Zac Schulze Gang & The Whisky Flowers

Mark Lear
Apr 14
7 min read

Updated: Jun 24

The Bodega, Nottingham - Last Thursdays time warp has still got some legs on it, it would appear, as eleven months after I last set foot in The Bodega in Nottingham, to see The Zac Schulze Gang, I’m back to do the same thing over again. This time though, they’re not the Support. This time they’re the Headliner, which only goes to show just how far these three boys from Gillingham have come in a short space of time.

As I arrive in the city, I see that Nottingham is enjoying the delights of a sunny Spring evening and there are plenty of people in town enjoying themselves, non-more so than outside our venue tonight which has a healthy queue outside it when I get there, patiently waiting for the doors to open.

The Bodega, for the uninitiated is, in their own words, “a Bar, a Music Venue and a Nightclub in Nottingham, UK. Universally regarded by locals and students alike as one of the best places to hang out, party and listen to live music in Nottingham - the Bodega is a must visit venue that has been at the very forefront of the midland’s music scene over the past two decades.

So, there you go then. Everything you need to know, in a nutshell, and on that basis, let the fun begin.

The Whisky Flowers - Support tonight comes from The Whisky Flowers, for which I, and everyone else in the tog pit for that matter, have scant information as their website is still under development and nothing was forthcoming from the PR people. All the socials are in place though, so we’ll take what we can from that for the moment.

They’re a four piece that hail from Northamptonshire and are headed up by Steph Ashcroft and Aiden Pryor, both on guitar and vocals. It’s almost a full house by the time they hit the stage, and the expectations are high. They open with a cover of Mountain’s ‘Mississippi Queen’ from 1970 but with a very modern twist running through it, and at a fair lick of a pace that sets the tone for the evening.

Ashcroft and Pryor seem to have some history, and they trade places upfront with vocals and riffs aplenty. The backline is provided by Elliott Clarke, with his resplendent shocking pink bass and the ever-smiling Ben Hart on drums – grinning like he can’t believe his luck that he’s actually doing this ! !

They follow with one of their own tunes, ‘Sunshine Love’, with the front two trading vocals now in a very pleasing harmonic fashion. ‘Perfect Imperfections’ saw Ashcroft come to the fore with her vocals, with a chorus that dragged you in and held you tightly.

‘Alive’ was a haunting and staggered tune with a solid backbeat from Clarke and Hart punching through. By now Nottingham was well in their grasp and had been whipped into order like a good Support band is supposed to do. ‘More’ is a new track, never played live before, and a brave move by the band’s own admission, but they needn’t have worried as it was performed with a rawness that fitted perfectly and was so well received that it’ll be a mainstay of the set for a good while, me thinks.

In time honoured fashion, there has to be a Rory Gallagher track thrown in somewhere, and theirs was ‘I Fall Apart’, with a slow, acoustic start designed to lead you into a false sense of security – which it does, because it doesn’t drag its feet and the full band kicks in with a vengeance before you know it. Those harmonies were back on show from the front two and the good and kind people that had come out early lapped it up. Everyone does a Gallagher track now, and sometimes you wish they hadn’t, but tonight it was done well and gave you a cheeky tingle at the end of it, just for good measure.

They finished off with ‘The Devil Made Me’ and if he did, he did a good job as they lashed this out with pounding drums, a thumping bass line and a pair of guitars that shrieked throughout the place, added to this was a banging chorus that just wouldn’t let go, as it forced you to sing with it, whether you wanted to or not.

Nottingham had probably never heard of them before, but after tonight, Nottingham loved them. Every song was really well received and well applauded. The cheer at the end was exceptional. Fair play to whoever chose them as a warm up for ZSG as it was an inspired choice and should be repeated with haste.

The Whisky Flowers Set List was: -

Mississippi Queen

Sunshine Love

Perfect Imperfections

Broken Bones

Alive

Fall Apart

The Devil Made Me

The Whisky Flowers are: -

Elliot Clarke - Bass

Ben Hart - Drums

Steph Ashcroft - Guitar & Vocals

Aiden Pryor - Lead Guitar & Vocals

The Zac Schulze Gang - Now, where to start with these boys. In less than twelve months they’ve gone from Support to Headliner. They’ve earned a reputation as one of the hardest working bands in the country by putting in the hard yards and developing a strong following of their own with their signature sound created by blending rock and blues with influences from punk, funk, country, jazz, soul, metal and pop.

In 2024 they Supported Eddie 9v in the UK and then Samantha Fish in the UK and in Europe and have been nominated multiple times in both the 2023 and 2024 UK Blues Awards, winning the UK Blues Emerging Band of the Year award for 2024. Later this year, they’ll release their first studio album so there’s no sign of them slowing down or taking it easy for a while. That ball is now rolling, and it looks like it’s going to go the distance.

Formed in Gillingham (south-east UK) in 2020, The Zac Schulze Gang are an electrifying blues-rock trio built on the playing of front man Zac Schulze, joined by bassist Ant Greenwell and drummer Ben Schulze.

By now The Bodega was bouncing, The Whisky Flowers had done their job and had done it very well and Nottingham wanted the night to carry on for a lot longer. At the allotted time our boys appeared on stage. Schulze No. 2 slipped in behind the drums relatively unnoticed, whilst Greenwell appeared as large as life itself, in his usual stage attire of a Sunderland FC shirt, a ‘home’ version this time. Schulze No. 1 then appeared with a neatly cut barnet as he would probably say, and without further ado, hit the chords to the opener, ‘Woman’. A powerful tune to open with if ever there was one, and a recent single. ‘Front man’ Schulze wastes no time with the facial contortions as he wrings every ounce of sound from his six strings.

‘High Roller’ keeps the pace going at a lick, as does ‘Hole in My Pocket’ both of which see Greenwell and the other Schulze locked together with a solid beat that as tight as the proverbial…

‘Walking the Dog’ may be a cover but it’s always been part of the set, and it’s a popular tune, it would appear, judging by the reaction from the opening bars. This is Schulze’s punked up version though and it’s what Nottingham has been waiting for as there’s a motion going from side to side and front to back as the whole crowd gets into the groove. Part of the groove may be alcohol induced, but the lions share is caused by the boys on stage, without any doubt.

If ‘She Does it Right’ is a Dr. Feelgood cover, ‘Hellhounds on My Tail’ is an ‘All Schulze Production’ with a dirty bassline running through it, and raw vocals powering right over the top. The pace hasn’t eased off one bit, and it’s not likely to either as ‘The Rocker’ cranks it all up a notch or two, as if it needed it – but it didn’t.

Rory Gallagher doesn’t get forgotten by these boys either as ‘Off the Handle’ is their tribute with Zac ripping through the strings like there’s no tomorrow. A version nothing like the original, but well worth the money, all the same. Greenwell takes front and centre stage with ‘Framed’ but with a few curved balls thrown in for good measure, most noticeably, The Beatles ‘Day Tripper’ and Guns N’ Roses ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ – a rather bizarre mix, but a rather good one too !

On to the downhill straight now with some Schulze Gang classics. ‘Ballyshannon Blues’ gives a nod to a few of his friends that have made it over the Irish Sea for the experience and ‘Messing With the Kid’ / ‘Oh Well’ are mashed together nicely. These tunes have also been with the band since the beginning and you can’t help but feel that regardless of how much stuff they release in the forthcoming years – and there’s bound to be a lot if they stay the pace, bearing in mind their ages - these tunes will always be in the mix, somewhere or other. They’re very much their tunes now, part of the furniture, with punching drums, solid bass riffs and a style of guitar playing that stamps their hallmark and authority right across them.

One tune to go, and Schulze asks Aiden Pryor to come back on stage for one last thrash, with ‘Bad Penny’. They trade licks like two boxers slugging it out in the title fight of the century. It had ‘jam session’ written all over it, but it could’ve been rehearsed. Nobody cared one way or the other as it was bloody good stuff and a bloody good way to end an excellent evening.

The Zac Schulze Gang are: -

Zac Schulze – guitar and vocals

Ant Greenwell – bass and vocals

Ben Schulze – drums

Zac Schulze Gang Set List was: -