BLUESTACK
Hanbury Turn
Bromsgrove
Worc's
Friday 6th October 2006
"Stack's of Blues"
Having been a friend of Brian since his 'Quantizmo' days, I promised to catch up with 'Blue Stack'.
With a group of friends, we walked into an unusually packed 'Hanbury Turn'. Was it the great ales or had Brian been on to 'Kerrang' Radio again?
Anyhow, a nice 'easy on the ears' Rock' n 'Blues set opens up with 'Walking by Myself' done along with a few others in the style of Gary Moore? Adding a little Moore' life to some of the older tracks?
Others to mention in the first set were 'Moving On', 'Story of the Blues' and 'Pretty Woman' all having the crowded pub's attention and applause!
A guest harmonica player joined the band, all obviously enjoying themselves with a live jam feel about things especially on Stevie Ray Vaughn's 'Cold Shot' and a great cream 'White Room'.
After a brief pause for a pint and a chat, the guy's are back at it again with a storming hard rock 2nd set. Getting' all singing along and shouting 'Oi' in the right place to 'My Sharona'!
The band certainly had the 'Knack' of that track! More classics to come too! A double Thin Lizzy's 'Suicide' and 'Waiting for an Alibi', both fave's of mine, were done well and great not to hear obvious 'Lizzy' tracks – these were dragged from the archives!
More hard rock next up with a Nazareth' memory jogger – 'Bad Bad Boy' along with the harder bluesy 'Texas Strut'! It's difficult to keep still and not nod your head now after a few pints of guest ales and great tunes!!
Topping off the night with 'This Flight Tonight' and John Mayalls 'All My Lovin' had gud response and had many old rockers thinkin…..
Highly recommended Rock and Blues if you're in a 'jam' for live music!!!
Cheers
Leeman
07773969411
BLUESTACK. THE DEER'S LEAP,
Free admission, free buffet, and a blues band to boot. Irresistible, despite the foul weather. We'd planned to stop in and watch the ninth repeat of Torchwood (I've only just realized that's an anagram of Doctor Who). Glad we didn't.
Brian , Eckers , Russ and Gal , vocals, bass, drums and guitar, come from around Worcestershire, and did rather well at Upton . Formed late 05, they lean toward the rock-blues side of the street. Seasoned musicians, save for Brian who has been singing only for two years, they take care over their arrangements, with all three supplying very good backing vocals.
They did all covers : Gary Moore, Dion ( a lovely version of 'King Of The New York Streets'), and my favourite Peter Green, 'A Big Change Gonna Come'. This was particularly good. Brian doesn't force his voice into bogus Mississippi. intonations, he keeps it natural and has a nice plaintive tone, which he used to equally good effect in SRV's 'Cold Shot'.
The second half was rockier: it was, after all, a family crowd, so as the rest of you amateur bluesers will recall from your own festive-season gigs, there was the usual chorus of 'sing-something-everybody-knows', including one rather persistent chap who wanted 'Mustang Sally'. Mercifully, the boys demurred.
Bluestack is a solid, reliable band, with a well above average rhythm section allowing the singers and guitar to fly wherever they wish.
Bob Jones, Blues in Britain, Magazine
31.12.06.
Bluestack - CD - As Easy As That
Bluestack is the fairly recently coming together of four guys whose combined aim is just to get out there and play live, it's 'As Easy As That'! This album, I guess, was assembled as a promotional tool to help get Bluestack out and about.
'As Easy As That' has a raw feel to it and should give a good indication of how Bluestack sound in the live scenario. Listening, I can hear that these guys, Brian (vocals), Eckers (bass & vocals), Russ (drums & percussion) and Gal (guitar & vocals) are accomplished musicians that play together with tightness and understanding. My personnel feeling is that the overall feel is just a little lightweight. That's down to production rather than musicianship; I think they've tried to keep it honest but actually that honesty has detracted somewhat from the end result. However, what the CD lacks in energy it makes up for in the way the guys interact instrumentally. Certainly, 'As Easy As That' will get them gigs and their followers will love to take a copy home with them as a memento.
The impression I'm left with after hearing 'As Easy As That' by Bluestack is that this, essentially blues covers, outfit play controlled rockin' blues; they don't take things to extremes, they don't attempt to disguise their music with the massive 'wall of sound' approach - they're just good time, honest guys who want to share their music with whoever will listen. Now, aint that what it's about really?
I feel I should just mention guest Hammond & keyboard player, Mark Bettis; he puts in some great work on several tracks and helps to add some of those extra dynamics that Bluestack often lack here.
So, as a commercial venture, 'As Easy As That' lacks the real dynamics that would make it special but, as a promotional aid and a lasting memento of their live work it'll do quite nicely. Me, I'd like to hear what Bluestack could sound like with a true engineers mix and a bigger production. The boys can play!
Peter J Brown aka toxic pate (www.toxicpete.co.uk)
(Rhythm & Booze rating 7)
Upton Feelgood Festival Sept 07
Now if you cannot wait, also playing at THE PLOUGH INN
tonight, Saturday, are a great little rock-blues
4-piece BLUESTACK. Well above average playing and
some imaginative arrangements/harmonies distinguish
them within the genre.
Bob Jones- R & B Jones