– 10 October 2018 marked the date when Crippled Black Phoenix and The Devil’s Trade played a memorable show in Quantic Club, Bucharest.
The opening act was a huge surprise for me because I didn’t hear much of it before. And the live show was far more better than anything that I could find. No flashy production, no intricate moves or lighting, just a spotlight, a banjo and a lot of feeling. The Devil’s Trade is a one man gang chained to some burden that he pulls through his ways leaving tracks behind to lead or guide mostly him which directions not to and which to go again. His music is the dust he shakes during this pilgrimage of his.
Up on the stage, the magic continues.
There are a lot of things to be said about Crippled Black Phoenix and about their fight for animal rights and against injustice. From the 2004 debut ‘till today, Crippled Black Phoenix have been an unsettled rock project around the key drummer Justin Greaves (also of Electric Wizard, Iron Monkey) and his band mates. Crippled Black Phoenix made Justin’s ideas more concrete – encouraged especially by Dominic Aitchinson (the Mogwai’s bassist) and released the debut album “A Love Of Shared Disasters” in 2006.
This show was a part of the tour named “The Perfect Tour of Total Pleasure” which supported the newest Crippled Black Phoenix album “Great Escape”. This is a deeply personal album. Band leader, Justin Greaves, has not been shy about his battles with severe depression. A wide range of emotions are explored here – from anger in “Rain Black, Reign Heavy” to forgiveness in “Nebulas,” and everything in between, but the thing with personal albums is they have to connect with the listener.
They start the night with the first song of the album, “To You I Give”, and this was enough for the crowd to be impressed, forgetting about the two hour delay.
Mastermind Justin Greaves comments about the newest album: “Great Escape was born from a place of resignation to stressful and painful things, like holding my hands up and shouting “I don’t care anymore, I just want out of this” … Which then opened the door to a lot of other topics which relate to this state of mind, and these topics are what fueled this album.
Whether it’s internal struggles, or things in the wide world that make us despair, or wanting to help the voiceless animals escape human tyranny, most people can relate to escapism in different forms.”
There were newer and older songs, all of them filled with intriguing depth. The second track from the new album “The Great Escape” was “Nebulas” and the it was dedicated for all the animals who are mistreated and abused. About this song, Belinda Kordic sais: “Often i’m referred to as a “closed book”, which is true I guess, but when it comes to animals and their wellbeing, I’ll rip my heart out and serve it on a plate. I know we can’t bare the weight of the worlds evil on our shoulders, and we can’t save all of them, the unloved, abused and neglected animals of the world. But I have a tendency to want to do just that and it is hard to cope with at times. This song is for them.”
The evening was complete after songs like “We Forgotten Who We Are” and “Rise Up and Fight” lit up the air in Quantic Club.
In the end I want to thank 7inc // HC RO// Psychedelicious for making this even possible and Quantic Club for hosting it.
Photos by: Enedina Enache Photography
Crippled Black Phoenix are:
Justin Greaves: guitar, backing vocals, bass (studio), drums (studio)
Daniel Änghede: guitar, vocals
Mark Furnevall: synthesizer, keyboard, organ, backing vocals
Helen Stanley: piano, keyboard, trumpet, vocals
Ben Wilsker: drums (live)
Tom Greenway: Bass
Jonas Stålhammar: guitar, backing vocals
Belinda Kordic: vocals
Crippled Black Phoenix Bandcamp
The Devil’s Trade Bandcamp