After a break of almost 9 years it’s time to get that Zuton Fever back in your head, those Indie Blues revival Rockers from Liverpool will be back on the road after a 10 year absence. The tour will coincide with the 15th anniversary of the release of their debut album “Who killed......The Zutons”.
With 8 nights already confirmed the renaissance kicks off in Birmingham on 26th March & culminates in the their hometown of Liverpool on Friday 5th April. The Zutons will be hoping to put the spring back into the step of fans who have been longing for another iconic live performance since the band quietly went their separate ways in 2009.
Following up from a number of impressive live performances throughout the festival season of 2004, The Zutons found themselves in the running for the coveted Mercury Prize, this is where I first found them. An advert for the album came on the T.V & gave a short sound bite from a couple of the album tracks. With more than a passing reference to the Jimi Hendrix classic Cross Town Traffic, the intro to You Will You Won't electrified my eardrums & that was enough for me to drift into HMV the very next day to add their CD to my collection, I don’t think I listened to another album for about 3 months, it was intoxicating.
The tracks were incredible. The album was a boisterous blend of raw vitality. From the infectious beats, harmonies & melodies served up by Boyan Chowdhury on guitar, Sean Payne on Drums and Russell Pritchard on bass, to the vulnerable voice of Dave McCabe, entwined with golden tone of Abi Harding on saxophone together they delivered a confident blend of indie rock with a healthy helping of soulful blues......Did I already say it was intoxicating?
Although the Scouse 5 piece would fall short in the Mercury Music prize giving, their stock had already risen significantly through the U.K & they were soon headlining their own shows to bigger crowds. I was fortunate enough to catch them at the Glasgow Barrowlands some months later where that raw sound from the album was reproduced to amazing effect.
Maybe I look back on this album with a large slice of nostalgia in mind, my daughter would sing away to this CD word for word in her car seat when I was out driving. It was also just around that time when we (certainly I) started to change how we listened to music, moving from physical CDs to digital. The progression to digital was great & helped reduce the amount of space taken up in the house for albums, CDs & stereos, but it also took away the enjoyment of an album cover. Oh yeah, the album cover......A fold out comic strip style story of the mystery behind Who Killed The Zutons with shadowy figures & falling rocks & those four words you miss so much with digital music “See inlay for details”.
Nostalgia or not, Who Killed The Zutons is still an astounding album you can listen to again & again. Now I just need to work out how I can secure tickets for their performance in our very own Dirty Dance Hall at the Barrowlands in 2019, where the band will play the album in its entirety.
