Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts, London – Review by Dawn Osborne

It’s seven years since Tuk Smith made it to the UK, and its long overdue. When I spoke to him before the UK tour he said he didn’t know what to expect. He need not have worried, the UK had not forgotten him and with a number of sold out shows and his friendly approach with fans he made quite a splash in a market that can be quite hard to impress, so no mean feat. I made it to the two London shows. There was only supposed to be one in East London, but as it was sold out, at short notice they arranged one in the West and I was lucky enough to go to both.

Cart & Horses

The place is rammed and it is sold out. There is no pit so all photos are necessary from the same aspect. The whole place is excited to see the band after such a long time and they did not disappoint.

Tuk has apparently been suffering an eye problem and been to the eye hospital that morning, but you never would have known.  It’s a small stage, but he’s making the most of it stretching to the sky, jumping on the monitors, jumping off everything in sight including the drum kit. This band have their roots in proper Rock ‘n’ Roll where you get blood, sweat and tears. One does not simply stare at your shoelaces with the Restless Hearts.  The music is amazing, but it does not stop there..the show is a complete all embracing experience just the way it should be.

A number of fans have been going to all the shows in the UK and are dancing at the front from the off: they are already tee’d up for another round with not much encouragement needed. The result is explosive energy from the start of the show. One overenthusiastic fan sloshed his beer all over the well dressed girls and expensive camera equipment at the front. Tuk steps in and makes sure that it’s all peace and love nipping any trouble in the bud putting camera equipment and belongings backstage safe from beermageddon. No more beer and no blood is spilled. (My camera bag is still sticky and smelly though despite attempts to get it clean and I smelled like a wino on the way home.)

Musically Tuk has always managed to capture the excitement of the 70s when Rock was fresh, youthful and exciting and an antidote to the humdrum. As such a set list could run rights from The Biters to the latest album and hang together real well. In fact there are no Biters songs on the list tonight, but it draws from across his solo career from the ‘What Kinda Love EP’, songs from ‘Looking For Love, Ready For War’ album from which only a couple of singles were released, to most recent albums ‘Ballad Of A Mispent Youth’ and ‘Rogue To Redemption’. I was sorry not to hear new song  ‘Blood On The Stage’ which had appeared on set list for previous UK shows but for some reason was not played.

Like most artists that can transmit that electricity to the crowd I find myself transfixed and my only complaint is that it was all over way too soon.  Like a comet going across the sky I stood staring in wonder and mourned its passing. ‘Ready for War’ no, ready for more!! So I was delighted to hear on the grapevine that since this show was sold out another has been organised for Monday across town.

Tuk gets right on down into the audience to take pictures, sign albums and generally mix with the crowd something the Cart and Horses was made for. He is inspiring pop-star-like devotion and life long die hards with his charm and easygoing friendly ways.

Fiddler’s Elbow

So I am there Monday for round 2. I was at a lecture on Cabaret L’Enfer in Belle Epoque Paris… or is that Hell Epoque Paris ..which was being put on in part due to my encouragement and so I have to go. It finishes at 8pm and I manage to get an Uber across town in time for Tuk (although I missed the unannounced support Rich Ragany).Despite being a show organised on two days notice with no real promotion other than word of mouth and social media the place is still mostly full.

 

The set is the same as Cart and Horses, but this time I feel rather than just being overwhelmed by the spectacle there is more time for me to take more in. I also get to move around a bit more to get shots of Tobin Dale on guitar who was largely obscured from my view at the previous show. I feel like I am getting used to the new band also Matt Curtis on bass and Nigel Dupree on drums. The whole band look like Rockstars and are very easy on the eye and they all hang out with the audience making them feel more like an old school band like The Monkees that were personalities for people, relatable and fun. Tuk makes a point of eulogising the band at every show making them blush with comments about them being sex gods or having chest hair like Paul Stanley. As this is a more informal unplanned show and the last night of a successful UK tour there is a demob happy atmosphere and Tuk takes more time to chat and interract between songs joking about cultural differences and how he would love to live in the UK if he could.

Nigel Mogg of The Quireboys is in the audience and has apparently talked about having Tuk support them. John Dryland of Cargo Records is in the audience. He knows a good thing when he sees it and has bagged distribution of Tuk’s output. Tuk now has his own record label Gypsy Rose records. The hang afterwards felt like an industry insider shebang for those in the know.

For most artists not coming to the UK for seven years might be a death knell. Tuk’s been doing a lot more producing and songs like ‘When The Party’s Over’ might have suggested he was thinking of trading the stage for the studio. With a string of sold out shows despite being promoted largely by fans and independent sources, reality has shown that this would be a waste. The common refrain in the air was “OK so what’s next” and “When are you Coming Back”. Tuk said that feeling more in sync with the UK musically than back home he is looking at possibly doing festivals here next year. Call Of The Wild .. Hard Rock Hell Sleaze are you listening.. I am.

Dawn Osborne