Review by Tim Marcus with photos from Sam Conquest Photography
We’re back at The Cavern Freehouse in Raynes Park tonight to see one of a number of great upcoming classic rock bands currently working under the TMR Music banner, Electric Black. There are many similar band management companies around the country at the moment doing great things with young emerging rock bands however it just seems at the moment that every band on the TMR roster is on the up!
Electric Black are no exception to this and are making a return appearance here in Raynes Park tonight. Whilst we weren’t there to witness the first, we have seen, and been very impressed by, these Hitchin based rockers a couple of times previously; once when they opened the main stage with a morning slot on the final day of the Loverocks Festival around 18 months ago, and more recently, in April this year, when the opened for Bad Touch and The Karma Effect at Islington’s o2 Academy2 venue in London.
The band themselves, a four piece consisting of Ali Shiach on guitar and vocals, Jonny Bryant on lead guitar, Ryan Trotman on bass and Matt Butler on drums are heavily influenced by some of the great rock music from the 1970s and 1980s. They already have a couple of albums to their credit, “The Calm Before” which was first released back in 2019 but then re-mastered and re-issued under the same title in 2021. This was followed by an album of brand new songs, “Late Night Lightning” that was released earlier this year.
They play two sets for us this evening, each around fifty minutes and unsurprisingly, the vast majority of tracks from the most recent album get an airing as well as a great number from the first album too. Within their second set this evening we’re also treated to some great covers and in fact they open their second set with the wonderfully soulful “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Midway through the set we also get Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town”, a song Ali tells us they haven’t played in a while and could go any one of seven ways! He needn’t have worried though as they hit the mark. The second set also includes the closing song from the latest album, “Hellfire Revival”, which Ali dedicates to all the dictators and war mongers of the world.
As we get to the conclusion of the evening there’s a great version of Bad Company’s “Feel Like Making Love” as our encore, before Ali leaves the stage for the final number, leaving the trio of Jonny, Ryan and Matt to give us little bit of a tease into the opening notes from Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” before Ryan picks up the vocals and leads them through “Ace of Spades”.
It’s been a great evening of fresh, home grown rock, from a great home grown band and just goes to debunk the theory being peddled by the blinkered mainstream and national radio outlets that will have you believe that there’s a lack of decent young rock bands in the U.K. Electric Black are a perfect example of the fact that rock music in the U.K. today is alive and kicking!
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