The Stumble at The Hop Pocket, Chorley, 29/11/08

March 2, 2009 in Reviews

Online exclusive review by Dave Sawyer

The Hop Pocket in Chorley is home to BJ’s Blues Club which holds regular gigs on Thursday and Saturday evenings throughout the year. The club was founded by Brian ‘BJ’ Jeffrey in February 2007 and has since become a firm fixture on the north west blues circuit.

Sadly BJ lost his battle with an aggressive form of motor neurone disease in July this year at the age of 51. He was well known for raising thousands of pounds for local charities, but I believe that his main passion was his love of the blues. My wife and I only met him on three occasions but each time he made us feel very welcome at the club. His enthusiasm for the blues was evident from the first time we met him, and those that knew him really well have created a lasting legacy by ensuring that the club continues in his name.

And what a legacy it has turned out to be with the north west‘s favourite sons The Stumble ensuring that BJ’s was packed to the rafters for the penultimate Saturday gig for 2008. The Stumble are a six-piece Chicago style blues band from the Preston area who are now firmly established at the top of the British blues scene.

They first came to my attention in August 2004 and it has been a real success story for the band since then. In 2008 they have played on the International Stage at the National Burnley Blues Festival, headlined at one of the region’s best blues festivals at Worthenbury near Wrexham and ensured that ‘sold out’ notices were displayed at the Studio Theatre in Southport in September.

Saturday night was no exception with a capacity crowd turning up at BJ’s on what was probably the coldest and certainly the foggiest night of the year. Once it was clear that everyone had managed to find a vantage point of some sort The Stumble opened up with some inspirational slide guitar from Colin Black on ‘It’s a Lie’ which almost brought the house down and set a standard for the evening from which they never deviated. The band proceeded to entertain us for more than two hours with two superb sets which included a number of new tracks taken from their latest album Houngan as well as many old favourites taken from their debut album The World Is Tough which first brought them to the attention of a wider audience in 2007. It would be unfair to single out anyone in particular for praise, so I’m not going to. Instead I would just like to thank Colin, Paul Melville (vocals), Simon Anthony (sax), Dave Heath (bass), Jonny Spencer (guitar) and Boyd Tonner (drums) for yet another superb performance and a great evening out. I firmly agree with the comments of Lionel Ross in Blues in Britain (April 2008) when he stated in his review of The Stumble that ‘there is now no better blues band in the UK.’ Lionel was spot on with that observation, as was BJ when he saw the potential that the band offered a few years ago and gave them some gigs.

It’s down to people like BJ and now his friends who have taken up the mantle of promoting blues in Chorley that we all get to enjoy the quality of music that bands like The Stumble produce, so thanks to everyone involved. If you want to find out more about The Stumble or BJ’s Blues Club at the Hop Pocket then go to www.thestumble.com and www.hoppocket.co.uk