Thrown into “the world of Trouble County”, this was South Hampshire at its best, albeit a small gathering, as were treated to a selection of tracks from their upcoming album. No doubt, new to most of us, but I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of this lot, if they keep up this level of playing, with songs of the calibre like 'World To Me', 'Ain’t Nobodys Fool' and '12 Gauge', nailing their Hard Rock calling card well and truly to the wall!

Then it was on to the act that everyone had come to see, Andrew Knightley’s latest band, AK & The Red Kites’. Now I last saw AK fronting Trident Waters, ironically in this very same venue where he helped me find what I thought I had lost! But that was before Covid struck!

With this being only their third gig, following the release in June of their exciting, uplifting and hook drenched debut six-track EP, ‘Proverbial Storm’, and only a handful of songs to promote, this launch party wasn't going to be very long, indeed the set just flew by, consisting of ten songs, two of which were Trident Waters tracks!

Starting with 'Devil’s Stomp', and its ‘dirty vocal’ sound, this Heavy Blues opener also kicks off the EP., clearly demonstrating AK's Southern Rock vibe, sounding deep and ‘swampy’ from the off! A new track to me, the slightly heavier, 'Can’t You See', followed in much the same vein, then we were back to the EP with the title track, maybe a little Classic Rock, but a strong track all the same with a stand out guitar solo!

'Good Time Roller' was followed in quick succession by 'Baby Don’t Love Me', the EP closer. A little audience participation helped no end on this one! A great little rocker… It was now time to 'Tear it Up', another from the EP, with its bass and drums locking nice and tightly to get this one going. I can see this one going down a storm with a slightly larger crowd!

'Stronger' with its roots still in the Southern Rock zone kept things rolling in the right direction, before the trio tackled 'Karmic Rituals', another track I was not familiar with, but it didn’t dilute the intensity one bit. And with that, we were into the last two songs of the set, namely 'Control The Animal' and 'Wolf Moon', the latter of which certainly saw this EP track going through a few ‘phases”, before Andrew soloed his way to end the night's proceedings.

No encores, just straight out to “meet and greet” and sell me some merch! But this was a strong set and a very tight sounding one, especially when you consider it was only their third gig. I look forward to seeing where Andrew is going next! Now we just need the crowds…

Tim Russell