Stephen Dale Petit - At High Voltage

  by Adrian Huggins

published: 8 / 10 / 2015

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Review

California native Stephen Dale Petit made his way to the rainy shores of Britain in the 1980s having been inspired by the British blues boom of the 1960s. He made a name for himself over the years through extensive touring and having played along such greats as Dave Gilmour, Ian Stewart, Phil May and Mick Taylor amongst many, many more. Since the 2000s Petit has been counted amongst the greats within the British blues circuit and has released several albums of critical acclaim along the way. ‘At High Voltage’ is a live cut taken from his performance at the Ace Café Stage at High Voltage in London, 2010. While Petit’s albums stand-out from the crowd, live performance really is where "the magic happens", and you get a sense of this straight away as the full band burst, noisily into life with ‘Gunslingers’ before breaking out that distinct and filthy blues groove. Petit’s guitar wails from the off with Jack Greenwood’s drums pounding in the background and Dick Taylor's metronome-like bass guitar keeping the set ticking over. You can feel the room dripping with sweat from the get-go. When they go, they go and there's no slowing down. 'Its All Good' doesn't let up either although it has a fantastic build-up that leads you to think it you might be in for a bit of a breather, but think again. We're faced with pretty much everything dropping out and are left with the bare bones of the kick drum and harmonica from Laurenzo Mouflier, but the ferocity is quickly thrust back in a whirlwind of a crescendo. 'Summertime Blues' keeps the set rolling along with a rendition that sounds how I would imagine the Ramones to sound if any of them were still around. If I had one criticism that would be that the vocals are not great in places when compared with the rest of the sound. At times it felt like listening to Shaun Ryder if he'd discovered blues not drugs. That said who listens to blues for the vocals when the guitars sound as good as they do. The set is drawn to frenetic end with the bands on take on Johnny Kidd And the Pirates' 'Shakin' All Over', and it is a fitting end to an intensely performed set. Petit is well and truly flying the flag of the blues, and it sounds pretty damned good.

Track Listing:-

1 3 Gunslingers (Live)
2 It’s All Good (Live)
3 Summertime Blues (Live)
4 Sidetracked (Live)
5 Juke (Live)
6 People Talk (Live)
7 Shakin’ All Over (Live)

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/StephenDalePe
http://www.stephendalepetit.com/