A New Year brings a fresh start; forget the past we've got to move on. We pay homage to our favourites from the year gone; some of us might even compile lists. (Check out the "W&H said" lists of 2003 faves!). Then we get into January and the focus changes, we start predicting what might happen and who's going to make it happen.
What comes next are my own predictions and ones that I think cannot fail; 2004 is going to be the year of the Zuton; their debut album, 'Who killed The Zutons' will make it onto a lot of peoples' lists of favourites from the year gone come December.
After last catching them opening for label mates The Coral at their
Christmas Gig towards the end of last year in Liverpool, tonight's gig was a must see event and it came as no surprise that it was a sell out. Part of a short tour to promote new single 'Pressure Point', you can't help but think that they wont be playing the smaller venues for much longer. That's not to bemoan the Night and Day, the fine venue that it is.
The screen literally goes up to the sounds of 'Zutonfever' revealing the band neatly bunched together on the small stage adding further to the sense of togetherness they already give out. If it's not the screeching and howls of Dave McCabe or the perpetual groove and move of bassist Russell Pritchard that grabs your attention then something else will. Guitarist Boyan Chowdhury and saxophonist Abi Harding both put their respective stamps on
the sound and proceedings while drummer Sean Payne is as solid on that stool as they come.
The next three songs; 'You will you won't', Dirty Dancehall' and 'Havana Gang Brawl' all serve to demonstrate that things have moved on since last years single 'Creepin' An' A Crawlin'' hinting at the new direction they've taken . There's an element of performance in what they do that's almost theatrical, almost tongue in cheek and cocking a snook/casting a nod in the direction of Talking Heads and Madness, both influences of the band.
Beneath this lies a more sinister and spooky undercurrent, an underbelly of snakey soul and voodoo funk that's a perfect complement to their enduring mixture of psychedelic west coast, vaudevillian, reggae country rock.
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McCabe's vocal sounds primal in places like an angry 'John', pushing it to the limits none more so than during the elongated, crowd pleasing version of their new single 'Pressure Point'.
Things slow down for 'Keep The Feeling In', the band's most obvious 'pop' song and perhaps the only hint remaining of their friends from over the water; that and the fact that James Skelly of The Coral is in the crowd, the once mooted comparison now just a bunch of old socks. Next up, an energetic "Creepin' An A Crawlin" also benefits from the more involved sound before they head for
home in the form of the aching lament, 'Long Time Coming'.
This sets things up nicely for 'Railroad' and what for many will become the best track on the album when it's released. (If it makes the cut?) An alt -countryish, Hazlewood-like classic to begin with that builds to an all singing, all seeing is believing finale. They close the set with the Egyptian dub, snake-charming epic 'Zutonkharmoun' and a pervading sense of triumphance hits the air.
The crowd show their appreciation and it's enough to force an encore and one more song, 'Jump Sturdy' by Dr John. It's so good we could be in N'Awlins, the Crescent City back in the day, maybe perched on a stool in some sleazy French Quarter jazz bar drowning in hurricanes and the smell of gumbo or riding the streetcar up to Magazine or the Natchez down the rain soaked
Mississippi.
Just another dimension in a band of dimensions, from the swamps to the safari parks and the cities of culture it's a fitting end to a great show; well and truly out of the box.
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