The Blueskins - The New Adelphi Club, Hull - 13/04/04

Wakefield’s finest The Blueskins returned after headlining the successful Domino Records promoted gig (20th January), with opening local support from the quietly enthusiastic The Applewhites. Proving that they could at least look the part with the obligatory rock haircuts and clothes fading to the point of tracing paper, the four piece breezed through a diverse set of textbook foot stomping blues inflected garage rock, held together with erratic and dirty vocals. Tour bus drinking partners came in the form of The Bazaars, looking as if they had been rudely interrupted and unwillingly dragged from the bar to the stage, failed to settle in the unattractively sweaty conditions. Under the influence and the confusion of technical difficulties wouldn’t have helped their cause, but despite the elements the four track demo set list left those who nipped out to the toilet (i.e. myself) interested and wanting more. The resonance of the psychedelic music scene still seems widely available in pill form for these dazed crusaders, with a less spaced out and more tuneful influences from the likes of The Coral. Standing amidst a rather serious looking and pretentious crowd (Hull? Pretentious?), seemed determined not to have fun, gathering in small groups, and whispering comments and giggling to each other, I felt I had time warped back to my primary school disco days. Self proclaimed “new souls of rock and roll”, The Blueskins, again aimed to infect the masses with their own take of jitter punk blues-rock. Easy on the ear, the now brimming with confidence stoners’ mix of calculated riffs, slashing guitar chords in the style of a train stuttering over a dilapidated rail track and the soulful lyrics made it a combination hard to resist. Debut album “Word of Mouth” (released 26th April Domino Records) shows how their popularity has grown from toilet run to the big time live performances (having supported John Squire earlier in the year), offers a bit of everything to everyone…just ask the skinhead Townie grooving with wine bottle in hand, and the angry at his parents Murder Dolls fan harassing the band for signatures. Suddenly the hype all made sense.