Friday evening saw me make a whistlestop trip to the capital to catch up with my old friends The Pouk Hill Prophetz, who were performing a gig at London’s Water Rats.
Coming together through a shared love of Slade and a determination to celebrate the glam era in their own unique fashion, The Pouk Hill Prophetz have been around for a decade now. Never far away from anything Slade-related and raising a ton of money for various charitable endeavours along the way, they’ve long been a fixture at various Slade conventions (which is where I first caught them back in 2016). They even performed at my own Slade book launch last summer which was a huge load of fun.
The band have built up quite a dedicated following over the last ten years and the venue was nicely packed-out for them, their first gig in the capital with new drummer, James Hannington, who joins established Propheteers Nigel Hart and Martin Brooks.
I’ve seen many glam-inspired tribute acts and numerous glam covers bands over the years, but what really sets Pouk Hill Prophetz apart is that they don’t just restrict themselves to the most obvious foot-stomping big hits. You get a good blast of those, of course. But as far as their love as Slade goes, you can always expect a liberal smattering of obscure B-sides, carefully-chosen album tracks and archive material from the early pre-glam days thrown in as well.
Accordingly, tonight starts with a stomping version of ‘Know Who You Are’ – Slade’s last non-hit single before they struck gold with ‘Get Down and Get With It’. ‘Gudbuy Gudbuy’ from Slade’s classic Slayed album makes an appearance, as does ‘Darling Be Home Soon’ and ‘In Like A Shot From My Gun’ from the much-celebrated Slade Alive album.
It’s not just Slade though. They also give us a blast of The Sweet’s ‘Hellraiser’ and T Rex’s ‘20th Century Boy’ and later on a suitably pounding sing-along version of the Bay City Rollers’ ‘Shang-A-Lang’. It’s not even just the glam covers either. We get some great hard-rocking version of ZZ Top’s ‘Tush’ and Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’.
Things slow down for an acoustic segment mid-way through, with guitarist Martin Brooks moving on to keyboards for heartfelt renditions of Slade’s ‘Everyday’ and its lesser-known cousin ‘She Did It To Me’ alongside ‘Dapple Rose’ and a highly emotive ‘Old New Borrowed And Blue’. Although taking the title of a Slade album, the latter is not a cover version at all but an original composition cleverly taking fragments of various Slade lyrics from across their career to create a unique and utterly sincere musical love-letter to the famous foursome from Wolverhampton.
A few more raucous classics to round off the evening, including ‘Cum On Feel The Noize’ and ‘Born To Be Wild’ as well as a Slade-inspired vintage rock and roll medley, and then it’s time for me to say some hurried goodbyes and make a swift exit in time to get the last train back to Hastings.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100055115121968
Related Posts:
A day celebrating Slade at the Trumpet, Bilston – Book Launch & Pouk Hill Prophetz 17/6/23
Live review: Pouk Hill Prophetz – charity gig for Dementia UK, London 2019
Live review: Slade Convention 2016
Pouk Hill Prophetz raise thousands for brain tumour research
Darren's music blog 