It’s Friday, 17th November, and on stage Kira Mac are striking all the right poses; throwing shapes, tossing hair and hips alike for all they’re worth. The music is deep, chunky and prone to grinding, on numbers like ‘Dead Man Walking’ and that lends itself well to the packed crowd casting their own dance movements, or simply tapping their feet. Modern metal, if you will, but with the under-sway of a southern rock groove, even a tad Americana, at times; that suits lead singer Rhiannon Kira Hill’s vocal stylings on songs like ‘Scorned’ and ‘Mississippi Swinging’.
Whether it’s the jaded old git in me or some journalistic intuition going on, I’m not totally convinced by it all; it’s not that it’s manufactured, but it’s certainly well-crafted. There’s a cheering crowd here who would argue any poo-pooing on my part down to the ground, and no one could deny they go out with a bang on ‘One Way Ticket’.
The male to female percentage here is remarkably positive on the feminine side, rock chick looks notwithstanding. There’s a lot of couples here for sure, but many a group of females here collectively. Such things are always a good sign, for what was once a sweaty male domain, but I’m always curious to why demographics are what they are at individual rock gigs. I don’t think it’s simply because they find an affinity within Kira Mac’s lyrical perspective, that’s too narrow a focus, and they’re even more enthusiastic once the headline act appear. Possibly James Heatley may have some idea, The Answer did wait from him to completed his psychology degree before banding together properly.
Twenty-four years later, this is my first time seeing The Answer live, fate having intervened each time they’ve passed this way before. As Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin In the Wind’ plays over the PA, Heatley proceeds to his drum kit, bass player Micky Waters arms himself stage left, and from across the other side of the stage comes guitarist Paul Mahon. Almost unnoticed a young lady by the name of Cara Bruns stands behind keyboards, a new live addition to the band. Then, following a seven year detour from this fair city, frontman Cormac Neeson punces on stage and repeats the question: “Are you ready?”
Heatley certainly is, he sets the pace for opening number and tribal rocker ‘Blood Brother’ and doesn’t drop his propulsive beats one iota throughout the whole of the show. Mahon, however, is having trouble, his guitar fuzzing away not through any application of distortion pedal as he soldiers. From back where I am, his face remains calm, but it’s a persistent problem for a goodly section of tonight’s set. A guitar roadie will frequently appear on stage, exchanging guitars both for song requirements and early on from the presumption they’re causing problems. If recent shows at KK’s Steel Mill are an indication, the difference between an empty venue for a sound check and when it’s heaving with punters is quite distinct and takes time to rectify. No doubt it’s some static buzz causing these early problems.
As they set to sorting these technical hitches, Neeson regals us with memories of their first time as young Irish lads here in the Black Country of Wolverhampton, and their gig at The Little Civic. Laughing away, he tells us it’s a bit early but will regale us with “an Irish drinking song” and delivers a full song a Capello. Problems seemingly resolved they launch into ‘Nowhere Freeway’, Mahon now sporting a sunburst Les Paul and they tearaway with a fantastic rendition, before slowing down at which point the audience clap loudly with hands overhead before Heatley rallies the band back in.
“Right, Paul, what you got?” asks Neeson asks the guitarist as they launch into ‘Dead Man Walking’, with group backing vocals to the fore, and then straight into ‘New Horizon’ with the shifting dynamics and rhythms much in evidence, Mahon holding his guitar aloft at the front of the stage as he paces between there and the drum kit.
Through the night, Neeson will infrequently shake a tambourine or as in oldie and goodie ‘Under The Sky’ blow his harmonica. My viewpoint is firmly on Waters, much of the night, I wasn’t aware how much he added backing vocals, or how relatively high they were, but watching him play his bass is a thrill, performing in a classic manner that rock had lost as it swung towards AOR, thrash and all sub-genres in between before The Answer heralded a return to such sounds, two decades back now. He’s been delivering a hefty melodic counterpart to his rhythm partner since they started, now there’s some full throttle chugging at work from him. The song proves less the Sabbath-styled bash of its studio original and a more upbeat tight rendition, that works nicely thank you, Mahon’s fingers fizzing with energy as they move up and down his fretboard in solo, an unexpected almost heavy jazz sequence and then some suitable squeals blasting out.
“I need you to go Oh- eh!” Neeson calls out, as we’re invited to join in, he once more partaking of his harmonica and Mahon on slide for ‘Sundowners’ that incorporates both aboriginal beats and Celtic flavours along the way. ‘Keep Believin’’ features incessant licks, big shouty harmonies, Neeson screaming out for all he’s worth, while Bruns keyboards illicit funky grooves, accentuated by Waters on the opening to ‘Want You To Love Me’ with its heavy gnarling fat-assed stomping rock, that following organ and guitar solos climaxes in something resembling a gospel revival.
Things slow down with the melancholy Celtic ballad ‘Comfort Zone’, a love song for the aging man. Late in this review, we note what could be greying hairs tinging the sides of Neeson’s lengthy hair. A hat ever-present on his head and adorned with a jacket, visually contrasting with his t-shirted now shorter-haired partners. The mood embraced and heightened by the anthemic ‘Solas’, then the bright and shiny bounce and bump of ‘Spectacular’.
“You may or may not be aware we’ve released a brand new single, ‘Wild Heart’,” the front man announces. The audience take to it acceptingly, for it’s a good rock mash-up with a bit of Deep Purple with some heavy gospel present, metallic disco with some Zeppelin flashes the next. “You heard it first, Wolverhampton!” Neeson declares before another query stage right, “Paul what the fuck you got?” Well, some heavy blues soling for starters, before leading the way into an ass-kicking ‘Come Follow Me’, Bruns keyboards given an equally good workout on this one. Mention should also be made here of Neeson hurling himself about the stage in a lunatic dance freak-out – He’s mentioned tonight how he’s been trolled online for it, but he’s not here to make moves like Jagger, but to have a good time, and share those moments with those gathered.
‘Livin’ In The Line’ features some wonderful harmonies and delightful guitar breaks, but then comes the number I’ve been waiting for as Mahon proceeds to play the slide guitar intro to the epic ‘Preachin’’ which raises the corrugated roof of the Mill as it stomps out, heavy, wild and willingly impassioned from start to finish. If it all ends here, I’m more than happy. Fortunately, we get encores.
Calmly, they steer into ‘Always Alright’, a kind of Rory Gallagher folk ballad done in a latter-day Beatles manner, and a song to appease one’s mental wellbeing, then to see us on our way the rock ‘n rolling riff-a-rama of ‘Demon Eyes’ ends the night.
Watching each member of The Answer on stage tonight, each have their own identity, a sense of presence felt in their individual playing, their body language and movement as they encompass the stage, but they harness that as a collective force, coming together to deliver something more than the sum of their parts, and it’s life-affirming.
