Vapors - Chantry Brewery, Rotherham, 16/11/2024

  by Denzil Watson

published: 19 / 12 / 2024

It’s been on my wants list to see The Vapors for a while now. Since reforming, they never seemed to gig in my neck of the woods, and on the one occasion they did typically I was away. Hence, I’d been looking forward to seeing them for some time. But, as wel all know, sometimes the mistress of expectation can be the architect of disappointment. On this occasion, I am pleased to report, this was not the case. The venue was quite unusual. The Chantry Brewery on an industrial estate outside Rotherham has a main standing and stage area that shares floor space with the brewery and is all overlooked by a large balcony with bar. And, rather than the £9 I was charged for a pint of cooking larger at a recent Nick Cave gig at the AO in Manchester, I was able to procure a fine pint of stout for just £4. I managed to catch the tail end of an entertaining set by Phil Murray and the Boys from Bury. Their witty indie-punk stylings, not a million miles from that of Half Man Half Biscuit, even induced some members of the audience to do the dying fly in the middle of the dance floor. Then it was time for the main support in the shape of local heroes, My Perriot Dolls. Best described as a mix of new romantic goth with a generous helping of electro, it was pretty well executed and tight. I’m not too sure if lead singer Ivor Hillman’s boast about his amorous prowess back in the day was tongue-in-cheek or not, but the music was certainly a throw-back to the early 1980s. And so to the main act, Guildford four-piece new wave band, The Vapors. Burning brightly between 1979-81, under the management of The Jam’s Bruce Foxton and Paul Weller’s dad, their debut album, 1980’s ‘New Clear Days’, was a master class in power-pop. And of course, it yielded that song. After the poor sales of their follow-up album ‘Magnets’ in 1981 and a general lack-of-interest from their record label, UA, they split in 1982. Hence, when the band reformed 34 years later, minus original drummer Howard Smith, the trio of Dave Fenton (lead vocals), Edward Bazalgette (lead guitar) and Steve Smith (bass) turned a few heads. Since then, the band have become a full-time concern, with new material following in 2020 with the release of their third album, ‘Together’. Anyhow, enough history. Back to this mild November evening in a brewery in Rotherham. The band are now down to two original members (frontman Fenton and bassist Smith) with Dave’s son, Dan, taking up lead guitar duties and the drumming force of nature that is Michael Bowles behind the kit. The two new members bring an energetic vibrancy to proceedings. Bowles is a powerhouse of a drummer and literally grins all the way though the set, leading Fenton junior, to describe him as “The happiest man in Rock’n’Roll” when he introduces the band. In the absence of Bazalgette, Dan proves to be a more than capable replacement, playing with a similar level of enthusiasm and, at times, making me double take as I think I’m watching a young Joe Strummer strutting his stuff. Kick-starting the proceedings with their debut release for UA, ‘Prisoners’, the 16-song set that ensues spans all three of their albums, but predictably is debut-album heavy. Few bands from back in the day could match their tuneful melodies and driving basslines (bar The Jam, perhaps) or leave gems such as ‘Spring Collection’ and “Sixty Second Interval” out of the set. Meanwhile, the quartet of new songs from ‘Together’ sit comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with the older stuff, and, while they may not be as familiar, they are most definitely no less in quality with the pick of the four new tunes being the album’s title track. By the time that track (‘Turning Japanese’) finally materialises a few tracks from the end, it doesn’t particularly overshadow what has gone before it, indicating that, while they may be a one-hit wonder, they are very much not a one-song wonder. This is in no small part down to the elegance of their melodies, along with the timeless insights of the lyrics. Outside of the penultimate track, ‘News at Ten’ which dissects the omnipresent mindset gulf between generations, Dave Fenton would probably never have thought, nearly four decades later, songs about cult leaders (‘Jimmy Jones’) and global instability (‘Cold War’) would still resonate with such meaning. The other main highlight of the night, and arguably their best song, is the pensive and touching ‘Letter from Hiro’ and with the best lyrics (“Like the sign on the door, too hard to see, too soft to touch. The age of reason, is out to lunch”) that detail the story of a British boy and his Japanese penfriend, prior to the outbreak of World War Two. After a rousing version of ‘Here Comes the Judge’, a song they never recorded in the studio bizarrely, they are gone and don’t return for an encore. Maybe there was no need given the hour or so they have just given us was close to perfect. Apart from the omission of ‘Spring Collection’! Photos by Denzil Watson

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