LIVE: Miraculous Mule – Sebright Arms, Hackney, East London, 7th August 2016 –

Seriously electric, they seemed even more electric than ever. What else is there to be said here about Miraculous Mule? Surely we’ve said it all too many times already? Surely you’re getting tired of us saying it again and again?  Miraculous Mule down at the Sebright Arms just off the Hackney Road, East London, on a Sunday night in the middle of summer when most people are more interested in festivals or holidays or just sitting in the sun polluting the East London air with their barbecues and their burning beards. Surely this is just another Mule show? Doesn’t matter if we miss this one right? Of course it does!

They seemed even more electric than ever, raw, electrically raw, seriously up for it. And that’s the thing, there never is just another Miraculous Mule show, Miraculous Mule don’t do just another show.  And just why this electricity is flying around in such a thrilling way down here in a dark sweaty basement room of a East London pub on a Sunday night really is something that can’t be explained.  Don’t quite get why this band aren’t killing it all and more at the summer festivals, and why the hell is that single not all over the radio?  But then they’d surely never ever be this good on a big festival stage in the sunshine, they’d never be this good on a big stage in a big venue, surely they could never conjurer this magic in anywhere other than a dark pub basement like this one? Surely this is their natural habitat? Surely it can’t get any better then this for Miraculous Mule? There they are, right there looking right in to your eyes, looking in to each others eyes, locking it all in, taking you on toe-to-toe, trading punches, taking you with them, surely they could only connect in this magical way in a London basement and to be in here with these people, this band and this crowd, to be here really is something special

Miraculous Mule, Sebright Arms, August 2016

It can’t be said that they’re sounding even better than ever but somehow they damn well are! They’re sounding better than ever, they’re sounding bigger, louder, sharper, they’re sounding more electric than ever, electricity arcing around the dark dank room, road-fit and back from a mainland Europe that appreciates them far more than their hometown does, well besides those of us who are down here in this basement sucking it all up again, down here in the dark mainlining the Mule and sharing knowing glances, big shit eating grins on our faces, strangers smiling at each other, not needing to say anything….

Miraculous Mule, Sebright Arms, August 2016

“Big thank you to each and every special one of the beautiful feckers who made it down last night! It was one of the most enjoyable shows we’ve played and the symbiotic band/audience thing was really working“,

Miraculous Mule, Sebright Arms, August 2016

He was right of course, Michael J, one-third of just about the best live band out there right now is right, impossible not to connect with Miraculous Mule down in this basement, the electric really is flowing.  This isn’t something that can be written about, it can’t be explained on paper, the knowing glances of those who were there (again) can’t be explained and the wise thing here would be to just shut about it.  We really should shut up about it, we don’t want them in big venues, we want to share knowing glances with the hundred or so who know, the ones who keep on coming back.

The first rule of Miraculous Mule is you don’t talk about Miraculous Mule, we don’t want them at bloody Koko or the Electric Ballroom, we don’t want you knowing about this and spoiling the connection, we don’t want to share this magic, this privilege, we don’t want it diluted in a big venue, the Sound of The Summer does not need to be on your radio, ignore this review, ignore everything we ever say about Miraculous Mule, you won’t like them, they’re not for you, stay away, leave them to us, leave them to those girls lost in the moment of it all over there, and that guy we shared that knowing nod with way before we got to the venue, words weren’t needed, we knew where he was going and he knew where we were going, faces from last time, smiles exchanged, don’t talk about it. Don’t talk about it with the girl in the boots waiting outside for it all to start, or the tall thin guy slumped in the alley looking spent afterwards.

The Mule were seriously dialed in last Sunday tonight, we almost doubted their ability to do it all again, doubting it over the first pint in the pub down the road, doubting it before they took to the stage. Sixty percent of last time would have done us, to expect any more than that would just be misguided greed and to try to put any of what happened at the Sebright down on paper is to make yourself sound stupidly ridiculous. We can’t talk of that chemistry of ZZ Top at their stripped down pre-synth out at Le Grange 70’s raw blues best messing with the classic soul swagger of Them, that classic Fast Eddie West London period Motorhead three piece drummer and two gunslingers thing. We can’t talk of that magic that only a classic three-piece guitar-fulled loud wired hungry electric rock band can plug you in to, that thing Bernie Torme and Everton Williams had for a while, Jon Spencer and his Blues Explosion, Royal Trux, that magic of Cream or Hendrix and his Experience dosed up with a bit of country blues and a touch of Stooges, Bad Seeds.  See told you it would sound silly if we tried to put down on paper, and anyway, you don’t need to know about any of this, the first rule of Miraculous Mule is you don’t talk about Miraculous Mule, this is the Sound Of The Summer (even if they didn’t play it tonight). We can’t post a YouTube of the gig that explains it, we can’t post a photo that tells you what it is, and anyway, we don’t want to, the first rule of Miraculous Mule is you don’t talk about Miraculous Mule, best band out there, don’t tell anyone we told you so, god I love encounters with this band (sw)….

Post gig, he knows, we don’t talk about it….