POPA CHUBBY. Rockit Fuel @Bilston Robin 2 18/6/12

You can tell a lot from a name, usually. But sometimes those impressions might be wrong.

You can, for example, tell that New York blues man, Popa Chubby might be a big fella. In fairness that doesn’t quite do him justice, but Popa Massive might not scan so well.

 Equally you should really be able to tell that Rockit Fuel were dynamic and exciting (even if they can’t spell…) when in actual fact, that’s not quite true either.

The Worcestershire three piece are by no means bad – in fact, frontman Lance Perkins is clearly an extremely talented guitarist – but they don’t offer much in the way of thrills or spills. The song titles are straight out of the Blues Rock Handbook, “Have Mercy On Me,” “Troubled Man” “On Our Knees” all good songs, but absolutely nothing memorable. They also chuck in the ubiquitous cover -  their’s is “Communication Breakdown” and off they go. An entertaining, if not diverting, 45 minutes.

Then its time for – in the words of The Popa himself – a “Blues Rock Partay” ostensibly in town to promote new album “Back To New York City” Chubby – or Ted  to his mates – has an extensive back catalogue, including the magnificent “Deliveries After Dark” CD from 2007. The new album is none to shabby either.

It is a shame, then, that he chooses to waste much of his set playing covers. He’s at it as early as second song in, when “Hey Joe” makes an appearance, but it gets a little wearisome when an instrumental of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” takes about 15 minutes.

The end of the show highlights all the faults of the previous two hours. “Hallelujah” morphs into “The Ace Of Spades over the course of twenty minutes and is closely followed by “Little Red Rooster” to close things. The blues purists might have loved it, but RTM would have much preferred to hear some originals

The real pity is that when Chubby and his band were playing their own songs they were superb. The excellent “Pound Of Flesh,” the rip-roaring rabble-rouser “Its About You” and the two new tunes he plays, “Mindbender” and “Peoples Blues” were excellent.

Everyone involved can clearly play – and do so exceptionally well – but there is no need for every song to become a drawn out jam. There is little need, either for a show that racks up nearly two hours 40 minutes. The Monday night Bilston crowd was thin anyway and there is about 20 people left at the end of proceedings.

 Not a bad evening but not one that you will remember for long. If this is a “partay” chaz Chubby, then RTM will stop at home next time.