In early 2024, a new music project called Killerstar was born, led by British artists Rob Fleming on vocals, guitars and synths duties and by James Sedge on drums, proving to be one of the most interesting emerging projects of the year, thanks to a clever and inspired mix of solid songwriting and well-crafted songs, crammed with uplifting choruses, evoking memories of 70's Glam Rock with contemporary free-form Rock'N'Roll.
Killerstar were soon and curiously pigeonholed, in the early days following their eponymous debut album, as a band carrying a strong David Bowie-esque mood within their songs, maybe because Fleming and Sedge had employed, back then, several highly rated fellow music artists who played with Bowie, such as Earl Slick on guitar, Mark Plati on guitars and keyboards, Mike Garson on piano, Gail Ann Dorsey on bass, Donny MacCaslin on saxophone, Tim Lefebvre on bass and Emm Gryner on vocals, to play on Killerstar's debut album.
Later that year, on March 2024, Fleming and Sedge decided to reunite some of the line-up of the Guest Musicians that played on their debut album (Plati, Gryner and Garson) with an array of local highly talented musicians, including Kevin Armstrong on guitar and Claire Hirst on sax (who both also, coincidentally, played with Bowie in the past), in an exclusive sold-out live performance at the glorious, historical British venue The 100 Club, where the whole live set of that fabulous night of music was recorded, intending to use some of the material performed that night for the release of a future live album.
Now, with one year gone by, the wait is now over and 6 tracks extracted from that show and carefully selected by Killerstar's Sedge and Fleming, saw the light of the day, through an exciting and exquisitely new release aptly called Live At The 100 Club.
The album sees some of the most recognisable songs off the Killerstar debut studio record, including Should've Known Better, Go (Hold On Tight) and Got Me All Wrong, among others.
Although the whole album is just short of 40 minutes, in terms of overall time length, the quality and the musicianship displayed on the Live At The 100 Club is absolutely stunning, especially given the fact that on a relatively restricted stage like the one of The 100 Club, the eleven musicians on stage (including Fleming and Sedge) sounded absolutely perfect, delivering a performance of great beauty.
While both Sedge and Fleming shone for their respective talents and musical abilities at every point of the show, it was the phenomenal cohesion of the whole band on stage that brought an extra layer of musical grandiosity to the live set, between the sharp, strong bass lines of Mark Plati and the constantly creative and beautifully erratic piano layers brought by Mike Garson, or between the blasting guitar sound of Kevin Armstrong and the sinuous sound of Claire Hirst and Simon Bates' saxophones, the whole ensemble of musicians on stage that night performed on a very impressive high level, enriching Killerstar's songs in spectacular fashion.
Massive credit to Rob Fleming and James Sedge for putting together a highly sophisticated and enthralling live performance like the one at The 100 Club, allowing all their Special Guests musicians to apply their own personal artistic touch on each of Killerstar's songs without ruining their original structure, but guiding instead each of Killerstar's catchy song into exciting new and alternative sonic territories.
A brilliant and highly entertaining live album.
Live At The 100 Club is out now and it is available to be purchased on Killerstar's Bandcamp Official Page
