Here at RPM, there are many underground artists we admire and regard as legends, Warrior Soul mouthpiece Kory Clarke is one such dude. Kory has been keeping the Warrior Soul name alive for well over 3 decades. The politically charged band burst onto the scene back in 1990 with their debut album ‘Last Decade, Dead Century’, and their unique brand of outspoken, anarchic art rock saw a collection of great albums in the early 90s.
While the line-up has changed, the stiff middle finger of Kory Clarke is still raised in defiance as his band continue to release quality albums and tour extensively.
They celebrate the 35th anniversary of sophomore album ‘Drugs, God & The New Republic’ with a European tour playing the album in full. With a handful of UK dates booked, it would be crazy for me to miss the night when New York meets Olde York.
First up we have Gypsy Pistoleros who’ve undergone quite a transformation in recent years. The self-proclaimed ‘greatest flamenco glam punk band ever’ have now rebranded themselves as ‘the world’s only glam punk goth n’ roll outlaws’. Fair play, whatever the branding, Wolverhampton wonderer Gypsy Lee Pistolero is still at it, delivering sleazy rock n’ roll like all the (mostly) forgotten cool cats did back in the day. It’s clear he grew up on the same music as you and I.
They may look like a Temu Kiss (the bassist sports actual fairy wings), but the sound and delivery are dark, sleazy and the most fun you can have with leather clothes on. The onstage humour is as tongue-in-cheek as the stage costumes. “We don’t dress like this every day”, states Lee in one of many between-song monologues, before ripping the piss out of Adam Ant with his moves.
‘Dark Faerie Tales’ sounds like Faster Pussycat when Taime first went all goth and industrial on us, ‘The Ballad Of Thomas Shelby’ is a glitter-drenched stomper with more “woah-whoa’s” than an 80’s Bon Jovi single, and their cover of Dexy’s ‘Come On Eileen’ is the glam punk/pop crossover you didn’t realise you needed.
A full-on, high-energy rock n’ roll show with crowd participation, riffs and hooks aplenty- what’s not to like?
Warrior Soul take to the stage and jam out a killer intro piece. Kory Clarke swaggers through the crowd to the front of the stage, a bottle of red wine in his hand, and just watches his band rock out for a moment or two with his back to the audience.
He then grabs a mic, takes stage centre, a defiant fist in the air and shouts in that unmistakable raspy voice, “We are the government, and we rock n’ roll!”. They kick into ‘Interzone ’, and it’s clear from the off that this band mean business.
The diminutive frontman is a flash of blonde hair, gold shades and leather bellbottoms. He weaves rock n’ roll shapes and delivers that enigmatic, frontman thing like all good rock stars should. Next up ‘Drugs, God & The New Republic’ takes things down a notch before ‘The Answer’ takes it back up again. It seems we are getting the album in sequential order, nice!
Joining Kory are fellow New Yorker Adam Dubin, Italian guitarist Parker Barrow and Lowdrive guitarist John Hodgson. Longtime bassist Christian and drummer Ivan Tambac make up the ranks. The band are tight, and the staying power of these songs shines, reminding me what a great fucking album it is, all killer, no filler. Lyrically ahead of its time, musically powerful and still as relevant as it was in the last century.
Highlights are plenty: ‘Real Thing’ sounds great, those dynamics work well live, ‘Hero’ is as emotive as you like, and ‘The Wasteland’ is a surefire blast of 90’s punk metal.
All eyes are trained on the main man, making the most of the claustrophobic stage space he has. He eyes the audience as he spits and snarls his way through a killer set, gesticulating and articulating wildly and with as much passion as when he wrote those words.
Once the full album is done, we get more. ‘The Drug’ is a high-energy blast of acid punk, jammed out and extended, giving Kory time to drop to his knees, swig some wine and pass it to his bassist. ‘Punk & Belligerent’ is exactly what it says on the tin, and probably the best song of the night. ‘Losers’ is the all-encompassing anthem we all raise our hands and sing to, and set closer ‘Love Destruction’ is a sublime way to end a 1-hour 40-minute set, no encores needed.
Both bands had to work for it tonight. And at times both frontmen seemed a bit bemused about it. I’m sometimes left wondering if this is just a Northern thing or a national issue at gigs. Have we forgotten how to loosen up and have fun these days?
But in an age when people think nothing of paying £200 to see a nostalgia act on a big screen in an enormodome, I’m happy to say I saw a rock n’ roll legend give his all in a sweaty pub in my town for less than £20, and personally it was one of the gigs of the year.
Author: Ben Hughes
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