Reviews
This section contains a selection of reviews and comments taken from a wide variety of sources including the press, festival programmes, etc. ALL are genuine. We've included our all time favourite review. To read it click here!
January 2002's Soundcheck magazine carried a great article on the band. You can read the whole article by clicking here.
Review of
the band at The Marrs Bar, Worcester - 6th
July 2002
| "A big success in the South, Ruthless Blues deliver power blues like it was going out of fashion. Powerful vocals, fret-fading guitar, rock solid bass and the trendiest T-shirts make Ruthless Blues a must for the fashion conscious Blues fan." -- The Great British R'n'B Festival programme. |
| "No
festival would be quite complete without them! Straight down the line
raw rip-roaring, rocking blues led by the inimitable Stevie (Wonderful)
Smith. Essential music to boogie to!" -- Farnham
Maltings Blues Festival programme. |
| "Ruthless
Blues are quite simply the best powerhouse blues band in the business"
-- Feltham Rox programme. |
| "Ruthless
Blues certainly lived up to their name in terms of power and set manipulation,
and above all proved that there will always be room for quality music
no matter what the prevailing musical fashion". - Kingston,
Surrey local paper review |
| "Smith is a fine front man, strutting about, throwing shapes and generally playing up to his cheeky chappy reputation. He's a very strong singer too, and a useful harp man - memorable both when battering the instrument's reeds into submission and when thrusting the harmonica skywards, like a metallic sixth finger, his arm casting an arc that would do justice to 'Popeye' Doyle's hot dog disposal technique" .... "It's no wonder this band are so highly regarded by London audiences" --- Blue Print magazine (review of gig in Newport, South Wales). |
| "Crowd
enjoyed gig" (how's
that for enthusiasm?). |
| "Ruthless Blues, bristling with power and precision, gave a rugged reminder of why this music means so much to so many. Their 22-carat set simply oused class." --- Surrey Herald |
| "Looking like a cross between Zaphod Beeblebrox and a garden gnome, the band's diminutive singer Stevie Smith completely trashes the rules of Plantiesque rock'n'roll frontmanship with his idiosyncratic vocals and harp playing." The Observer Extra |
| "Saturday Night Special with rocking R&B and powerful blues played by leading UK band Ruthless Blues. They were one of the major successes at the November festival - attracting a capacity audience in the Great Hall in the early afternoon!" - Farnham Maltings Programme |
| "Ruthless
Blues lived up to their name when they stormed onto stage at Carlisle's
Front Page Club. With their tough uncompromising style this no-holds barred
blues-rock band blasted out some serious r'n'b." -- Cumbrian
News |
| "Ruthless Blues, needless to say, topped the bill in style and sent the capacity crowd home happy." -- Norwich local paper - review of gig at The Waterfront |
| "Had they been based in the US, Ruthless Blues would probably ge hailed as the hottest bar room band to hit these shores since ... etc. etc. But the fact is the band are well and truly British, blow as hard as any US counterpart and draw a consistently lively crowd to their live gigs. ......... In Stevie Smith the band have a natural focal point and in John Knightsbridge an awesome guitarist -- who had he been in a band like this some 15 years ago would probably now be sitting in his castle somewhere in Surrey." -- Kingston local paper |