Craig Whitehead (aka Vinnie) shares more than Hull's amber and black with John Prescott and Alan Raw. Pugnacious? Honest? Determined? Authentic? Grit in Life's Oyster? He's all of those, and a few more. Sometimes artists and politicians adopt a natural stance as a considered, rehearsed and posed part of the pitch. Sometimes they just are what you see and hear. Thus it is with VINNIE & THE STARS. And with John Prescott and Alan Raw.
The band name mocks it's own convention. He isn’t called Vinnie, and they are not stars. He's a bloke from Hull and he sounds like one, steeped in a punk ethic and playing immediately rough and ready kinds of R&B that a bloke from Hull would grow up with. They are a good backing band who know their stuff and play the range of genres that Vinnie dabbles with. I sensed an affinity with G Love & Special Sauce when I first heard them – and that's a very fine outfit to be associated with.
I love the track "Paid Slave Blues", with Plebgate and Proletariat mashed together. It's a rant in a pub put into rhyming couplets with harmonica solo. It's angry and regretful and it's direct.
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"4 or 5 canner" has a funky lairiness from the Arctic Monkey/Kaiser Chief school of street-level observation.
The catchiest pop-like track is "I'm not from America... I'm from Hull", also available as a single. It's a heartfelt bit of fun.
The very well-produced album carries a couple of quite personal songs, notably "Don’t Blame Me" and "How I'm Feeling" that are pretty uncomfortable. One thing that should be said about both of them is that the performance makes it clear that they are honest and real. Sometimes honest and real aren't easy to deal with. Go and see what you make of them.
vinnieandthestars.bandcamp.com
www.vinnieandthestars.com
@vinniewhitehead
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