Described alternately as country flavoured rock and a twenty first century version of The Eagles, The Storys have great vocal harmonies and all round good tunes. I've seen them a couple of times now, most recently last month, of which a belated review is posted below.
They have a website here, which links to their forum and their MySpace, You Tube and Digital Rodeo sites:
http://www.thestorys.co.uk/
They are supporting Joe Cocker this Autumn and Elton John again next summer and I really hope these boys make it big. If you like melodic rock with a hint of country and you get the chance to see them at a small venue before that happens then do so - you won't be disappointed!
I went to the gig last night having been introduced to The Storys as they supported Elton John at Plymouth in the summer. I was mightily impressed with them that day and I went straight out and bought their excellent but, as it turned out, hard-to-find debut CD.
Anyway, I've been well in the mood for gigging recently and between seeing Ray Lamontagne (twice in the last couple of weeks) and Ryan Adams (this coming Sunday) I was thinking "I wonder what The Storys are up to?" So, I checked out the website on Wednesday and lo and behold they were playing the next day just up the road from me in Blackwood! I went up there and bought a pair of tickets for me and Mrs Jaime straight away.
As it was so close to home we decided to make a night of it and get a taxi the short distance to Blackwood, so that I could get tanked up on beer beforehand. I drove home like a maniac through the lanes from work in Cardiff, had a quick change and a couple of bottles of beer and at 7pm we got out of our taxi right outside The 'Stute and went in to the bar. Unfortunately there was no draught beer (only cans) and with a Wetherspoons over the road we (mainly me though) decided to get over there for some proper stuff to guzzle.
When we walked out into the street, who should be coming back over the road from the chip shop opposite but Hair Bear Bunch Bassist, Andy Collins. I asked him what time the boys would be on and after a friendly "Oh, hello!" he told us that it would be about 9pm and that they'd be on for about an hour and a half. I know that Andy and Dai are supposed to be veggies but as Andy walked off I'm sure I saw a sausage in batter sticking out of his jacket pocket.
In the chip shop, Dai and Steve were sat against the window stuffing their faces with Blackwood's finest potato based fried cuisine. I leaned in through the door and told them how much I'd enjoyed the Plymouth gig before telling them how much we were looking forward to the imminent performance. Between stuffing their faces with mouthfulls of chips, the boys seemed genuinely appreciative and well, what a lovely bunch of down to earth lads they really are! Mind you, I'm sure I saw some gravy on Dai's chin - looked suspiciously like debris from a Peter's Pie. I would guess at minced beef and onion.
Wetherspoons' The Sirhowy pub is conveniently located right next door to the chippie and we strolled in and got our drinks. Mrs Jaime was still dribbling at being so close to Steve when after a couple of pints of the aptly named 'Atomic' I was starting to notice a trickle of Rock Chicks (a 'trickle' is the official collective noun for Rock Chicks) entering the pub. Mrs Jaime noticed that I had noticed so I developed a cunning technique of leching via the reflection in the top of my pint. She still spotted me. I don't know how she puts up with me to be honest. Probably because I keep taking her to great gigs. I'm aware that I'm rambling and I need to tell you that ultimately Mrs Jaime thought we should go over to The 'Stute, so we drank our beers and went back over the road.
We headed straight for the bar and I double checked with the barmaid to see if it was still cans only. "Uh?" came the reply. "Never mind" I said, "I'll have a can of bitter please." The barmaid paused.... "Pardon?" So I repeated, "a can of bitter please" Another pause before the barmaid's response; "What's bitter?" Obviously she was new to the complex profession of barmaid. Clearly, it is rocket science after all. I eventually got my can of Worthington and a San Miguel for Mrs Jaime.
After the obligatory call of nature we took our seats for the support act, The Enormous Sizes, who were very good. The dedication of their last number On and On to local hero Joe Calzaghe went down well.
We went back to the bar for the interval before getting back to find our seats filled with bums other than our own. We were basically told "every man for himself" but I wasn't having that when it was numbered seats and I'd been up to The 'Stute to see the seating plan when I got my tickets. After adopting a beer fuelled Alpha Male approach we eventually got our rightful seats in Row C. As others above have posted, it's a cracking, atmospheric little late Victorian venue.
So to the gig itself.... what can I say? These boys deserve to be so successful with a sound like theirs. There were indeed a couple of sound issues at the start with some nasty feedback but that was soon cleared up. From the opening number; Long Hard Road, through favourites like Be By Your Side, High Enough, I Believe in Love, You're Not Around, Cinnamon and the barnstorming Save Me, interspersed with new songs from the upcoming album like Alone and Town Beyond the Trees, the audience was absolutely spell bound. It was clear that the boys were really enjoying themselves, with some great little stories - the news that Peter Gabriel (at whose studios the new album was recorded) has a caravan in Llangennith, Rob's admission that he watches X-factor and Steve's heartfelt plea for fan's continued support of live music. The rapport was so natural and the all round musicianship and 2, 3 and 4 part harmonies just enthralling. Hairs stood up on the back of the neck a few times. All Mrs Jaime could gibber was "Isn't Steve pretty?"
Highlight of the evening for me was lead singer Steve Balsamo's spectacular vocal performance on Save Me, which is such a powerful number, closely followed by High Enough and Rob's hernia-stitch-busting guitar performance.
Overall a great performance.
The full set list was as follows:
1. Long Hard Road
2. Be By Your Side
3. Journey’s End
4. High Enough
5. Roll Like a Stone
6. You’re Taking My Heart Away
7. I Believe in Love
8. Heaven Holds You Now
9. So Long
10. Evangelina
11. Alone
12. You’re Not Around
13. Cinnamon
14. Save Me
Encore Break
15. Town Beyond the Trees
16. King of Broken Dreams