Alain Johannes (with Earl of Hell) review
There are few better ways to spend an evening than with good live music and Firday night at Camden's The Underworld was no exception.
Dan and Lewis from Earl of Hell kindly spent the best part of an hour with me talking touring, their recent debut album, Mark Lanegan and working with Alain Johannes and I'll write that up to follow this a little later.
An evening headlined by Alain Johannes and supported by Earl of Hell began with a set from Okay You Win. I wasn't familiar with the band before this show but I'll be checking them out further. Their set was an impressive blend of psych-infused desert rock and the lead vocalist was superb with a great delivery that could be both dirty and soaring as needed.
Once their set was finished, it was a very quick turnaround until Earl of Hell took to the stage.
Anyone that has read some of my writings over the last year or so will know how highly I rate them. As much as I'm a huge fan if Alain, I've been listening to them a lot since seeing them last year and so was looking forward to hearing their set almost as much as that of the main man himself.
I love their recently released, self-titled album (which I've had in my listening rotation pretty constantly since it's release last month), so it was a real treat to hear it played in full, front-to-back. If you don’t have it or haven’t heard it, get over to https://earlofhell.bandcamp.com/album/earl-of-hell , Nine tracks of loud but melodic desert/stoner-rock which grabs you and doesn’t ease up from beginning to end.
Lead vocalist, Eric Brock got his teeth into the material right from the off as The Infernal Dream kicked the set into life with a real thumping, crunching sound which filled the venue with noise, but even better was how the vocals and harmonies stood up in the live setting.
The fast-paced and in-your-face Impaler was next, not letting up as Dean Gordon on bass and Ryan Wilson on drums kept an impressive rhythm alongside the twin guitar sounds of Lewis Inglis and Dan Mitchell whilst all were brought together by the frantic vocal assault by Brock. It was dark, loud and fantastic. The track that made me sit up an pay attention to the band last year in the same venue was great to hear in person again and it if anything had only gained in it's power, bite and impetus.
Brave New Age and Calling Is The Crow followed next, two songs which have lately been amongst my favourites of theirs and both supplying riffs in abundance with a varied mesh of sounds. Brave New Age in particular is one that’s really grown on me of late and gives me a bit of an Alice In Chains/Jerry Cantrell vibe (never a bad thing), hearing it in person was something special indeed.
Them after My Twisted Mind came Macabra Cadabra, possibly my favourite one from the album and it was beautiful in its loud, dark relentlessness and there was a sea of nodding heads all the way through.
Waiting To Die (which at its climax features bass player Dean playing in amongst the audience) and Bloodlines are excellent as both album and set closers and as the latter reached it's end, building from a number of sounds and styles throughout, I could easily have listened to much more from the band (which we sort of would, later)and think that it's a great sign that the album stands up so well in the live setting and the band can more than match it's recorded counterpart.
If you get the chance to see Earl of Hell live, I can only highly recommend. It's loud and there's plenty in their music for everyone; a bit of sludgy, crunching guitar, powerful bass and drums, a lovely twinned guitar sounds throughout some of the songs, great harmonies and a front man who really seems to be at home in the role and has a real stage presence and command of the mic.
The main event was still to come though, the incomparable maestro that is Alain Johannes.
With a number of guitars spread around the stage initially, it was just the man on a stool with the cigar-box guitar that's become somewhat of a signature for him.
Starting off with the rather gentle pairing of ‘Not On This Earth’ and ‘Eyes to the Sky’, it always amazes me the sounds that he conjures and control that the man has over his instrument, making melodies that are at times both rapid but soothing, coupled with lyrics to match the mood.
The first of a few tracks this evening to be plucked from his incredible album, Spark follow with the beautiful ‘Return to You’ and then ‘Gentle Ghosts’, which is preceded by some astounding improvisation playing which is something that he's just masterful at. For me, the sounds he makes at times conjure up similar feelings that I get from the work of Duke Garwood in that it has a transcendental quality, and the ability make you feel that you are someplace else. I find myself closing my eyes at times and letting it wash over me.
‘If Morning Comes’ from the latest Johannes solo album, Hun follows, and it's nice to hear one from there. It's one of my favourite albums of the last few years and it was nice to hear it in the live environment.
Another track from Spark, ‘Make God Jealous’ is next with Alain switching to a conventional acoustic guitar and his dexterity and command of the instrument is again to the forefront, as it is on ‘Unfinished Plan’, which follows.
A further guitar change brings in the first of the night's numbers from the Desert Sessions, ‘Holey Dime’ followed up by two numbers from his former band Eleven, ‘Seasick of You’ and ‘You're My Diamond’.
These weren't part of the set I heard at The Underworld last year and handled by Alain solo acoustically they sound heart-wrenchingly beautiful and are two real highlights of the night for me.
A tribute to Chris Cornell follows, with Alain's take on ‘Disappearing One’, which he helped put together as part of his work on Cornell’s Euphoria Mourning album. As one of the tracks' creators, Alain Johannes does a great job in keeping the essence of the song similar to its album version, but moulding it so that, although vocally it sounds different (as hardly anyone can compare with Chris Cornell on that front) it remains just as vital and moving and acts as a wonderful tribute to the virtuoso's lost friend.
Following this, the bulk of Earl of Hell (for the time being minus Eric Brock) appear as Alain's support band for the remainder of the set, with Johannes now wielding an electric guitar as his weapon of choice as ‘Let It Gnaw’ from the Fragments and Wholes album was brought to life in a real chugging and loud fashion that immediately said that this was going to be a much louder and energetic half of the set with the gentle stuff now put to rest for the evening.
It's amazing how Alain Johannes can instantly get from that zone of playing really calm, soothing numbers to some dirty desert rock from one song to the other but his career is nothing if not varied and it must now be second nature to him.
The immense Eleven track, ‘Ava Tar’ follows, the bass and guitar pounding the ribs as it continues to its climax, before following up with the Johannes solo track, ‘Kaleidoscope’.
Last year, one of my highlights of the Johannes/Earl of Hell combination was hearing their take on Eleven's ‘Nature Wants To Kill Me’ and again tonight it didn't disappoint and really hit the spot. The combination of Alain with Earl of Hell seemed really tight as a unit all night and they really brought the Eleven songs to life in a way I don’t think you’ll have seen bettered unless you were fortunate enough to see the original band. Nowhere was this more apparent than on this number which was simply electrifying.
Lewis Inglis provides impeccable harmonies alongside Alain (throughout the whole of this set, to be fair, but they are particularly effective and evocative here) and the whole track just bounced along with a vibrancy and infectiousness. This is to me, rock music at its best. It didn't let up either with another walloping rendition of an Eleven track, this time Crash Today, which the audience really got into.
The final Eleven songs of the evening followed with soaring versions of ‘Why’ and ‘Reach Out’. People were singing along and they created an incredible atmosphere. I talked to a couple of fellow fans after the show, who were big fans of Eleven and they said that this part was a real highlight for them.
A major highlight for me was in the next little run of songs to come. As a huge Mark Lanegan fan myself, Alain then brough Earl of Hell frontman Eric Brock (also a huge Lanegan fan) back out to join them as they next blasted through ‘Driving Death Valley Blues’ from the partially Johannes-produced Bubblegum album. The band had previously shared a video from last year where they had made a couple of attempts at the song, but they seem to have quickly gotten the measure of it. Covering Lanegan I’d imagine is no easy task and nobody is going to be able to replicate the man’s vocal prowess, but Brock was assured thoroughout, adopting a Lanegan-esque stance, gripping the mic and performing a memorable version.
A further tribute to the much-missed Lanegan followed with ‘The Gravedigger’s Song’, a staple of Lanegan setlists since 2012’s Blues Funeral (and, coincidentally my Dad’s favourite Lanegan song) and one which I imagine many in the audience would be familiar with. In a brief chat with Eric Brock after the show, he said that of this and the previous song, that this one if more of a challenge to sing as it’s more outside of his natural range, but, with Alain also accompanying both instrumentally and vocally, backed by the band, they create a stirring rendition, which I think ‘Dark Mark’ himself would have approved of.
Mr Johannes again resumed vocal duties for a run-through of Hangin’ Tree, a Queens of the Stone Age number previously headed up by Lanegan, but created by Alain as part of the famed Desert Sessions. It’s pounding, rollicking and exactly as you’d expect, a euphoric statement from a well-oiled combination towards the end of their set.
I often think that covering songs performed by an artist with such a singular voice and presence as Mark Lanegan must surely be somewhat of a risk for a band, as (speaking with my Lanegan-fan hat on) there’s nobody that’s ever going to be able to sing those songs like him. However on occasions like this, with the songs being arranged by one of Lanegan’s dear friends, along with talented musicians who treat the songs respectfully and keep the original feel of the song while remaining themselves throughout, they work incredibly as both a tribute to the man and as great additions to the setlist. It would be a shame if some of those songs were never played live again, and so to hear them live again was both poignant and uplifting.
The set was rounded out with a full-band version of Making A Cross. The versions of this I usually hear are Alain solo-acoustic, and it’s an elegant heartfelt number (one I believe he wrote at the same time out in the desert at Joshua Tree as Hangin’ Tree in what must have been a very fruitful time). What he and the band manage to achieve with this version is to retain those qualities, but to also to add some sludgy, fuzzy noise and make it a stoner/desert rock version of it, with it leaving a lasting reverberation as the band take their bows and left the stage.
All in all, a wonderful night. I hugely enjoyed seeing Alain Johannes and Earl of Hell last year at this venue, but this was even better. The Earl of Hell set is longer and an extra years’ playing seems to have made them even better live. Alain Johannes is always a joy and there is a reason that his contemporaries often refer to him simply as ‘maestro’.
The combination with he and Earl of Hell also seemed to be even tighter and you would think they had been playing together in that set-up for many years as it really brought to life a lot of the heavier, rockier numbers that Alain is involved with. I hope it’s a pairing that continues for many years to come.
The tour continues for the next week, so if you are anywhere near these venues, I’d implore you to grab a ticket and enjoy a sublime night of music:
- Thu 15 May. Leeds, Lending Room. Alain Johannes, Earl of Hell.
- Fri 16 May. Birkenhead, Future Yard.
- Sat 17 May. Glasgow, Cat House.
