Storm Bringer at The Old Crown Penistone 2nd May 2004

 

I'd seen Storm Bringer before at The Crimea in Castleford and was stunned by some great renditions of 1970's rock they turned out. I've been waiting to see them again and this time it was in their home town of Penistone , tucked up in them thar hills. This Bank Holiday Sunday was a beautiful evening and with no work on the Monday,the locals were taking advantage of a sleep-in the following day.Therefore the quaint Pennine stone-built town was buzzing with pub crawlers. What a great way to spend a Sunday in mid spring.

I entered the Old Crown pub and was pleasantly surprised at the comfortable inn's warm interior.I thought I'd come to the wrong venue until I was directed to the “back room” which was dark and lit with UltraViolet lights straight out of the 1970's.I thought it was nice until I realised the white UV glow in my checked shirt accentuated my beer belly!

A quick chat with the very affable Ratty, Storm Bringer's bass and vocalist and also with Dave the extraordinarily talented lead guitarist pre-tensioned my expectancy of a good gig. I wasn't to be disappointed either.

The band assembled and then before a note had been struck a fan shouted “Black Night”…..obviously wanting the Deep Purple classic.He wouldn't be disappointed as Chris' organ intro a la John Lord prompted Dave's guitar to play the classic riff and Ratty's voice sing those lyrics. It made me realise what a great era of rock music it was in Deep Purple's heyday. The audience in this pub were very appreciative, I was surprised by the response.

More Deep Purple followed with Strange Kind of Woman, a great song and one of my favourites. Chris' organ playing is without a doubt a major factor in the accuracy of these tributes to one of the U.K. 's greatest rock bands. It's fabulous the way he flits between his guitar and organ. The rhythm section should not be ignored either, Gordon's drumming was both solid and visually entertaining, great animation and accurate percussion.

A change of guitar by Dave to give a twin Les Paul set up favoured by Thin Lizzy gave us the instruments to play a medley of the famous Irish Band's material which included China Town and Don't Believe a Word. I always moan at how pub bands have over exposed Thin Lizzy material but this band played them as well as the next, probably better in fact with powerful chords and riffs. One of the songs from this interlude was a Gary Moore song, Parisienne Walkways.Phil Lynnott sang this on the original video but it has become synonymous with Gary Moore over the years and deservedly so when you hear the fabulous guitar playing, this time by Dave in The Old Crown! I was again impressed by this crowd as they cheered loudly at the end of the “sustain moment” made famous by this song! Dave sustained that note well too,probably with the aid of a compressor pedal among an impressive array of foot pedals at his disposal.

Dave struck up a Texas boogie and ZZ Top's La Grange was firing on all cylinders. What a great groove this is and Stormbringer played it perfectly. Between songs Ratty was interacting with the crowd and other band members with jokes and anecdotes and the local audience were well up for it.Nice to see the band so relaxed.

The band eased their way into Free's hit single from the early seventies, Wishing Well. This version had organ fills and great guitar and is a slightly different arrangement from the original but equally enjoyable in every way and was well received.

The intro to the next song had me guessing as to what it was.I thought it was going to be Free's Heartbreaker but it turned out to be the excellent Whitesnake number, Lonely Days, Lonely Nights. Dave's solo on his Les Paul was fabulous and the organ intro was beautiful .

The song Lazy is another favourite. This band fills and swells this song to make it superior in arrangement to the original. Chris' extended organ intro, which is nothing less than stunning with it's pseudo Hammond / Leslie flavouring, morphed into the theme riff of the song and was joined in the riff with Dave on his Musicman styled, but self-built guitar. Away we went with a storming rendition of one of Deep Purple's greatest songs. This was a great finale to a great first set. Quite magnificent in fact.

I had to go before the second set had finished but the quality of music and choice of material was just as good and included Deep Purples Mistreated and UFO's Doctor Doctor,so full of rhythm . As I sat at my PC at 1:30 a.m. that night preparing my photographs for transmission, I was marvelling at the great music I had heard and seen in a pub, in a small Pennine town. It made me realise why I do what I do, to promote great music and LIVE MUSIC! With bands like this,  live music will survive and prosper.

As a subnote, all the stringed instruments in this band were built by Dave, a highly respected luthier in these parts. They were truly beautiful, it has to be said.

Steve Lally©