In an age when over-produced pop music fills both the charts and the stadiums of the world, what chance do balls out, entertaining rock bands have of making their mark has been a question that is more prevalent by the year. Fortunately, some of the best artists do not worry about competing with others, their sense of confidence and determination to be the best they can be for no one but themselves and their fans push them to ever greater heights. Such was the case with the three acts gracing the Roundhouse. The Struts, Barns Courtney and James Bruner all are all hungry young guns out to conquer the globe purely by the power of loud amps and sparkling guitars.
The Struts – Barns Courtney – James Bruner
Roundhouse, Camden – 6 October 2024
Words: Paul Monkhouse
Photography: Eric Duvet
The Struts
The Struts are old hands at this sort of thing, the Derbyshire outfit having cut their teeth on the road opening for The Rolling Stones, The Who and Foo Fighters, along with numerous festival appearances.
With a huge backdrop of the London streets hanging behind them, Luke Spiller and Co. project a larger-than-life, widescreen existence, the embodiment of everything that made the ’70s and ’80s such fun and vibrant times in music.
There may be a swagger, but this one is more of an all-inclusive one done with ease, delivered with a reciprocated passion with their audience and eschews egotistical posturing and the desperation to be worshipped. Herein lies part of the success of the quartet, their ability to shine as stars whilst also seeming to be the sort of people who would happily buy the drinks and pay for the pool table down your local pub.
The formula is simple, consisting of writing great anthemic numbers and getting everyone to have a good time. This, of course, is not as easy as it sounds, and to be as seemingly effortless as this has taken years of hard work and refining their craft, honing their material into killer songs that stick in your head for days.
Spiller encapsulates traits of some of the best frontmen in music history, his DNA part Freddie Mercury, part Mick Jagger and part Michael Jackson and the rest of the band are no slouches either. In guitarist Adam Slack they have got a six-stringer equally adept at tearing out huge riffs or throwing in subtle little blues notes in his solos, the rhythm section of bass player Jed Elliott and drummer Gethin Davies, his kit strewn with a Welsh flag, providing a groove to their locomotive drive.
The Stonesy bubblegum glam of the ironic Primadonna Like Me is a dazzling and strong start, the band hitting the ground not so much as running but more sprinting, the pace seldom letting up throughout the set.
Courtney is a high-energy performer to follow, but The Struts know what they are doing, and with an unquenchable confidence and obvious unabashed joy, this raises the temperature even higher. Dirty Sexy Money drips with sweat and wanton abandon, Spiller yelling “Scream it like you mean it bitch,” and the scorching hard rocker Better Love threatens to blow the domed roof off the place.
It’s a heady experience certainly, and when the band are not tearing into the Billy Idol-ish punk rock sneer of Pretty Vicious, the meaty bounce of I’m In Love With A Camera channels Bruce Springsteen, The Darkness and Big Country into one joyous bundle.
With audience participation aplenty and some of the best party songs around, this was a night that once again proved that rock is not dead and, in fact, is in very safe hands indeed.
Here’s to the future and retaking those charts and stadiums back.
James Bruner
James Bruner opens the night and he and his band kick up some serious dust to start proceedings, the man himself coming across like Jeff Buckley if he was raised by wolves and brought up on a diet of the MC5.
Whilst there are doubtlessly big melodies that have been artfully crafted, it is his commitment to old-school rock that makes his set burn the brightest, the simple excitement generated by the Illinois native something that will stand him in good stead for many years to come.
Barns Courtney
Born with the slightly less rock ‘n’ roll first name of Barnaby in leafy Aylesbury, Barns Courtney’s reinvention as a priapic rock god oozing with charisma and sex has been one of the biggest successes in music, those pastoral beginnings leading to the musician to breaking the mould.
With the strains of Frank Sinatra singing My Way fading, Courtney and his band hit the stage with an unbridled passion and the stuttering Fun Never Ends sees the singer swinging his microphone around with the same vigour that Roger Daltrey has always windmilled his. It is an impressive start, the Beatles meets new wave punk of London Girls and stomping glam rock number Hands seeing him climb up the riser and onto the top of the bass drum, his personal safety a mere passing consideration when trying to entertain those gathered.
With lyrics like “I’ll be your National Treasure, your knight in shining leather,” and his constant forays into the crowd, along with anthemic fare like 99 and Young In America, there is absolutely no doubt that Courtney has what it takes to break through into the superleague.
With a crack band of equally charismatic musicians sharing the stage with him, this is a show that can rival the Beyonces, P!nks and Swifts of the world and one that could fill arenas, potentially doing just that within the space of a year or two.
