Stupidity with Chris Spedding at Dalton's Brighton, Sunday April 26th supporting The Cynz

It was great to see my Swedish pal Tommy with his Stockholm based Garage R'n'B band Stupidity back on U.K. soil again after a long absence, in fact it was the first time I'd had chance to see the 'new' line-up as original members Tommy on drums and vocalist Erniz have now been joined by guitarist Janne and bassist Ulrika. This line-up was responsible for last year's excellent album "AI (Alternative Intelligence)" where they were joined by Keith Streng from The Fleshtones, who records and plays live with the band when his busy schedule allows. Kicking off with the double hit of "King Midas" and the brilliant "A Monkey In A Suit (Is Still A Monkey)", the band didn't take their feet off the gas for a minute. Their tight and catchy Garage R'n'B, driven by Tommy's insistent drumming was out of this world with the superb "Cheap Thrills" being a perfect example. They play their latest single, a cracking version of Jesse Hector & The Gatecrashers "Carolina" which also features on their forthcoming album "Beyond Stupidity" out soon on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records. It really highlighted Erniz's raw vocals, he's a great frontman flanked by the impressive riffing of Janne and the ice-cool Ulrika on the bass.

 

For tonight's gig they called upon the services of another legendary guitarist and friend Chris Spedding, who they backed during his recent Swedish tour. They played Spedding's "Get Outa My Pagoda" and the classic "Motorbikin'" and he stayed on stage to finish the main set which included one of my favourites, the soulful blast of "Save Me". They encored with a spirited version of "BBC", the raucous Psych Punk song from Mike Myers spoof band Ming Tea that featured in the first "Austin Powers" movie. This was an apt and amusing choice considering we are in this English seaside town famed for it's saucy seaside postcards and kiss me quick hats, and it rounded off a thoroughly entertaining show perfectly. I can't wait for the new album!

 

I really enjoyed the headline act The Cynz, who have also played with Stupidity in New York and Sweden and they extended the invitation for the Swedes to join them for their gigs in London on the Saturday and in Brighton which was a nice touch. The Cynz are fronted by the charismatic vocalist Cyndi Dawson, and although they're actually from New Jersey, they have the raw and dirty sound of a classic downtown NYC/CBGB's Punk Rock 'n' Roll band. Songwriting partner and guitarist Henry Seiz not only adds some mean riffs but his backing vocals lift the songs to another level. My personal highlights were "Weight Of The World" from their "Five Mortal Cynz" E.P. and a trio of tracks from their latest LP "Confess" which is out now on JEM Records, the blistering "My Father's Gun" and "Woman Child" and the melodic almost Go-Go's sounding "Love's So Lovely". They also threw in a great cover of 13th Floor Elevators '60's Nuggets classic "You're Gonna Miss Me" for good measure. I'm enjoying checking out The Cynz new album and discovering their back catalogue and hope to see them play live again one day. 

  

For more videos from the gig please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here.