Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons // King Creature // Live Review // The Cheese and Grain // Frome

Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons // King Creature // Live Review // The Cheese and Grain // Frome

With all the subtlety of a nail gun to the face, King Creature hit the stage with the rapid-fire drums and chugging guitars of their latest single Lost In The Riddle. Instantly impressive and, as the verse conjures up hints of Anthrax and Rob Zombie the chorus throws the curve ball and leads into pure punk swagger reminiscent of Backyard Babies. Desolation has a ridiculously catchy chorus, and the sea of heads before me nods in unison as these guys get the crowd on. Lowlife is stunning and Dave Kellaway’s vocals are superb. If Alice In Chains wrote a Black Sabbath song this would be it. Falling Down Again is an old-school thrash monster while Set Closer Power is a head-bobbing, fist-waving anthem. With influences being evident as mere hints, King Creature have achieved the near-impossible task of taking time honoured ingredients and creating something new and refreshing.

https://linktr.ee/kingcreature

Photography: Emma Painter

Pacific Curd Photography

Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons have established themselves as a phenomenal live act over their 9 year existence.1 EP, 3 studio albums and 2 live albums showcasing their craft as a tight hard rocking unit and coolest family on the planet. The raw energy of the songs and the musicianship both live and on their albums is testament to exactly how big a part of the Motorhead sound and legacy Phil Campbell was as an artist.

Tonight is a celebration of that and to honour the 50th Anniversary of Motorhead, the band Phil spent over 30 years of his life playing with and creating so many of the classics we love and cherish. While at the time of his death there was never an official tribute show honouring the life and works of Lemmy Kilmister, tonight in Frome we got exactly that.

Using the Quo classic ‘Rocking All Over The World’ as the intro music, the brutal Iron Fist opens the set followed in quick succession by Damage Case. Phil, resplendent in his ‘Gimme some Motorhead’ shirt declares “here’s one you can dance your assess off to” as they fire into Going To Brazil. Let’s face it, nobody could ever replace Lemmy nor are they trying to but, as they play Orgasmatron (if you’re unfamiliar, it’s the greatest rock song ever written.) it’s actually scary how close vocalist Joel Peters sounds on this song. The musicianship of the whole band is sublime. It’s joyous to see Todd Campbell trading solos with his Dad while brothers Tyla and Dane hold down the rhythm section admirably. Close your eyes and you could easily be at a Motorhead gig back in the days when Wurzel was still in the band on second guitar. The hits keep coming and every fist is in the air as the crowd roar the chorus of Born To Raise Hell and We Are The Road Crew before Phil cheekily suggests “this is a slow jazz version” as they play R.A.M.O.N.E.S. Of course no Motorhead set is complete without Ace Of Spades or Killed By Death (the second greatest rock song ever written) and then the epic cover of the Bowie classic Heroes leading us into the pre encore shouts for more. The acoustic guitars are out to start the encore with Whorehouse Blues before the final 3 songs Bomber, Motorhead and the obligatory Overkill round things off. As Joel himself said on stage, these songs are Motorhead’s legacy. They deserve to be played, they deserve to be heard. As a lifelong fan and fully paid up Motörheadbanger, I wholeheartedly agree, especially if it’s these guys doing the job.