up what this band is about: blues at their heart but filled full of 1960s and 1970s inspired soul (it’s like Motown does the blues!).
The show continues and I’m loving the interplay between all four musicians which has been there from the off, in particular the broad smile on Chad’s face as he hits some high notes with his boogie woogie style of playing on the electric keys as he competes face to face with Eddie’s guitar soloing. We’re about a third of the way through the set now and we’re introduced to a new song by Eddie, “Halo”; and as if to reinforce my initial thoughts on the soulful style of blues produced by this band, he tells us that it was written in the style of Bill Withers, one of his favourite artists. “Missouri” follows before we hear another new song, a much more traditional bluesy song, “Delta” which we’re aptly told is about Mississippi.
Next up is an Al Greene/Junior Parker cover, “Driving Wheel”, before last week’s birthday boy, David, launches himself into a short but skillful drum solo. “How Long” follows and in his introduction to the song Eddie makes mention of Muscle Shoals.
Intentional or otherwise, I have no idea but to my ear anyway, in parts, the bass line of this song appears to be giving a tip of the hat to one of the finest Southern Rock bands to have recorded there however I will leave that you to judge. A Bob Dylan cover, “Meet Me in the Morning” follows before Eddie then introduces us to a heavy blues based song which he describes as the one that put us on the map, “Little Black Flies”, taken from their 2021 album of the same name.
We’re now into the closing stages of the show with just two more songs to go. The first of those is a great little song, written Eddie tells us, in the style of John Lee Hooker, “1945 (Cocaine & Rum)” from the band’s first album, “Left my Soul in Memphis” and features some more great keyboard work from Chad and an almost country style short guitar solo from Eddie. The set is rounded off by the band’s latest single, “Saratoga”, released just a few days ago.
Eddie 9V and his band leave the stage briefly and of course there’s an encore – and a barnstormer it is too, full of rocking soulful blues in the shape of “3AM in Chicago” and “Yella Alligator”. It’s been a fantastic show with great performances from both bands. In the case of Zac Schulze I knew just what to expect and wasn’t disappointed. As for Eddie 9V: it was everything I’d hoped for and so much more.
There’s only a few more dates left on this tour however if you get the chance to catch it near you, or either of these two bands at any time, then I highly recommend that you do.
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