Jesse James / Buzzkill

Jesse James have decided to call it a day after seven years together as a band. Tonight, as part of their last ever tour before they part to try other things, they have enlisted the help of more brass orientated racket from Buzzkill.

Hardly killing the buzz like their name suggests, these Leeds lads inject life into their brand of hardcore punk and 50’s rock and roll with the addition of a sax and a trumpet, along with the odd “Oi”.

Singer Matt Colmer is obviously influenced by Green Day; his stance and appearance make it clear. Matt Perrot on the saxophone is an elastic looking bugger, while tall trumpet man Ben Whittington has to lean down to reach his mic. Not knowing who either of the bands are tonight, I actually think this is the main band JJ, as they are that tight and the quality of sound is amazing.


I have said before that the middle room in the Cockpit is a better place for gigs; of course you can only fit around 200 people in their at a push, but they sound resonates better off the ceiling that perches under the railway tracks. The room is hardly packed anyway; plenty of space at the back and it sounds better back there.

Now for Jesse James. The brass section is bumped up by adding an extra member (Tucker) on the trombone, an essential element in any ska band (though they are a lot heavier than ska; the sound is a lot more powerful and with more melody than the usual beat-keepers).



With what I was saying before about the middle room and its size, this equates to the stage being pretty small too, so Tucker is hidden away behind the speaker stacks with sax player Pete. In fact stood at the back you may think that the whole brass noise is produced by trumpet player Ponyboy, who does prance about a bit, but obviously loving it no end.

The vocals duties are performed mainly by Donagh on Bass, though Ben and Rich share the solo duets throughout the set, giving different styles to each song (Ben with wacky vocals, Donagh more rough and rich a little, dare I say it, sweeter). They are classed with mixing together influences of Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Green Day and The Clash, but with more oomph and energy.


The young crowd (which does contain a couple of world-weary punks) are having a good time down the front; some look to enjoy the music, others just want to push each other and those around them about. There are little quips between the band and the crowd, mainly from Ponyboy when his time on the trumpet is on hold (which does happen occasionally when the brass have a breather whilst the others play some full on punk rock).

I am disappointed by the size of the crowd; though I have not heard of them before and just turned up as I liked the sound of them, and to say hello and bid them farewell during the same show. I hope their side projects bring them as much fun as JJ has; it is a shame to find bands like this just for them never to be seen again.

Invincible
Empty Tank
Hills Vs Mountains
Hooks
Growin’ Up
First Day On A Brand New Planet
Black Sheep Generator
Six Minutes
Ad Nauseum
1000 D
If You Go My Way
Elephants
Everything
Hotwired
Wake Up
Shoes
Dear Jesus
Freefall

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.