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Review: The Answer, Thekla
When Downpatrick’s The Answer first pitched up on these shores nearly a decade ago, there was something of a disconnect between their music and image. Frankly, they seemed far too young and fresh-faced to be playing blues and gospel-tinged hard rock. Today, they’re older and beardier but, mysteriously, not much more successful. This despite shows with The Stones and The Who and a mammoth two-year stint on the road with AC/DC. Perhaps the lesson from all this is that The Answer thrive in club venues and may never achieve the commercial breakthrough they deserve. That’s probably bad news for their collective bank balance, but we get to enjoy a world-class rock band at close quarters. And with much more material to draw on, this third Answer show at the Thekla proved to be their best yet.
Opener I Am What I Am from new album Raise a Little Hell feels a little meat’n’potatoes. But affable, mane-swinging frontman Cormac Neeson is just warming up. There are plenty of gems to come from that rather fine collection, the first of which is the lascivious Red. Like much of their best material, this boasts a swing that distinguishes the Irish quartet from their more lumpen contemporaries, thanks to the outstanding rhythm section of James Heatley and Micky Waters. They really get their, ahem, funk on for the album’s standout track, Aristocrat, while guitarist Paul Mahon loses himself in a delirious feedback reverie. Previous Answer shows have seen them punch out song after song, which makes a refreshing change from the self-indulgence of some of their influences. But newie Last Days of Summer gives Mahon a welcome opportunity stretch out and improvise while Neeson grabs a swift refreshment break prior to the mostly acoustic Strange Kinda Nothing, which demonstrates that there’s more to his vocal talents than the throaty Robert Plant holler.
Older material isn’t neglected, with the driving Demon Eyes making a welcome return to the set and punters’ Facebook choice Nowhere Freeway (which, shamefully, this reviewer can’t listen to without thinking of David Brent’s Free Love Freeway) kicking off an encore that concludes with old favourite Under the Sky. The Answer have every right to be disheartened about not playing bigger venues at this stage in their career, but instead they appear to be having the time of their lives. When Cormac says they’ll be back, you know he means it. Same time next year then, chaps?
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