Sometimes you just need a band to rock, to be big, to be up there doing it properly, up there above you, bigger than you, larger than life, up on a stage, drenched in red lights, knowing they’re good, knowing they’re far more than just good, knowing it, kicking it, rocking it, drenched in attitude, in the zone, sometimes you just need a band to be big, a band to be a rock band.

SAINT AGNES – LIVE, Oslo, Hackney, London, December 2016 – Sometimes you just need a band to be a proper big proper proper rock band. Saint Agnes did it tonight, up there in their red light, on their stage, the four of them up there, with their cactus and their desert and their hundreds of black balloons – Jon, Kitty, Ben, Andy –  the four of them, up there rocking, stomping, brooding, brewing that Saint Agnes sound of theirs, a band arrived tonight.  A sound birthed in the wake of The Doors, The Cult, Led Zeppelin, early days of Aerosmith, the 70’s proper version, of Montrose and Young heart Attack (whatever happened to Young Heart Attack?). Saint Agnes are a proper rock band now, and she knows it, Kitty, up there in the middle of it all in her leather jacket, behind her guitar, a proper front-person fronting a proper righteous garage rock n’roll band, a band looking and sounding bigger than ever – they just know they have it, they just know it – and they’re twice the live band they were at the start of the year, up there stomping, up there with the ground beneath their boots, they just know it – hey hey sister electric how do you do?  Proper blues, slide guitar, fat baselines, pounding stomping drums hit hard, drenched in soul, never understating it, they know what it means, they know this is proper important big rock chemistry and attitude…

Feels big in here tonight, black balloons everywhere, anticipation hanging in the air as we wait for them, stage drenched in red light, crowd waiting for a band to arrive on their stage.  A band arriving, and this is what it feels like in here tonight, a band really arriving, their biggest London gig so far, a proper gig, we’re not in fractured pubs now, this is a rock gig, this is a proper rock band, she knows it, they know it, I keep repeating it – three hundred and ninety nine miles from salvation, merry mother of god this is good!. Not that they’re getting all big rock star on us, don’t be getting the wrong idea, there’s no big band bullshit up there tonight, there is plenty of knowing attitude, none of that rock-band ego bullshit, they know who and what they are but there’s still an innocence here, a vital spark, four people connected and connecting, in their moment – this is proper in every way, this is right. Stomping blues, stomping attitude, big riffs, not too big, they do it right – and yes they can get away with guitar solos and light shows and the celebration of Jim Morrison’s birthday, into his 70’s now where ever he is, their version of Roadhouse Blues is even more beautifully brooding tonight

A glorious snarling gig, a dark psychedelic edge, an electricity running through the place, an electric chemistry, and no, it isn’t back to the 80’s or 90’s and Soho, this is not that beast, this is a different one, a dirty rock ‘n roll band for right now, a band steeped in far more than that Sunset Strip on Charring Cross Road thing from back there. They’re part of that right here right now London thing shared with bands like Miraculous Mule or Sex Swing – their black balloons could be no other colour, their rock has a dark psychedelic edge, a no messing stomp. righteous, right there, a hint of Nick Cave, of Jon Spencer and his Blues Explosion in there with their big rock, and the whole thing alive with that chemistry, electric, jumping like a jack in the box, a band properly arrived tonight, twice as good as they were at the start of the year, merry mother of god go round, Saint Agnes were good tonight  (sw)

The new single is out today, we posted the accompanying video yesterday, we make no apology for posting it again this morning

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Merry Mother of God’ released on 9th December via Death or Glory Gang Records. Buy limited edition 7″ vinyl here: https://saintagnes.bandcamp.com/album…

SAINT AGNES