Stone Gods at Carling Academy 2, Birmingham

Stone Gods are going to have to carry the tag of “the band formerly known as The Darkness” for a while yet, but on this showing at the Academy it won’t be for long.

For Stone Gods are not the sequel to The Darkness, they are what that band could have been, and more, if only media-grabbing egos, sequinned catsuits and eccentricity hadn’t been allowed to run riot.

Fronted by Richie Edwards, from Lichfield, who started off as a roadie with The Darkness, the Gods powered through most of their forthcoming Silver Spoons & Broken Bones debut album, an exhilarating mix of heads down metal, catchy, chart-friendly rock and, yes, still some wilfully eccentric moments.

To counter the thunder of songs like Burn The Witch, Defend or Die and Knight Of The Living Dead they pulled out the wistful, beautiful ballad Magdelene Street, the two-bar calypso twist in Don’t Drink The Water and the slightly bonkers Oh Where ‘O My Beero.

Dan Hawkins was always the no-nonsense guitar powerhouse of The Darkness and so it is here, with Richie Edwards proving to be a natural frontman, instantly engaging the audience and owning the stage from the off.

The singer and guitarist told how proud he was to play his “home town”, revealing he had been a regular visitor to the Academy in the past to see bands like Nirvana, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Wasp.

Special mention must also go to Robin Goodridge, the former Bush drummer, who has stepped in to save the tour after the Gods’ drummer, Ed Graham was taken ill. He locked together seamlessly with bassist Toby Macfarlaine as if they had played together for years.

There are many bands who could claim to be “the next big thing”. For a while The Darkness were just that, but now the Stone Gods have defied the odds, done the impossible and created a whole new chapter.

As one of their songs says, “this is the start of something”. You’d better believe it!

Not an easy band to sell to prospective new listeners, are Stone Gods. Such are the fickle vagaries of fashion and taste that the phrase ‘featuring ex-members of The Darkness’ is probably far more likely to elicit laughter than excite interest these days. The band themselves seem to be aware of this, and have continually stressed the fundamental differences between their old outfit and this one. For one, no Justin Hawkins, and with him goes the inimitable screech and camp sensibilities that first gained that band attention yet probably most doomed them to novelty status.

In his place is a much-heavier musical direction captained by Richie Edwards (not that one, obviously), the bassist who replaced Frankie Poullain (he of the infamous handlebar and pirate gear look) for the latter half of the band’s career, now firmly embedded in the guitar-slingin’ frontman role and taking to it with a quite remarkable level of enthusiasm and ability, exhorting the crowd to go mental and thanking them when they do with a lack of irony little-seen outside of Whitesnake gigs (I completely believe him when he says we’re the best crowd of the tour so far. This lot are bananas. Very young too, gratifyingly. There’s one guy in front of me who knows the words. All of them. The album isn’t even out properly until July 7th).

The band is completed by Dan Hawkins, Ed Graham and ex-Graham Coxon bassist Toby MacFarlaine. Um, except it’s not, because Ed has injured his back so badly that he can’t stand up, much less play drums, which has resulted in the first three dates of the tour being rescheduled. Being the consumnate professional that I am, I fail to learn this information beforehand, nor notice until approximately four songs in… when they announce it. Umm. In my defence… I’m an idiot. Filling the drum stool in his place is Robin Goodridge of Bush, and a bloody fine job he does of it too. Not just in a ‘What a great job for only three days worth of practice’ way, either. On audio alone, I doubt anyone would have noticed.

Opening with first single ‘Burn The Witch’, a mid-paced epic rock stomper with venomous-yet-amusing lyrics about ‘flames licking around your wizard’s sleeve’ rumoured to be aimed at their former manager (who also happens to be Mrs Justin Hawkins… How deliciously Spinal Tap), I’m reminded of why I didn’t bother to review this band the first time I saw them: they’re too much fun not to get drunk to. By the time they breathlessly cram a series of Metallica-esque riffs into the outro in the style of Darkness tourmates The Wildhearts, I’ve finished my pint and am eager for another (surely the litmus test of good rock and roll). It’ll have to wait though, as the crowd barely have a chance to display the famed Glasgow hospitality before they kick into ‘You Brought a Knife to a Gunfight’, a straight-ahead rock and roll number about brawling (like all the best straight-ahead rock and roll numbers, it must be said) with Edwards detailing his exploits in an AC/DC-esque conversational tone over some Supersuckers-esque riffage. Splendid stuff. For all the emphasis on how different their new music is, for all the interviews stressing how this is a far heavier beast than The Darkness ever was, it’s the straight-ahead rock and roll numbers like this and naggingly catchy pop-rock numbers like ‘Start of Something’ (if there’s a good way to compare something to 80′s Bryan Adams, now would be a good time to deploy it), ‘Don’t Drink The Water’ (Motorhead play Cheap Trick), ‘Making It Hard’ (Status Quo meets Bowie’s ‘Boys Keep Swinging’) and ‘I’m With The Band’ (Def Leppard if they were actually good) that perhaps sound most natural. On ‘Magdalene Street’ they even dispense with the distortion to present an odd-but-effective mixture of ‘Led Zeppelin III’ atmospherics and Britpop tunefulness. It sounds like a hit to these ears, but instead the next single will be the grinding alt-rock of ‘Knight of the Living Dead’, a song whose grim vibe is about as far away from catsuited cock-rock as they’re likely to get. Tonight they throw in a good-natured cover of ‘Whiplash’ by Metallica for extra thrash points (and for fun, I assume).

Special mention must go to the guitarwork of Dan Hawkins. Clearly the leader in a Keith Richards manner, his playing is about as inventive within the context of trad rock as possible. Yes, the Thin Lizzy and Angus Young pentatonic solos are still there, but there’s also some of the effects-drenched doodling of a Jonny Greenwood (a Radiohead t-shirt replaces the iconic AC/DC shirt of yesteryear) and the piercing and emotional tone of prime period Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. Freely admitting to loving My Bloody Valentine just as much as he loves Slayer or whoever, he’s tasteful and brilliant, and it’s always a pleasure to hear him play. Great hair too.

Stone Gods are unlikely to ever trouble the IPods of tastemakers and scenesters in the way their former band ever did. There’s none of that pesky irony that allows people who don’t like rock music to like rock music. One suspects the band are quite happy to do things the old-fashioned way, and build an audience by playing storming gigs like this one. If old school rock and roll in all its myriad shapes and forms is your bag, give them a listen.