Firstly can I apologise to anyone who lives in Hackney Wick. It has clearly not benefitted from the gentrification of Hackney, the Olympic Park itself or other areas of London. It is a bonafide hovel. My mood is not improved as the trains are not working to Hackney Wick as one had caught fire so it’s a one mile walk from Stratford in the rain to get here. From the outside it looks like a grotty warehouse. Things don’t get better after you have entered. Boasting toilets that have been knocked together with plywood boards I guess it’s supposed to be shabby chic but its more building site basics.
It’s a reasonably sized room and continues with the no frills setup with a make shift stage in the middle of the room against a wall. Whilst there is air con, it is soon switched off as it’s so noisy that you couldn’t actually hear the support act, the very good Rosali above it. It’s soon almost unbearably hot.
But let’s ignore all of that as the bright spot to the whole night and the reason I am here for this old out show is seventies styled west coast jammers, Rose City Band. It’s a five piece band led by Ripley Johnson on guitar and vocals, with the usual bass, drums and keys plus special mention to Barry Walker Jr on pedal steel who provides a great foil to Johnsons lead. Props to the sound guy to ensure the pedal steel is front and centre in the mix too.
Making reference to the heat Ripley comes on stage with a ‘hello Miami’. The set draws heavily from the last two albums with only ‘Me and Willie’ from their debut LP making the cut. Its takes a couple to get going but after that it’s an hour or so of superb country rockin jamming. The band are tight and perfectly attuned to each other as they launch into several extended jams. It’s of course all over too quickly but given the heat it’s probably a blessing in one respect but you certainly don’t want the music to end but end it does.
It’s another twenty minute walk back in the rain to Stratford so my clothes already dripping with sweat get a nice cooling down too. Its way past midnight by the time I got home but a highly enjoyable night with the band and I suspect that will be my one and only visit to Hackney Wick. At least next time they are playing the Scala in June 23 which is a whole more palatable proposition.
Keep on country groovin’ west coast rockin’ y’all.