THE ROUTES + THE TRIDENTS – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 17.9.23
It’s another Sunday afternoon concert for us again at The Prince Albert in Brighton. This week’s event has been organised by local promoter Stay Sick and runs from 2pm to 5pm. On the bill today we have headliners The Routes and they are supported by The Tridents.
It’s something rather out of the ordinary this afternoon as punters are here to experience The Routes performing their 2022 ‘The Twang Machine’ album in full. This being their homage to ‘The Man Machine’ long-player which was released by Kraftwerk back in May 1978 as well as tracks from other Kraftwerk albums. It just so happens that this is my favourite album so it would be rude not to check out this new interpretation!
The Routes blurb read as thus:
“Imagine a bizarre alternate universe in which the Moog synthesizer was invented before the guitar, and visiting thrift stores you’d find records such as The Ventures ‘Guitar Indigo’ and Dick Dale’s ‘Twanged On Bach’. Well, here is a record that could well be from that universe! The Routes – ‘The Twang Machine’. Yes!
Ten slices of Kraftwerk arranged into mid-sixties instrumental rock ’n’ roll/surf guitar bangers. An aural testament to The Routes’ love and respect of the music of Kraftwerk. Hear ‘Showroom Dummies’ reimagined as a Spaghetti Western film opening theme, ‘Radioactivity’ drenched in reverb ala The Astronauts… ‘Trans Europe Express’ at shinkansen speed racing to burst the sound barrier, and many more of Kraftwerk’s classic songs such as ‘The Model’ or ‘Autobahn’ as you could never imagine them.
Whether you see it as musical blasphemy or musical alchemy, this album is set to become a cult classic, destined to irk or jerk future generations for years to come”.
Intriguing stuff eh? But before we get to them, there’s the small matter of ace new Brighton surf combo The Tridents, who informed us that they are “a Surf-a-billy project with pure 60’s spy-themed high-octane surf instrumentals, garden-trespassing spaghetti western cavalcades, pirates in leather rockabilly covers and the odd murder ballad with a twist. We just put everything we like, put it together and ride with it”.
The Tridents consist of Kevin Desert (guitar/vocals/whistling), Russell Pilfold (guitar), Chris Pilkington (drums) and of The Atom Jacks fame Jamie Hewitt (bass). They have thus far released one six tune EP going by the title of ‘Fiat Panda Escape Sequence E.P’ which dropped back in April.
This afternoon is our debut encounter with this new quartet and we were certainly put in the right frame of mind as there were some choice cuts playing over the soundsystem prior to them hitting the stage. These included The Lurkers ‘Ain’t Got a Clue’, Killing Joke ‘Wardance’ and a Lovely Eggs track.
Bang on their allotted 2:30pm slot The Tridents grace us with their presence. Everyone can immediately see that there’s a togetherness with them as they are all wearing green and black striped tops and dark trousers. They strike up and within seconds you can tell that surf rock sounds are very much going to be the order of the day.
I spy that Russell is a left-hander and he merrily plucks away at his guitar and his whammy bar is the key to the band’s surf sound and rather good it is too. Chris’ drumming is tight, and we already know what a great musician Jamie is as he throws about his bass. Kevin is very much the frontman of the unit, although his vocals aren’t called into action until tune five, ‘Snorting Dust’, which is a slower number than the previous four: ‘Creature From The Hove Lagoon’ (which brought many a smile around the room when introduced), the F.A.B ‘Thunderbird One’, ‘The Comet’ and ‘The Circus’.
For the next number, ‘She Stepped On A Blue Bonnet’ Kevin seriously showed us his talents by giving us quite possibly the best whistling I’ve ever heard. I turned to my mate during this and his eyes were agog with amazement. This was very much a tune with a cowboy western vibe and was the best thus far and quite probably the standout tune from the whole 43 minute 15 track set.
Having played their own material up until this point, Kevin informed us that they were going to perform a series of cover versions. This section began with a Wanda Jackson number called ‘Funnel Of Love’, and was followed by arguably the most famous track of the set, this being Johnny Kidd & the Pirates hit ‘Shakin’ All Over’, but this version suddenly hit warp factor ten half way through. The first of a couple of Misfits covers was up next, this being ‘Last Caress’, which benefited from an echoey vocal delivery that sounded like Elvis Presley, and this too speeded up. ‘Les Cornichons’ (‘Big Nick’), a Nino Ferrer track, was the final cover in this section.
And so the set rolled on and these katz sure did swing! After ‘Flight Of The Navigator’ and ‘Tragic Tide’, we were served ‘Atoll K’ which one would assume was lifted from an early 1960’s spy movie theme. It was a great song that was on par with the earlier ‘She Stepped On A Blue Bonnet’ and Jamie even ventured into the crowd for some up close action.
Their penultimate tune was the title track from their six track EP ‘FIAT Panda Escape Sequence’. This rocked along nicely, but not as much as their final gift ‘The Most Exalted Potentate Of Love’, that being the second Misfits cover, which concluded at 3:13pm. On our way out to get the beers, my mate exclaimed that The Tridents were the best support band he had seen in decades!!!! I can’t actually add any more to that!
The Tridents:
Kevin Desert – guitar/vocals/whistling
Russell Pilfold – guitar
Jamie Hewitt – bass
Chris Pilkington – drums
The Tridents setlist:
‘Creature From The Hove Lagoon’
‘Thunderbird One’
‘The Comet’
‘The Circus’
‘Snorting Dust’
‘She Stepped On A Blue Bonnet’
‘Funnel Of Love’ (Wanda Jackson cover)
‘Shakin’ All Over’ (Johnny Kidd & the Pirates cover)
‘Last Caress’ (The Misfits cover)
‘Les Cornichons’ (‘Big Nick’) (Nino Ferrer cover)
‘Flight Of The Navigator’
‘Tragic Tide’
‘Atoll K’
‘FIAT Panda Escape Sequence’
‘The Most Exalted Potentate Of Love’ (The Misfits cover)
www.instagram.com/thetridentsarecomingforyou
The Routes formed back in 2006 and are based in Oita in Japan. It is said that they are one of the most prolific underground garage bands in Japan of the last decade. In fact 2021 saw The Routes release three studio albums (two of which were instrumental), and another trio dropped last year as well taking their album tally up to 13 studio albums.
The Routes today consist of Bryan Styles, Chris Jack, and Steven Paul and I had deliberately not listened to any of their material prior to attending this afternoon’s performance so that I would have the element of surprise, but following on from The Tridents was a seriously tall order!
The trio hit the first floor stage at 3:28pm and performed eleven tunes spread across their 42 minute set, which was one minute and four tracks less than their support, which was quite unusual. All three are wearing the Kraftwerk ‘Man Machine’ clobber, which is red shirts, black ties and darkish trousers. Fenders are very much the order of the day with these lads. Although they are apparently based in Japan, none of them look Japanese and so the mystery deepens as to why they emigrated.
Both myself and my mate have been heavy Kraftwerk fans for just shy of 50 years and we were endeavouring to outdo each other by trying to guess the Kraftwerk cover first. Some we got within seconds, some took a little longer and one eluded us, which was very surprising.
They kick off their instrumental set with ‘Computer Love’ which many will know from the ripped off riff of ‘Talk’ by Coldplay. Although having said that, when I was dragged to see Coldplay once, their drummer was actually sporting a Kraftwerk t-shirt, so I’ll let them off. You see, covering Kraftwerk tunes is almost like touching the Holy Grail, they are sacred works and probably best left as they are, but we both were intrigued to hear the material interpreted in a totally different manner. I mean, how does one actually go about recreating such classics and putting their own stamp on them?
Next up was ‘Pocket Calculator’ which featured some interesting whammy bar action. Both these were easy to get, however track three, ‘Showroom Dummies’, took quite a while longer due to its almost yeehaw cowboy style. ‘Tour De France’ was up next and was relatively easy to guess. This was followed by ‘The Robots’ which we both eventually got, but it did have a faster swinging beat.
The surf rock was ramped up several notches with the arrival of ‘Autobahn’. This took quite a long time to get as it was so different. ‘Radioactivity’ was next or according to their setlist ‘Radioaktivität’, this being Kraftwerk’s native tongue version. Astonishingly neither of us got the next well known number, ‘Trans Europe Express’. It didn’t sound at all like the original. My friend suggested ‘Showroom Dummies’ but we already had that and I was plumbing for ‘Spacelab’, but ‘TEE’, surely not?
My favourite song in the whole world was up next, ‘Neon Lights’, but this was like a lounge version and not a tad as good as the original. The number one UK hit ‘The Model’ followed and then we were informed that was their album and they announced they would next play ‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve?)’ made famous by the Buzzcocks. This was passible and then that was it, although according to their setlist there were still two other Buzzcocks tunes to go, namely ‘Something’s Gone Wrong Again’ and ‘Just Lust’. The curfew was 5pm and yet they were done at 4:10pm, which sort of made me feel a little short-changed.
We both had been really looking forward to hearing what The Routes had to offer. It was a very brave decision to take on such a task and although my hips were shaking throughout their whole set, it really didn’t cut the mustard and we had both enjoyed local Brighton band The Tridents much more! And so kids this is exactly why you turn up to gigs on time and check out the other acts on the bill as you never know what hidden gems you are going to unearth!
The Routes:
Chris Jack – guitar
Bryan Styles – drums, percussion
Steven Paul – bass
The Routes setlist:
‘Computer Love’
‘Pocket Calculator’
‘Showroom Dummies’
‘Tour De France’
‘The Robots’
‘Autobahn’
‘Radioaktivität’
‘Trans Europe Express’
‘Neon Lights’
‘The Model’
‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve?)’ (Buzzcocks cover)
You can check out The Routes ‘Twang Machine’ album HERE.
www.reverbnation.com/theroutes
