POWERSOLO
St Marys, Creative, Chester
Thursday 26th March 2026
POWERSOLO brought their self-defined ‘Donkey Punk’ to the elegant confines of St. Mary’s Creative Space, Chester – the juxtaposition couldn’t have been any more glaring, the venue is a Grade 1 decommissioned church dating from the 14th century.
Frontman and guitarist Kim Jeppesn, an original ‘Railthin Brother’, stands stage right, across from him, looking like a US prep boy, second guitarist Charlie Shapiro – at the rear, drummer Zack, confronts his kit whilst looking like an extra from Crocodile Dundee.
Kim wrangles his guitar, ushers us all forward and then the assault begins – a darkly twisted rush of fuzzed out garage collided with trash and off-kilter rock n’ roll, that somehow they manage to inject shards of raw country, surf riffs and at one point hammer away on the venues own piano.
With a history that dates back to 2001 and nine albums under their belts POWERSOLO have a rich cannon to mine, not to mention (the band don’t) the forthcoming new album Rip It; as such we are dragged through a demented set, the pure blast of Tornado, the utterly nonsensical Boom Badda Do Ba Dabba, before Kim invites us all to “get naked”. He leads the way, peeling off multiple layers, including a proudly displayed Michael Jackson scarf, ahead of the visceral Sasquatch. Anders is contorting the guitar in new directions, Zacks rains down on the drums, whilst Kim momentarily steps off the stage, returning with a circus-style painted wooden plank that declares a Dire Straits Jam before using the plank on the cymbals.
POWERSOLO are in their very own groove, Kim the bug-eyed ringmaster confronts his audience backed by that twin guitar cacophony, the beats barely held together as they deliver a blissful riot, a distorted, trash-laden ride into the outer reaches; we revisit (I think!) Nascar before the track transforms into Ca Plane Pour Moi, and then the warped celebration of Jurassic Sex Party.
POWERSOLO once again defy any attempt to classify their music; they are fantastically manic, their sound carving out its own niche – we are all living through some very dark times, we need more POWERSOLO to guide us through the maze.
~
POWERSOLO online: Facebook | Home
Words by Phil Newall
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