Stubb
Superhot
If one thing is certain about psychedelic rock and blues
rock, it is that they will never die. Any style of music that can continue to
pervade and influence some fifty or more years after bands started shoving them
together in a drug-addled, scuzzy haze is obviously completely incapable of
being killed off and might well outlive humanity. Until that day, we might as
well continue to enjoy it, particularly when it comes to Stubb, a London three-piece
comprising two members of the avant-garde grunge sludgers Trippy Wicked and the
Cosmic Children of the Knight (in the form of the rocking rhythm section of
Chris West on drums and bassist Pete Holland) and guitarist and lead vocalist
Jack Dickinson. Sent to me a few weeks ago by the band, ‘Stubb’, their debut album, is
something of a diamond in the rough.
Proclaiming to be influenced by ‘heavy rock and psych from 60’s-70’s among other influences, Stubb originally formed in 2006 by now only original member Dickinson but it was only 2009 when the current line-up came together. ‘Stubb’ was recorded live with minimal overdubs and with a nice thick guitar tone, which is recognisable from the off. Any trepidation about this being another clichéd psych-rock release is thankfully largely unfounded. While Stubb are perfectly opaque when it comes to displaying their influences, they do so with effortless quality and with sparkling relevancy. ‘Stubb’ is eight tracks of mostly dirty, heavy rocking grooves, and the opening quartet are a real treat. The muddy tones of ‘Road’, complete with vocal mimicry of the post-chorus pre-solo lick make for a nice mid-to-fast flashy groover, before the deeper, bluesier grooves of ‘Scale the Mountain’ come into focus. The third track ‘Flame’ is epic, beginning in Kyuss-esque fashion, before morphing into a wonderful groove halfway through, and the uptempo boogie of ‘Soul Mover’ is bound to make you want to shake.
The album’s finale, ‘Galloping Horses’,
is possibly my favourite track of the record, indeed what a way to finish. I
had worried the album was beginning to ebb slightly; the folky acoustic track ‘Crosses
to Bear’ is a change of tack, though it took a few listens to fully get
into. The next couple of tracks suffer from that problem, for me personally at
least, and it threatens to meander to the finish. But with ‘Galloping
Horses’, just as it looks as they’ve dropped the proverbial baton,
Stubb recover it to go out with a bang, with an incredible earth-shaking main
riff which at one point speeds up and eventually slow downs. That riff is
wholly infectious, and propels this seven minute monster into stratospheric
rock bliss.
This is one of those albums best involved with an ice cold
beer and maybe even some bell bottoms. Fans of the likes of Blue Cheer, Cream,
Jimi Hendrix and modern acts like Graveyard are bound to find something to like
here. It’s not all out trippy or anything like that; the psych influences
are reined in enough just to make their presence known, leaving the real rock
action to take centre stage. I’ve often made my plea for more real, more
dangerous British rock bands to get more attention over the so-called pretty
boys, and I wholeheartedly welcome Stubb to this renaissance, however much it
owes to the past.
Peter Clegg
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