There is a moment tonight, when Wille Edwards, front man of Wille And The Bandits, sings “Make Love”. The hook line in the song, is perhaps lingered on a little bit longer tonight: “how can we let these children bleed?” Maybe Israel heard him, it’ll make no difference, it won’t stop genocide but there is a definite peace and love motif throughout the evening.
And a Cornish one as well, given that fellow members of the “Cornish Mafia” as Edwards put it, Haunt The Woods are the support band this evening. On the evidence of this half an hour, their sound he’s even harder to pin down than that of the headliners.
Jonathan Stafford possesses a quite incredible vocal range and their work sounds almost ethereal. “Gold” for example, broods, while “Red” is perhaps more soulful but when Phoenix Elleschild let’s rip with a real impressive lead, the track explodes. These songs are something of a prog rock journey. “Elephant” has hints of Jeff Buckley about it, and “Beautiful Catastrophe” sort of ushers itself in over the windswept West Country Moors. “Said And Done” their closing number, is the sort of song you can lose yourself in and they do very much have a hypnotic quality. This is the second time in Birmingham (“I’m not sure we played to anyone last time” jokes Stafford) and it was enough to convince, that Haunt The Woods are a band with real talent, ambition, something just a little off kilter to set them apart.
It’s almost two years since the last so WATB headline a gig. At the bottom of the review that night I wrote: “This is now one of the best and most innovative bands in the UK.”
Since that night there’s been a couple of changes – the Dummer for one thing – and possibly there’s a more relaxed, less rock’n’roll feeling about this show than some of the ones in the past, but the absolute total talent of Edwards on the other three, utterly shines.
The less urgent vibe is right there from the off, and “How Long” is a loose jam, Just occasionally tonight, perhaps on work like “Chakra” on which Edwards plays the slide guitar that he’s famous for, the musicianship is arguably better than any of their obvious contemporaries.
Quite simply, when they lock into it, WATB just find a way to be sensational. That is particularly noticeable when they dip back into the past for “Mammon”, say, which is no longer the Cornish folk song it was, but rather something done by this band in a brand new way in 2024.
That is also true, of newer stuff like “Four Million Days” which sounds almost raw here, while the absolutely gorgeous instrumental “Angel”, written in memory of Edwards’ mother forms a kind of centrepiece. The type of thing where the emotion really comes through clearly, despite there being no words – indeed it is arguably more powerful because of that.
The peace and love vibe is clear again for “Still Go Marching”, while “Living Free” is delivered in real funky style.
They can still rock when they want to though and hair is let down with “Good Stuff” and you feel, that Edwards, rather like the lyric says, is still living his dream.
“1970” is a real show stopper to finish, and you are moved to think but if it was indeed 54 years ago this band would have been on The Old Grey Whistle Test, and they would have been huge.
They stay on stage for one more and the fun “Keep It On The Downlow” winds its way into the consciousness again, just like it always did.
And the band themselves have perhaps been on the downlow for a couple of years, but this UK tour is a timely reminder, of just how special Wille And The Bandits have been and continue to be.
