A Band Doing It Right!
I first came across Anthony Gomes in the last couple of years. I went to see him for the first time last January in Bannerman’s, where he played 2 nights. He had played only one night the year before. Within the space of less than 12 months he and his band doubled up the audience as word of mouth spread. That venue holds about 160 people. Now back in Edinburgh, he is playing a venue just down the road from last year’s venue, which this time holds 600, again showing how much word of mouth (and rave reviews online) has spread the growth of the band. You have to have something about you to grow an audience in this modern era.
Anthony merges blues and hard rock, along with some soul and a sprinkling of fun and good humour. The band are a 3-piece (all the best bands are?) and feature Christopher Whited on drums and vocals along with Jacob Mreen on bass and vocals with Anthony on guitar and lead vocals. Yes, they have huge choruses in their repertoire. Anthony is originally from Toronto but now lives in the US and has quite a back catalogue dating back to 1998. He has without doubt paid his dues.
His last album Praise The Loud came out last year and obviously the songs from that featured heavily in the set!
Grooving Rootsy Blues
Coming onstage to the sounds of AC/DC‘s”Long Way To The Top” the band pick up their instruments (or sit down and pick up their sticks) and get ready to hit us right between the eyes with their high-octane rock ‘n’ roll. The crowd joined in pretty quick with the “bang bang, bang, giddy up, bang bang” chant on opener “Painted Horse” which features a lyric from “Purple Haze” (which hints at one of his influences).
He and the band hardly took time for a breath in the first 3 songs, intros were short and sometimes said over the opening riffage. “For all the freaks out there” led us straight into “Fur Covered Handcuffs” which comes over as ZZ Top meeting AC/DC and grooving out a bluesy rootsy song with lyrics that are naughty but fun. “Blame It On Rock ‘n’ Roll” has both guitarist and bassist bouncing across the stage swapping areas and taking up all areas of it.
Showing Off His Skills
Things slow down a little on his tribute to BB King and “Come Down” with the long “woahs” definitely being joined in with the audience
(the best audience in the world on a Tuesday night apparently😆). He describes BB as his “hero” and he does his very best to channel him throughout. Where he started by showing his rocking credentials, this was the first time he showed what a fabulous blues player he is.
His vocal delivery on “Blues In The First Degree” was bloody fantastic. His extended notes (some of which are pretty high) were sweet as a nut. He has a voice that has a whisky-soaked growly vibe a lot of the time, lived in, but on this we heard the depth and range fully. Lovely stuff. By this point of the set Anthony was chilled and happy to chat, tell stories and make us laugh. His audience engagement was excellent. I enjoyed the way he described the new album getting into the top 40 in the UK as “pop star, pop star, girl singer, boy band, another attractive girl, pop star… then us ugly guys“. Scotland’s charts had the band in the top 20. I admit I felt proud of that!
A Bit Of A Comedian As Well
He took the piss out of us when we failed to hit the heights on “Praise The Loud“, which obviously made us shout a lot louder next time. He worked the crowd when someone shouted late as well. Plenty of laughter going on. I did learn something new on the night, apparently the USA doesn’t have Tesco stores. He used the scene of the shop to introduce “White Trash Princess” and in fact during the night he threw a mention of the store in for added laughs. Special mention of the a cappella opening to it. Once again really enjoyed the vocal delivery there.
The Blues Sounding Fresh
“Blues-a-fied” grooved and shook, a song that just makes you want to dance, or at least move around to the best of your ability (mine are very limited, but I did my best). “True That” is another song that simply grooves yet is playful and screams of AC/DC whilst having a more blues edge. Blues rock is a genre that has certain foundations and at times limitations, but somehow this stuff comes over sounding as fresh as a daisy.
To take timeless music and give it an extra edge, to make it vibrant is quite a skill and Anthony and the band manage that superbly. “Netflix And Chill” is very early sounding ZZ Top in my view riff wise. It is “chilled” in keeping with the song. I loved his cajoling of the audience, “I would love it if you clapped” and when some did he followed up quickly with “love it more if everyone did“. That worked. This is not to suggest the audience weren’t having a good time and joining in, it was just he wanted even more from us, perhaps to inspire themselves onstage to even greater heights.
The BIGGEST Highlights
For me, the highest points of the evening were “Take Me Back Home” along with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Bluesman” and “The Whiskey Made Me Do It“. The first of these was absolutely stunning. Soulful, emotional, powerful. His soloing on this was superb as he showed varying styles but all the while wringing emotion from his guitar (along with his vocals). He talked a little about AI and how recently a chart single success was from a band that didn’t exist. He talked about the blues, how it is human, it is feelings, emotion, and that cannot be replicated. It could sound like it, but it will never have the heart and soul. This song proved that.
I liked his comment that he prefers “natural unintelligence” and that AI could “never throw a TV out of a 12-storey bedroom window” which again created laughter. The second he talked about the business, 22 years getting nowhere, then he decided to do exactly what he wanted, he didn’t need to choose between “BB King and Black Sabbath” etc. The last 3 years has taken off. Again, you could tell it was honest music played with raw feeling. The last of course is the big party anthem.
He opened by talking about the importance of good teachers and told us about the one who inspired his career. “Write about what you know” he was told. So he wrote about drinking. Apparently, the song was a late addition, the label said they needed one more song and they wrote it etc in a day. It is amazing how many classic rock hits were written like that. I loved the crowd singing the very last line on their own, the band looked happy at the response!
Down To Earth Musicians
They finished with a mega jam, playing around 2 songs in “Whole Lotta Love” and “Mississippi Queen“. Each were improvised or at least not
held to exactly, they went different directions but always came back to them. Both Christopher (drums) and Jacob (bass) were given short solo spots too during the show. Well when you have such talented players around you it only seems right they get a bit of spotlight too.
One of the things said at the end was that there are “no paid meet and greets, we will be at the merch desk after, come and say “Hi” as we would like to say thanks to you, you don’t have to buy something just come up and spend time“. About 2 or 3 mins afterwards as true as the words, they were there. The way it should be. Much respect for keeping it real and caring about fans, no wonder the base keeps growing. He has a few gigs left in the UK and as I type there are gigs in Bradford, Chester, Newcastle, Bilston, Milton Keynes and Tunbridge Wells before a couple in Germany (Joldelund and Hannover) before heading back Stateside for an extensive set of dates there.
For all gigs and link for tickets click TICKET LINK
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Excellent review..been following Anthony for over 12 years now