Hell-sinki hotshots DHARMA GUNS made their first assault on the UK at the start of the Summer aided and abetted by sleaze legend STEVE VINCENT. Vive Le Rock was there with its hands up...
DHARMA GUNS / STEVE VINCENT / ELECTRICS
LONDON HOPE & ANCHOR
If you’re gonna make an impact in London, where better to start than The Hope & Anchor. Finland’s DHARMA GUNS have already stirred a few interest hearts with their 2024 debut Ex-Generation Superstars, and new album Nightmares & Broken Dreams has upped the ante a little more. This the last of four dates set up by touring partner STEVE VINCENT, who previously accompanied the band on a brace of Finnish shows, and he if anyone would know exactly where the tour had to land.
First up tonight are West London’s finest ELECTRICS – they’ve played more than a few opening sets down the Hope and are building a solid reputation of their own with louche Lou Reed-ish proto-punk. Singer/guitarist Alan Blizzard looks and talks the part, while infectiously animated bassist Jenny Lane keeps the energy level high.
Next up is Steve Vincent: the former frontman of 90s glam contenders Paradise Alley cuts a dash in his Teddy Boy drape and leopard-spot shirt’n’shoes as he fronts his new fourpiece. Keeping the spirit of glam, sleaze and honest rock’n’roll alive with his Mystery City radio show, he’s definitely one of the scene’s movers and shakers in more ways than one!
Tonight, during the first stirrings of a scorching summer, he’s dishing out his own personalised hand-fans, as he raises the temperature a degree or two higher on a set drawn fairly evenly from his two solo albums, nodding to past glories with the Paradise Alley cut ‘Three Time Loser’, ‘Lookin’ At You’ from the X-iDolls project and a storming, sleazy cover of the Stones’ ‘Dead Flowers’. His latest album may identify him as The Best Kept Secret In Rock’n’Roll, but maybe not for much longer.
Determined not to remain a secret for long, Helsinki quartet Dharma Guns modestly titled their recent single ‘King Of Action Rock’, so they’ve got a lot to live up to. And they’re off to a good start with opener ‘Shock O’Clock’, the kick-off track from their explosive second album and from there they never really let up. Beanpole singer Pete Leppänen is a consummate frontman: equal parts Lurch and Stiv Bators, he bears a hint of danger – either to you or himself – carried off with a psychotic grin and an unholy bark.
Like Hanoi Rocks with the melody scaled back and the punk energy dialled up to twelve, there’s definitely an outsider factor here, amplified by soon-to-be anthems like ‘Fear Of Getting Bored’, ‘Life Choices’ and ‘Voice Of The Underdogs’. But it’s one thing to sing about living on the edge and quite another to actually do it. One hopes that their covers of Stone Temple Pilots and Nirvana are not portentous. All eyes and ears will be watching what happens next.
Words/Photos: Gerry Ranson