Who are Proud Mary?

Proud Mary are Greg Griffin (vocals), Paul Newsome (guitar, backing vocals), Adam Gray (guitar, slide guitar) and Nev Cottee (bass). Their debut album entitled 'The Same Old Blues', features nine songs, which sound heavily influenced by traditional American rhythm and blues. I would say the best way to categorize them would be to say they were an indie blues/rock band.

They were the first band to be signed to Noel Gallagher's 'Sour Marsh Label'. There debut album; "same old blues" was also produced by Noel himself. And funnily enough are tipped to be massive come the next few months. But any band that is connected to Manchester nowadays is given the 'next big thing' tag or so it would seem.

The Gig!

As I entered 'on air east' my initial thought was, "How many Liam Gallagher wannabes can you fit into one room?" Then I was quick to remember that this band were from Manchester and were on Noel Gallagher's new record label.

My main reason for viewing this gig was to see if Proud Mary were as good as the media were trying to imply. There was a big crowd to welcome them on and as the band mounted the stage there was a boisterous roar. The band all looked the part and launched the straight into their set.

The set mainly consisted of tracks taken from their new album "The same old blues". I found there set to be very tight, they have obviously been putting in the hours at the studio, it was not the first time I had seen Proud Mary and they had obviously improved greatly compared to when I saw them earlier on in the year. One of the highlights of the evening was when they played a new song called "Mexico '78". I felt that particular song was a good taster of what was to come from a promising band.

If I was being honest I wouldn't say the band were by any means the saviours of British rock as suggested, but I would say they will sell a decent amount of albums. If you like oasis, Ride, Gomez, Embrace etc… then yes I would recommend that you go see this band or even buy their album.

But if you feel that guitar based music is just simply not going anywhere, then this band are not for you. I mean you can have the best singers and players in the world, but the truth is everybody has heard it all before. There is nothing wrong with bands like Proud Mary, but its just so retro and lets be honest we have just covered retro music thoroughly, for pretty much, well lets just say the nineties.

Visit their website: ProudMary.co.uk