The New Empire | livemusic.fm

So after a gap of almost 4 months, the Emperors are back. Kicking off at the Water Rats with their first gig of 2010, complete with relatively new stand up bass player Jon Parker. Ol' favourite, Ol' Fashioned Morphine with the Emperor's mix of Tom Waits-esque sublime vocal harmonies - and general jazz-craziness from Andy Simms anachronistic clarinet - stamped a lyrical intention on the evening from which the Emperors never looked back.

Tom's slightly camp, slightly manic, bible-belt-preacher-gone-bad was it's usual eye-catching (and ear-catching) entertaining self. As the Emperor's cruised into the beautifully crafted number that is This is the Year you could feel that the band were really getting into their stride after a 4 month live performance hiatus. It's no surprise to learn that this will be a big year for the Emperor's as they have grown in stature from a number of recent high-profile gigs - from supporting Tony Christie at Cadogan Hall, to a magical winter performance at St. Giles in the Field late last year.

By the time the Emperor's went onto One Thing on My Mind with its delightfully wistful clarinet, the hairs on the back of my neck were up, and I remembered why I have enjoyed seeing Tom and his troupe of accomplished musicians over the last few years. In fact Fever sums up the essence of TMK ... it's a song that sounds so good, and is so damn catchy, that you are convinced you have heard it before and that it's a cover. It's not - it's just a fucken great song, that once you've heard it you can't help singing along!

Following this up with This is a War and the pretty rocky version of A Little Something, really was a coup de grace and the crowd had grown considerably in numbers from the punters at the back of the bar coming in to listen to TMK's unique brand of offbeat, jazzy, dark and moody countrified rock. Jon Parker, the newest addition to the Emperors, and already an integral part of their sound, finished off the set with a devilishly great rendition of the Tom Waits classic "Way Down in the Hole" - somewhere between Get Carter's smooth groove and Danny Thompson's jazz-inspired bass complexities. As usual Andy Simms stole the show with a quite outrageous free-jazz outburst on the tenor sax - but by then the crowd were in the palms of Tom's Mephistophelean hands ... and the only real complaint was that this marked the end of another memorable set! On chatting to Tom after the gig it's no surprise that things are afoot chez les Emperor's and we can expect a full album released in the near future (recorded last year in Texas with Grammy nominated producer John Congleton ). Long live the Emperor(s)

http://tommckeanandtheemperors.blogspot.com/