John J Presley – Down At The Front https://www.downatthefront.co.uk The place to be to experience new music Fri, 29 Dec 2023 12:13:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.1 212659681 John J Presley at Third Man Records https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/24010 Fri, 29 Dec 2023 12:13:29 +0000 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/?p=24010 Album preview show at Third Man Records in Soho for my favourite grungy blue guitarist, John J Presley. The excellent new album, Chaos and Calypso features Laura-Marty Carte singing on Sinnerman who joined John for the song.

]]> 24010 John J Presley at the Social https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/17981 Sun, 19 Feb 2023 23:01:10 +0000 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/?p=17981 John is one of our favourite blues artists. He is also dramatic to photograph. Tonight he was playing the Social as part of a Communion Music evening. The lineup was a bit random. Opening with a pleasant singer songwriter, Nectar Wood. Followed by a posh pop artist, Florence Arman. John followed and played his grungy blues. Closing the evening was more*.

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]]> 17981 John J Presley https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/14819 Tue, 18 Oct 2022 00:21:31 +0000 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/?p=14819 Another excellent evening with John J Presley at the Slaughtered Lamb. I have said it in my reviews before, the mix vocals that sound like they have been dragged backwards through a quarry, and his excellent grungy blues guitar, just works for me. I really wish he got the recognition he deserves. But then selfishly, there is something special about seeing him and his band, in such an intimate space. Support was from Dolls. It is several years since I last saw ‘them’. It seems Dolls are now just Jade after Bel went back to Australia(?). Though I did miss the garage dynamic of guitar and drums just a little bit, Jade put on a fine show.

]]> 14819 John J Presley at the Slaughtered Lamb https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/archives/12173 Wed, 04 May 2022 17:35:34 +0000 https://www.downatthefront.co.uk/?p=12173 First evening since lockdown where I was double booked with a Warpaint’s Rough Trade in-store starting the evening. I haven’t seen Warpaint for a decade. Rough Trade in-stores usually start at 7pm which would leave enough time to walk across to the Slaughtered Lamb for John’s set. Unfortunately, tonight’s in-store didn’t start until 8. It is a sign of how much I like John, that four songs in, I hot-footed it across to the Slaughtered Lamb so I didn’t miss any of his set.

Luckily, they were running a little bit late which gave me the opportunity to catch the end of James Brute’s set, somebody I haven’t seen for a few years and another fine musician. Playing a grungy blues rock, he joked about how rusty he was after not playing for two years. It didn’t sound it.

This was also John’s first set gig since lockdown and showcased some of the songs from his Albany Sessions album released in 2020. John combines his excellent dark, scuzzy, psychy, delta blues guitar sound with his gruff vocals. On his cover of Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘In My Time of Dying’ the song is stripped back almost to his vocals. The guitar simply being used to accent the darkness of the song. I absolutely love the sound John creates. The temptation when you are as good a guitar player as he is, is to overdo the guitars. But he blends his vocals and guitar perfectly. The set seemed to be over in a flash. Leaving me wanting more. Hopefully, it won’t be long before he plays again.

Set List

  • Come Alone
  • Sinnerman
  • St Louis
  • Chaos and Calypso
  • True Love Waits
  • Sweet Angel
  • In My Time of Dying
  • Dance With Me
  • Left
  • Age of Affluence
  • Riders
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