Troy Redfern
- Rock Metal Machine
- Jun 13
- 4 min read
Artists: Troy Redfern, Red Giant and The Delta Du Bruit
Venue: London, 100 Club
Date: 27 May 2025
"Redfern is quietly becoming a bit of a superstar. With a meteoric rise since lockdown and appealing widely to the Blues, Classic Rock and Southern Rock genres, something tells me he has an even brighter future."
The 100 Club is a historic venue that has hosted many greats over the years and on offer tonight was a great roster of acts, starting with opener Kirris Rivière and The Delta Du Bruit who brought a lovely helping of Ol’ Black Blues, a mixture of originals and covers such as Muddy Waters’ ‘Can’t Be Satisfied’. The fact that they sat beside one another so easily is a testament to their songwriting and chops. Each song is instantly enjoyable, amplified by the exuberant delivery of Rivière himself. Tall and imposing, he brought the songs alive with his lively expressions and deep Southern sounding voice. First track ‘Left Me In The Cold (Railroad Tracks)’ has syncopation designed to invoke the old Wild West Trains and is not the only one of their songs to do so: ‘Loose Cannon’ for example, with its evocative lyrics about mountains and chicanes and the struggles of the working-class man. At other times there is a swing to what they do and a touch of the sixties Shadows sounding guitar playing.
Unfortunately in ‘I Ain’t Got Time (Swamp Till Morning)’ their guitar player broke a string, but they carried on, not missing a beat, and he managed to fix it in time for when the song got fast and wild. With ‘No Fuss Bus’ and Percy Mayfield’s ‘Louisiana’ they also got a little Jazzy, and the guitar playing could rival any shredder for speed. They were clearly enjoying themselves and the crowd rewarded them with tons of applause.
Next up were Red Giant featuring Dave Simpson on guitar/vocals, Keira Kenworthy on bass and John Joe Gaskin, a man mountain with a personality to match on drums. In contrast to the other bands on tonight they are slightly Grungy and experimental, which works better sometimes than at others, and although I have never seen them before and am not familiar with their material I am not sure the first track went quite to plan, with the vocals a bit quiet. The music is very loud though, having some members of the audience rushing for their ear protectors.
Dave Simpson is clearly a very unusual man with a distinctive guitar style of his own, and has been very public about his mental health problems. Initially he seems very shy, but once he gets into it got pretty active with the guitar. While some of his influences are classic, the Blues and Hendrix, he is also obviously influenced by nineties bands such as Nirvana, and obviously has a lot of admiration for Rory Gallagher when he introduces ‘Bad Penny’. ‘Tell Me’ was very bluesy and reminded me of ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’. ‘Free Me’ was guitar-wise both experimental and traditional in turn. Their last song is their version of Hendrix’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ with a slightly strange solo in the middle when Simpson took off his guitar and held it by the neck in front of him, vertically playing it fast with the other hand below, making a feature of playing one note for a very long time. Kenworthy and the drummer put their feet up on the bass drum waiting for him to finish. It was certainly interesting, but also came across as unpolished/unplanned at times.
Troy Redfern was his usual charismatic, high-energy self. The gig was quieter than expected, no doubt as a result of the cost-of-living crisis and the sheer expense of living in London right now, but he played like a demon in a stadium. Using the same stripped back format that he used for his last tour with Philip Sayce, it was just him and the drummer, but they made as much noise as any four piece you care to mention. There’s a great chemistry between them and they always look like they’re having a lot of fun.
A new element in the set for me was an interlude, where he was ostensibly playing an electric guitar, but it sounded just like a sitar. He now has many albums to his name and has covered a lot of genres across them. Apart from this sitar feature, however, he was faithful to the Hard Rock influenced Blues Rock which has bought him so much prominence lately in those genres.
Redfern does not make the mistake of many guitar heroes of sacrificing the song for endless noodling. At no point is his playing ever boring or nerdy and he also always manages to be an entertaining frontman and deliver the whole song as a performance for wide audience appeal. Songs like ‘Take Me High’ and ‘The Calling’ have infectious melodies and his great songwriting shines through. He manages to sound contemporary while also have a foot firmly planted in the classics, such as the Delta Blues sounding moochy ‘John The Revelator’.
Taking advantage of the fact that the audience was not packed like sardines, he jumped into the crowd during ‘Waiting For Your Love’ for an even closer connection to them, at one point running around after the joker Gaskin, the drummer of Red Giant in a kind of tag game. Closing with ‘Sanctify’ he added a little mystery of science of his own by crouching down and playing very close to his amp for added effects.
Redfern is quietly becoming a bit of a superstar. With a meteoric rise since lockdown and appealing widely to the Blues, Classic Rock and Southern Rock genres, something tells me he has an even brighter future.
Gallery: All photos © Dawn Osborne (used with kind permission)
Review: Dawn Osborne
Photos: Dawn Osborne
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