freedom costs money

Something has definitely changed.

And there is more to come

For a great many years now the Smokestacks and Vatican Jet have gone together live laurel and hardy, Mitchell and Webb, Bird and Fortune…

But no more.

Last Night in the Old Bar heralded the near end of an era… It was Vatican Jet’s penultimate Leeds gig, EVER! The last one be held on 14thy December, att he Packhorse.

So exactly how the fuck did this happen? Well who knows, but its gutting, and in true VJ style it seems to have sparked a surge in the level of their performance… last night VJ blew the roof off the Old bar and with a wild frenzied and near explosive set list of all their now well established numbers. VJ are not going to drift quietly away into the night and Decembers gig promises to be something of a riot.

So what of the lowly Smokestacks, once newcomers to the Leeds stage, not initially taken seriously by Sandman who likes to point their smug smarmy finger their way… Well something really has changed their. Earlier this week co-front man Will Grey confessed to me his suspicions that while they hadn’t been looking they had some how managed t o climb the unwritten musical rankings which dictate gig ratings etc for the area…

Not Half Mrs…

The Stacks now have recognition and a following, their groupies shout out requests whoop like, well students in this case but you get the idea. And the band themselves are growing into the role nicely with a more progressive song writing show itself more and more…. That said last night also noticed a few boo-boos, but I’m not sure how obvious they would have been to the unknowing spectator and they seemed quickly recovered (saying this out loud could be the equivalent of going round to Tom’s house, smacking his girl friend, spilling his pint, pissing on his carpet and dismantling his window fixtures – but to get myself out of it I’ll just that TomoftheSmokestacks remains one of the best and most innovative drummer in Leeds, and seems to control the long rocking Jam-Out that define the smokestacks and make them stand out on the Leeds scene…)

Backs step and run away… But slips aside last night the stacks showed how the VJ/Stacks era has indeed come to an end, the days of cheeky pop-rock SmokeStacks are done… and the stacks are carving out a more progressive, technical and ambitious sound for themselves… I had been away… and when I returned the smokestacks appeared to have seized control… This is their town now… we should get used to it.