H.E.A.T, Art Nation & Chez Kane

~ ~ ~ Buckle up people, this is a long one ! ! ~ ~ ~

KK’s Steam Mill, Wolverhampton - For a month that’s got 31 days in it, January disappears awfully quickly. The good news is that the First of February brings me a real treat. Another early gig (in the season) and three bands that I’ve never seen before. Chez Kane, representing Wales, Art Nation from Sweden and the headliners tonight, also from Sweden, H.E.A.T with the return of the original frontman, Kenny Leckremo. It’s the last night of the tour as well, and all that’ve gone before have said that it’s a blistering night out and well worth the effort. Let’s hope so, as my travel time coincides with England kicking off in the Six Nations, against the Irish, so my head will take a lot to divert it from the events in Dublin.

So, with lenses polished and batteries charged, I head off to the delights of Wolverhampton, hoping that I don’t get snarled up in too much traffic as Wolverhampton Wanderers are also playing at home tonight against Aston Villa. Ah, the trials and tribulations of wanting to watch a gig, eh ?

KK’s Steam Mill are doing the honours, and the good news is that we’re in the big room as it would have been real fun and games watching three bands swap places on the dinky stage in the snug room at the side. On arrival, the car park is packed. Now are these for the place where I’m going or does match day parking for Molineux extend this far ?

Chez Kane - Bang on seven and a half bells Chez appears on a stage packed with three lots of gear. She's supported by Jay on drums, Harry and James on guitars and Kieran on bass. No surnames were forthcoming from the Crew, so we'll live with what we've got.

Chez has been a busy girl since flying solo. She previously fronted ‘Kane’d’ with her sisters Stacey and Steph, but tonight she has forty minutes to promote her album from 2022, ‘Powerzone’ and her offering from the previous year, the self-titled ‘Chez Kane’. She’s come dressed for the occasion as the 80’s are properly back in fashion tonight with black patterned leggings, white socks, leather fingerless mitts and the only brand of trainers that existed in those days… Adidas.

The opener is ‘Too Late for Love’ which gets everyone straight in the mood from the off. Loud, powerful, with a screaming guitar and a crystal clear vocal. ‘All of It’ and the first track from ‘Powerzone’, ‘I Just Want You’ follow on with a vengeance as the backline pound away with a heavy back beat, enhanced by the two guitars working in harmony, all of which compliments Chez perfectly. Melodic Rock (which must be the worst title for a genre of music ever !) is definitely her forte as these tunes are drenched in it and her performance follows in the same vein as she makes good use of KK’s forty-foot-wide stage, bouncing from one side to the other, pointing at various members of the crowd - only when a Trainer has been perched on a monitor for maximum effect. As Support acts go, Chez is excellent value for money, and you certainly can’t fault the effort she puts in and the confidence she exudes, so it’s surprising to hear her say, “It’s very daunting being first on and you don’t know if people will come out early to see us”. Well, she needn’t have worried as the place is almost full, and this is no small venue.

‘Nationwide’ is probably the second strongest track off ‘Powerzone’, again with drums and bass powering through from the back and with a guitar solo that wrings every last drop of sound from the strings as they scream around the room. ‘Ball ‘n Chain’ has a good few licks in it too but they sound a bit too much like ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’, even with a cheeky key change towards the end - but that’s no bad thing, is it now. A homage to... shall we say.

‘Love Gone Wild’ sees our girl belt out a vocal that demands to be heard, as were the backing vocals - or so it seemed as they couldn’t be, as we start to experience the first of a good few sound gremlins. They could have been well mimed of course but surely not ! ‘Get It On’ comes with another classic key change as the bands confidence and level of performance grows with each tune they play and Wolverhampton laps up every drop of it and shows its appreciation admirably.

Chez takes time out to give the band, a mention but only as a whole, and doesn’t name them individually - so again we'll live with what we know - before ‘Rocket on the Radio’ and the final track of the night – and the strongest off the album, me thinks – ‘Powerzone’, where the two guitarists really came into their own each sharing the solo and harmonising once they’d each had their own moment of glory. Chez’ vocal is a strong as it was when she first walked on stage, and she didn’t let up in the delivery of this one either.

As the Support for the Support, this was a great performance. Chez put a huge shift in to whip the crowd into a frenzy. She and the band knew their job and they did it very well. Art Nation are in her debt I’d say. All nine songs were big anthemic tunes with a pace that started fast and never let up for the whole forty minutes. The good and kind people of Wolverhampton savoured every moment and were thankful for it. They were in the mood from the off anyway, and Chez delivered exactly what they wanted.

I’d never heard of Chez Kane before tonight – shame on me – but you can bet your mortgage that I’ll be keeping an eye out for when she’s on tour again and will be there again, front and centre. You’d do well to do the same. I also hear that she may be approached for another Support slot for a blues big hitter, who'll tour towards September, and if she wants it, and gets it, it'll be a barnstormer of a show.

Watch this space.

Chez Kane Setlist

1. Too Late for Love

2. All of It

3. I Just Want You

4. Nationwide

5. Ball n' Chain

6. Love Gone Wild

7. Get It On

8. Rocket on the Radio

9. Powerzone

Art Nation – Now, this is a band that’s just celebrated its tenth birthday, and in its time, it’s seen plenty of line-up changes along the way, which is a big achievement when you’re only a three piece to start with but tonight, creators Alexander Strandell and Christoffer Borg lead the way, with ‘official’ member Richard Svärd on Bass and unofficial member (it would seem), Linus Thomsson on Drums.

The band took to the stage dressed in what can only be described as modern-day Viking attire with trench coats and armadillo-esque armoury on show in abundance from Strandell and Borg and an indication that these boys might have a harder edge to them. Less melody, more metal, you might say. ‘Brutal and Beautiful’ was the opener which the band blasted out with all their might. Strandell was doing the same but only the ‘togs in the pit, who were shooting away like men possessed, could hear him as those sound gremlins had resurfaced and no one in the crowd could hear a thing. Strandell was oblivious despite the 'togs and all the front row trying to tell him, but he just thought they were really into his performance and carried on regardless. This all continued into the next tune, the faster paced ‘Thunderball’ which saw the melodic side of the band show through, more than the metal side, but with a healthy dose of aggression thrown in. It took what seemed like ten minutes before a roadie mounted the stage and traced numerous plugs and sockets to find out what the hell was going on – which he finally did, just in time for ‘Echo’.

This is another band that knows how to perform, and they also made good use of the arena width stage, especially Svärd whose flailing hair took no prisoners when he let it fly – which he did on many an occasion. ‘Set Me Free’ is the new single, with a harder, faster edge to it, thanks to Thomssons drumming, which is impeccable from start to finish, as is the guitar work from Borg, who struck a pose at every available opportunity – of which, there were also many an occasion.

‘Halo’  was played for the first time and is yet unreleased, but there’s a good chance that it will be, such was the reception that Wolverhampton gave it. It starts off slow and steady, but builds into an almighty crescendo with the melodies of the vocals and guitars weaving in and out of each other for an almighty chorus and finish that will keep this in the set for a long, long time, I'd say. Thank God the sound problems from earlier had finally gone away as this would have been an awful shame to have missed out on.

The band make one last dash to the finish line with 'Need You to Understand', one final burst of energy to finish off their maiden UK tour and to leave Wolverhampton knowing who they were and wanting more. I got to photograph half the set as there were only six songs and thirty minutes went by in the blink of an eye. No real time for chat in between either until it came to the “we’ll be at the merch table at the end” plea, "which is cash only tonight" Strandell points out for some reason – a little strange perhaps, as the card machines at the bar are working perfectly. Read into that what you will.

Art Nation Setlist

1. Brutal and Beautiful

2. Thunderball

3. Echo

4. Set Me Free

5. Halo (Live Debut of Unreleased Song)

6. Need You to Understand

Art Nation are: -

Alexander Strandell - Vocals

Christoffer Borg - Guitar

Richard Svärd - Bass

 …and Linus Thomsson - Drums

…and finally, as they say.

H.E.A.T – H.E.A.T are another band that have seen the odd line up change in their time, mainly with the front man. The band started in 2007 with Kenny Leckremo who was replaced in 2010 by Erik Grönwall who was replaced in 2021 by… Kenny Leckremo.

So, as the lights dim and the strains of Glenn Frey’s 1984 classic ‘The Heat is On’ begins to belt out over the PA, the audience starts to really get excited and you see people start to pinch each other, such is the fever pitch that Chez and Art Nation have built up and the emotion that Kenny and the boys are moments away. It’s quite a strange thing to see really, as you’d expect the crowd to be made up of forty and fifty year olds, maybe even some in their sixties based on the genre, but there are a good few in their twenties who’ve obviously been weaned on Mum and Dad’s record collection and made it their own.

Drummer, Don Crash is the first to grace us with his presence and he acknowledges all the accolades before he takes his place behind a gorgeous Tama six-piece kit in white, with twin kicks, and a good half dozen Zildjian cymbals generously spaced all around, all of which is set high on a drum riser – just like it should be, such as the times of that era dictate. It is a true thing of beauty. Beautiful, just beautiful.

The rest of the band take their place as Frey begins to fade and then Wolverhampton damn near loses its mind as Leckremo enters stage left. Now for a band that never really did much in the UK, charts wise this band doesn’t half have a loyal and dedicated following and tonight they are about to let these Swedes know it. Blimey ! !

The boys waste no time and launch into ‘Disaster’ from the soon to be released album, which sets the tone for the rest of the evening. Drums and bass pulsate from the back, whilst guitars scream and Leckremo’s vocals smash through it all, with an “I’ve got this / I own this” attitude.

They went straight on with ‘Emergency’ with its anthemic chorus of “It’s an emergency!” which Wolverhampton screamed back with gusto in between the screaming guitar of Dalone and Tee’s keyboards which were sync’d in harmony, and Jay’s bassline rumbling on behind them. ‘Hollywood’ sent the lighting jock’ into another dimension with strobes flying off in all directions and the neon back screen sending heads tripping back to another dimension. The band saw no reason to let up the pace and didn’t, so they smashed straight into ‘Rise’ with another anthemic chorus that was sung by an audience possessed. The pace was electric until… it wasn’t !

Those shitty sound gremlins that had irritated the life out of Art Nation had returned and taken out the keyboards. Originally it was thought that Dalone’s amp had packed in, causing Leckremo to say, “Dave plays too fucking good, and his guitar amp sometimes isn’t up to it”, until it’s realised that there’s more to it than that. “We appear to be out of power” he says and looks forlornly towards the sound jock’s at the back who are in true panic mode by this time.

Leckremo counts to three and says we still don’t have power, so he does it again and still nothing. Suddenly one keyboard is working. So, Tee tests things out with Europe’s ‘The Final Countdown’ which Wolverhampton laps up every note of and goes into raptures. It looks like there’s enough to carry on with, whilst sound engineers crawl all over the place, so Leckremo dedicates the next song to Europe as “they’re from the same place as we are”. ‘Nationwide’ kicks in and we’re back to where we were in the blink of an eye.

It's now that Leckremo truly takes us back to the 80’s with the cheesiest of song intro’s ever. He’s slightly out of breath from the last tune and uses it to full effect as he says “I can tell you’re enjoying yourselves. I’m kinda lost for words. Even though I’m outta breath you guys make it”… ‘Harder to Breathe’ ! !

Oh my Lord, how Simon Bates would have salivated over that ! ! A Radio One (275 and 285) intro, from the 80’s if ever there was one ! ! Nice.

Just when we thought it was safe, the guitar suffers from the gremlins but whilst that’s sorted Chez Kane joins them on stage for ‘In and Out of Trouble’, a blues styled tune with Kane adding another dimension to it and proving to be a worthwhile addition to the whole band. It’s slower paced with some sultry keyboards throughout from Tee and has the crowd swaying in unison for a moment of pure magic. There weren't any phone torches on display, but everything else fitted just nicely.

Beg Beg Beg sees a dirty drum lick from Crash, as a precursor to his solo in a short while, whilst Tee and Dalone return to that harmonic interplay from earlier with them weaving in and out of each other again and on top of all this, our front man sends Wolverhampton into raptures again, just in case they thought they could relax a little – which they couldn’t because after this it was time for that other gig obligation from the 80’s, the drum solo and Crash had suitably warmed up enough for his moment of glory, which he took with aplomb, cheered on by a frenzied crowd. The band had retired at this point and ‘Flash’ by Queen was ringing out as the intro, which was pure, unadulterated, relentless drums and cymbals being smashed all over the place, just like it should be. Not the longest solo you’ve ever heard but enough to play its part.

As the rest of the band return Leckremo gets the crowd to punch the air with fists to Crash’s kicks ready for ‘Living on the Run’ which was sung by virtually everyone in the room, before the first live performance of ‘Bad Time for Love’ unless you’ve been to any of the previous four gigs, and it would appear as most of the room might have done, as they sung along to this too.

Heading for the home straight and it’s all the bands big classics with ‘1000 Miles’ and ‘One by One’ creating an atmosphere that I thought couldn’t be improved upon – but I was wrong. ‘Tearing Down the Walls’ took it even further and the Night Ranger tune, ‘Sister Christian’ left everyone tingling from head to toe.

Tonight was a magical night from three bands all with their own unique take on ‘Stadium Rock’ – to give it its true name. Melodic Rock, I ask you ! ! Tonight, we went back to the days when denim and leather jackets had band names and logos emblazoned across the back and they’d all been dug out for this evening, with T-shirts that have been washed far too many times over the past thirty years judging by the faded colours - or maybe they hadn’t. A time when big hair was en vogue and a good few had attempted it tonight - some succeeded, some definitely didn’t.

Was it cheesy ? ? No. Well, maybe a little, but that’s how it was back then, and we loved it. It was our time, our era. We created it and tonight Wolverhampton made 35 years or more disappear in the blink of eye and enjoyed every single minute of it. So, It’s time to head back up the motorway with ‘Slippery When Wet’ already loaded into the CD player ready for the journey home.

Hit that ‘play’ button !

H.E.A.T Setlist

Overture - The Heat is On (Glenn Frey song)

1. Disaster

2. Emergency

3. Dangerous Ground

4. Hollywood

5. Rise

6. Nationwide

7. Harder to Breathe

8. In and Out of Trouble

9. Beg Beg Beg

10. Drum Solo

11. Back to the Rhythm

12. Living on the Run

13. Bad Time for Love (Live debut)

14. 1000 Miles

15. One by One

16. Tearing Down the Walls

17. Sister Christian (Night Ranger song)

H.E.A.T are: -

Kenny Leckremo – vocals

Jimmy Jay – bass

Jona Tee – keyboards

Don Crash – drums

Dave Dalone – guitar

Tour Dates Included: -

28 Jan - Bristol, Fleece

29 Jan - Nottingham, Rescue Rooms

30 Jan - Manchester, Club Academy

31 Jan - London, Islington Assembly Hall

01 Feb - Wolverhampton, KK’s Steel Mill

Written in association with Noble PR