The Commoners & Tom Killner Band

The Live Rooms, Chester - You get to see a lot of bands doing this job. I’ve seen over forty bands and artists in the month of May alone, mainly down to the Manchester Jazz Festival layering on act after act over a ten-day period as they usually do, and it’s easy to get spoilt. Not every band hits the right note with me - you can’t like everything, I suppose, and some music, I just don’t get. It is what it is.

But on the plus side, there are some bands that you wouldn’t dare miss out on, no matter how many times you’ve seen them, and that’s the case tonight. I must have seen The Commoners five times in the past eighteen months, but that matters not. Tonight, they roll into Chester and I’m there, waiting patiently for the doors to swing open come the hour of seven o'clock.

There’s an added bonus tonight as well, as I get to see a brand new band - to me, anyway - as Tom Killner and Band are the Support, so let the good times roll.

Tom Killner - Killner describes himself as an incendiary UK award-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist who straddles the line between genres with soulfully infused blues, southern rock, country, and Americana - or at least that what his website describes himself as.

Personally, he’s not registered on my radar before, which doesn’t mean anything really, but I wonder how it’s happened, as he’s been around for a good few years and has released five albums in that time, the last “Borrowed Time” being released last year to much acclaim. He often performs solo, but tonight he’s taken full advantage of someone else’s audience and rolled out the full band.

The Tom Killner Band are: -

Tom Killner - guitar

Andrew - guitar

Wesley - keys

Brett - drums

Charlie Mutts - bass

Tom Killner Band Set List

1. Cosmic Sounds

2. Devils Gate

3. Do Something About It

4. Home

5. Borrowed Time

6. Ride With Me

7. On The Other Side

The Commoners - It can get difficult to write something new about a band, when you’ve seen them so many times, in such a short space of time. You can’t accuse these boys for not putting the effort in, that’s for certain. The air miles (do they still do them?) must have been clocked up aplenty in the past three years and a few freebies must be long overdue, judging by the number of times they’ve crossed the Atlantic. If the need is there though, it would be rude not to, as the saying goes.

Such is their appeal to us Brits (and the Europeans for that matter) that the band saw fit to record their last gigs over here, and release a live album, creatively titled ‘Live in the UK’, which demonstrated just how electric their performances are, and for anyone like me who’s seen them a few times, the chance to relive said gigs in between tours.

So, on a late Spring, almost Summers evening, the band return to an old haunt for them, The Live Rooms in Chester. A city that’s normally got a good vibe about it, but on days like today more so, as there’s been a day’s horse racing taking place at The Roodee, so the place is full of people in their finery and looking to extend their days entertainment a little longer.

It’s a good venue with a good crowd that know what they like and aren’t scared to show their appreciation when they get it. There’s a good scattering of bodies in the pub at the side of the main venue, when I get there, which also has a band on tonight, so you get a double helping for your coffers.

The main venue is painted wall to wall black, like most venues of this kind, with the bar running half way down the right-hand side as you enter, only giving up space for the mixing and lighting desks. There’s a balcony too, running around two sides which gives a birds eye view, as long as you can see around the huge metre wide glitter ball, which is capable of reducing the most raucous of crowds into subtle mushiness if the moment dictates it - as is bound to be the case tonight when The Commoners perform ‘See You Again’ - as they’re bound to do.

At a few minutes before the allotted time and with the Killner boys having cleared the stage in break neck time - it’s good to see a band bring their own back line gear every once in a while, and not just plug into the venues PA, but it is a ball ache when you only have ten minutes to pack up and clear out - but clear out they did, and the boys from Toronto, also doing their own roadie-ing, turn up, plug in and hit the ground running with ‘Shake You Off’, a full on barnstormer of a song that sets the scene for the rest of the night.

Front man, Chris Medhurst takes centre stage and makes you pay attention with a powerful performance that leaves nothing behind. He has to share centre stage quite a bit though, when guitarist Ross Hayes Citrullo takes over with the theatrics alongside plenty of riffs and slide on show, all delivered with a dead pan look that belies his actions.

The band go through most of the tracks off their two albums, ‘Find a Better Way’ and ‘Restless’ but still find the time to throw in a few new songs, which gives you a warm feeling as it could mean that a new album could be on its way by the time they return in the new year.

‘The Way I Am’ and ‘Who Are You?’ are also punchy tunes delivered with a huge dollop of attitude, as is one of the classic tracks off ‘Restless’, ‘Body and Soul’. Citrullo’s licks scream through in between the vocals, and it’s pleasing to see Branagh on keys get a seemingly bigger part this time, especially in the new songs, ‘Going Down the Highway’ and ‘Black Gold’. He’s always been there, but sort of lurking in the background, all shy and reserved like, but now, coming to the fore and making more than good use of his place in the band. More please.

It would be remiss of me to not mention the back line of Ben Spiller on bass and Adam Cannon on drums, who were as tight a unit as ever and a real driving force behind the other three.

That mirror ball I mentioned earlier, was given a good run for its money, firstly with ‘Restless’, as Cannon tells the story of a friend of his who’s battling cancer at the very young age of 35, which causes Chester to raise its arms unrequested, out of complete respect, and applaud his battle from thousands of miles away. It hung around for ‘See You Again’ as I said it would, with a quad of pin spots piercing each fragment of glass, controlling the mood and settling Chester down for a short while, emotionally driven by Medhurst with an acoustic to dial down his usual gregarious actions. Chester serenaded itself alongside the lead vocal, enhanced with a subtle slide guitar from Citrullo, cutting through just at the right time.

There’s no real delicate way to go from ten miles an hour, back to ninety, so you might as well admit that’s what you’re about to do – and they did - with their signature swagger and sound that they say is ‘tapped from the oaken belly of a whiskey barrel’ and they produced a rip roaring version of ‘Fill My Cup’ as they ran down the clock.

...which they did, and there you have it, it was another ‘full on’ performance with every member playing their part to the max and Chester wasn’t disappointed, as they all headed home well rewarded for the admission price. All’s we have to do now is await a third album and the tour that will surely come with it. Fingers crossed.

The Commoners are: -

Chris Medhurst (lead vocals/guitar)

Ben Spiller (bass/vocals)

Ross Hayes Citrullo (lead guitar)

Adam Cannon (drums/vocals)

Miles Evans-Branagh (keys/vocals)

You a find out more on The Commoners, by clicking here…

 You can buy the albums, by clicking here…

Written in association with Noble PR