SAMANTHA FISH + THE ZAC SCHULZE GANG – CHALK, BRIGHTON 5.10.24
On Saturday October 5th, Kansas City rocker Samantha Fish brings the blues to Brighton.
It’s a cool October night, roughly two years after Fish’s last visit to the city. She’s visiting as part of her ten-date ‘Bulletproof’ UK headline tour, and a healthy-sized and clearly devoted crowd has packed into Chalk venue to see her. Imagine a sea of denim, cheetah print, and leather clad older rockers bathed in the venue’s characteristic pink-and-blue lighting, all excited to see their recently Grammy-nominated guitar hero.
Samantha Fish is a prolific guitarist and singer, having released numerous albums since her debut in 2009. Amongst other accolades, she was this month voted as one of Total Guitar Magazine’s “Top 100 Greatest Blues Guitarists of All Time.”
Tonight, she’ll show us the nomination was absolutely deserved.
Fish and her band take to the stage around 8pm to raucous cheers. They open with a cover of MC5’s ‘Kick Out The Jams’: I’m at first caught up by the heavy blues organ and pumping kick drum, before Fish starts with the guitar riffage and my attention is drawn completely to her. I think I described her solo in this song as ‘godly’ in my notes.
After finishing the cover with a frankly insane vocal line, the band slips straight into the next song ‘Wild Heart’, which begins with a pumping drum groove on the kick, snare, and toms. This track has an acapella section that shows off Fish’s incredible singing abilities, punctuated by tight instrumental stabs from her band. It’s clear that this act is well-rehearsed and made up of skilled musicians: its members have incredible synergy together.
Next up is ‘Better Be Lonely’. Fish chats to the crowd a little after that, before beginning ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ which is by far my favourite track of the night. It’s a slower paced, groovy number, with some soul influence. There’s a real Amy Winehouse feel to it; I don’t know whether it’s the vocals, chord sequence, or lyrical content, but it’s overall killer. Fish gets to show off her stunning voice in this one, vocalising at high pitch along with her guitar line. There is at one point a pause for Fish to switch onto a slide guitar, which she uses to deliver one of the many, many ripper guitar solos of the night.
The band build up a crescendo as the song ends, before bursting into ‘Watch It Die’ which makes for a real change of pace. It’s harder, and heavier, with another slide
guitar section. ‘Never Gonna Cry’ follows; I’ve heard a lot of guitar solos already tonight (at least one per song), but ‘Never Gonna Cry’ is the first time we get to hear a keyboard solo.
Beginning with a heavy four-to-the-floor beat on the kick drum, the band then goes into fan favourite ‘Bulletproof’. The crowd quickly recognises the track and expresses their enthusiasm with cheers; Fish capitalises on this by having the room clap along with the drums. We continue on with the heavier ‘Miles To Go’ and ‘Somebody’s Always Trying’, which features a fun, glitchy keyboard solo.
The drummer plays a driving skiffle beat, as Fish asks the audience if they’re “ready to move a bit”. I feel her here: it’s far from the most lively crowd I’ve been in (although this is probably reflective of the average age present, rather than enthusiasm for Fish herself.) This takes us into a cover of R.L Burnside’s ‘Poor Black Mattie’, which goes down well.
After this, Fish stops to talk and does the usual touring artist chat about how much she loves Brighton, including a brave attempt at a British accent. The band then launches into ‘Dream Girl’, a ballady track with some jingle bell drums and a country feel to it.
They “finish” with a cover of ‘Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down’ by R.L Burnside, and leave the stage… before the shouting and literal stomping of the audience draws them back, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, for two more encore tracks.
There’s a cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ ‘I Put A Spell On You’ which is instantly recognised by the crowd and goes down extremely well. The set finishes with ‘Black Wind Howlin’’, in which Fish brings out the frontman of the support band, Zac Schulze, to play second guitar; he solos and participates in a guitar battle with Fish, showing off the technical prowess of both players.
Overall, I cannot fault the actual performance or skill on show here. It’s a very impressive display from everyone onstage, particularly Samantha Fish herself. She is a generationally gifted guitarist, and an absolute powerhouse of a vocalist. The band are tight and slickly rehearsed, and not a foot is put wrong all night. They also go down very well with their crowd.
However, this is a set that I can only describe as feeling like it’s “all peaks, and no troughs”. Many of the songs have a similar feel; with only short standouts like ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ providing a change-up. Every guitar solo is incredibly technically impressive, but I’ll admit I lose steam with the long solos in every song about halfway into the set. Considering I’m a guitarist myself, this is a bit of a feat. However, that’s all subjective, and I’m definitely not Samantha Fish’s intended audience. Besides that, I enjoyed the spectacle and display of incredibly technical guitar playing.
So! If you’re a sucker for the blues, she’s well worth checking out.
And even if you’re not – you’re still sure to be in awe of her talent, just as I was.
Samantha Fish:
Samantha Fish – lead guitar, vocals
Mickey Finn – keys
Ron Johnson – bass
Jamie Douglas – drums
Samantha Fish setlist:
‘Kick Out The Jams’ (MC5 Cover)
‘Wild Heart’ (from 2015 ‘Wild Heart’ album)
‘Better Be Lonely’ (from 2021 ‘Faster’ album)
‘Kill Or Be Kind’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘Watch It Die’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘Never Gonna Cry’ (from 2017 ‘Chills & Fever’ album)
‘Bulletproof’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘Miles To Go’ (from 2013 ‘Black Wind Howlin’’ album)
‘Somebody’s Always Trying’ (from 2017 ‘Chills & Fever’ album) (Ted Taylor cover)
‘Poor Black Mattie’ (from 2017 ‘Belle Of The West’ album) (R.L Burnside cover)
‘Dream Girl’ (from 2019 ‘Kill Or Be Kind’ album)
‘I Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down’ (R.L Burnside cover)
(encore)
‘I Put A Spell On You’ (2024 ‘I Put A Spell On You’ single) (Screamin’ Jay Hawkins cover)
‘Black Wind Howlin’’
Openers ‘The Zac Schulze Gang’ are a bluesy three-piece, with ‘60s garage rock influence. They’re Brits, unlike the headliners, and frontman Zac Schulze has a Kent swagger that’s at odds with the very American tunes he’s producing. However the band are a good fit for Samantha Fish in sound, attitude, and technical playing ability; it makes sense that she’s previously taken them on tour overseas!
Due to some confusion with set times I’m unfortunately late to see these guys, but catch a good half hour of their tight and well-performed set. They’ve got a busy room watching them play, and the reception to them is pretty positive.
The first song I catch is ‘Hole In My Pocket’, which Schulze describes as being about “smoking the green stuff”. It’s upbeat, uptempo garage blues, and easy enough to bop along to. They then launch into a new one which I don’t catch the name of, but, again, goes down well with the crowd.
Next up is ‘Dry Spell’. Frontman Schulze instructs the crowd to “have some fun with this one”. He then for some reason asks if there are any Sunderland FC fans in the house, to which there are a few scattered cheers. This song features some pretty wicked guitar riffing – but honestly my highlight of the set, and possibly the night in general, is the ensuing funk bass solo from Ant Greenwell. It’s pretty nuts. The band’s next offering is ‘Ballyshannon Blues’, which is, once again, overall good bluesy stomp rock.
The final track of the set is ‘Messin’ With The Kid’, which gets the audience clapping along. There’s some seriously impressive technical playing here, with the blues guitar from Schulze really standing out as worthy of note.
Zac Schulze and the Gang:
Zac Schulze – lead guitar, vocals
Ant Greenwell – bass
Ben Schulze – drums
Samatha Fish does some pretty convincing Hendrix covers on occasion too, and gets the character of Hendrix’s playing really well. But I do see that the formulaic blues verse, chorus, verse, guitar solo format gets tired very quickly.
I have a similar problem with Cardinal Black. Though Chris Buck is amazing, I just find the set, and the band, irritating. (I’ll get my coat)