The Jim Jones Allstars are the third iteration of the band that began life as the Jim Jones Revue and who I last saw as Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind.
The first version began life in 2007 when the eponymous Mr Jones met Rupert Orton (Beth’s brother) at his London club night – Not The Same Old Blues Crap – and formed a band.
They recorded their second album, Burning Your House Down, with Jim Sclavunos of the Bad Seeds and Grinderman producing, on account of his work with Sonic Youth and The Cramps.
It sounded exactly as you would expect from that title and those credentials – a dirty, sleazy slice of ’50s-influenced 12-bar rock’n’roll, driven by slashing guitars and barrelhouse piano, with a frontman (Jones) like a crazed preacher.
Jones then shed a couple of member and gained a couple more and re-emerged in 2014 as Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, moving the sound forward from the ’50s to incorporate elements of psychedelia, country, blues and gospel.
I saw them once at the wonderful Ramsgate Music Hall, with Sclavunos standing in on drums that night, and they made a magnificent noise.
Now, after splitting up in the pandemic, they are back again as the Jim Jones All Stars, with Jones and the ever-present Gavin Jay still at the centre of things, along with old Revue member Elliott Mortimer, guitarist Carlton Mounsher and drummer Chris Ellul.
They’ve stayed true to their blues roots, recording their album – Ain’t No Peril – in Memphis, Tennessee, about which Jones says: “When you’re recording within spitting distance of the Mississippi river, there’s something about that heavy Memphis air that changes the way that you hear the groove and grind.
“Gimme The Grease captures that feeling and bathes in that magic.” It certainly does.