His Lordship, The Speakeasy at The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh 

John Scott takes a visit to The Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh to see His Lordship.

If His Lordship were a film, it would be directed by Quentin Tarantino.  If His Lordship were a meal, it would be prepared by a Japanese Fugu chef.  If His Lordship were a song, it would be the title track of their new EP All Cranked Up.

His Lordship is guitarist James Walbourne and drummer Kristoffer Sonne, augmented on this tour by bassist Dave Page.  Sonne has drummed for Chrissie Hynd and Willie Nelson amongst many others.  Walbourne holds down guitar duties for The Pretenders and The Pogues and is half of the folky duo The Rails with his wife Kami Thompson.   I saw The Rails opening for Walbourne’s father-in-law, Richard Thompson, a few years ago where they delivered an inoffensive set of gentle-paced material.  His Lordship is, however, a completely different kettle of puffer fish.

His Lordship kicks off with All Cranked Up; an adrenaline-infused mission statement delivered in under two minutes, rendering a crammed-to-capacity Speakeasy audience sweat-soaked within seconds.  The band barely pause for breath, slashing and pounding their way through I Live In The City, I’m So Bored Of Being Bored and their tribute to Covid-stretched health workers, Jackie Works For The NHS. 

While the band is reminiscent of the fat-free R’n’B of Dr. Feelgood, a truer touchstone might be the brace of albums Link Wray recorded with Robert Gordon in 1977/78, Walbourne replicating both Gordon’s swaggering vocals and Wray’s full-throttle guitar on The Way I Walk, while Sonne plays neither more nor less than is necessary, delivering each beat with loose-limbed precision.

The unrelenting pace is leavened slightly by Santos and Johnny’s classic instrumental Sleepwalk and His Lordship originals The Repenter and Swinging Brick, the latter sounding like a long-lost gem from the Nick Lowe songbook.  Page briefly takes over on drums allowing Sonne to belt out an utterly unhinged My Brother Was An Only Child.

Joy Boy and Cat Call keep the tempo up and I Am In Amsterdam is as debauched as it suggests, crashing to an unplanned stop halfway through.  “Sorry, we fucked that up” Walbourne apologises and offers another Wray/Gordon cover, Red Hot as an apology although I suspect it would have featured as an encore in any case.

All too soon, 55 minutes of high octane rock and roll is brought to a close but given the intensity of the performance that His Lordship has given us tonight it would be churlish to ask for more.  if you like your rock music frill-free then His Lordship are highly recommended for a fabulous night out. 

Set List:

All Cranked Up

I Live In The City

I’m So Bored Of Being Bored

Jackie Works For The NHS

The Way I Walk

Rock Fall Echo Dust

Swinging Brick 

Sleepwalk

Buzzkill

The Repenter

My Brother Is An Only Child

Joy Boy

Cat Call

I Am In Amsterdam

Red Hot

Words and Pictures by John Scott