Live Review : Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate + New Generation Superstars @ The Waterloo Music Bar, Blackpool on March 9th 2025

Sunday is supposed to be a day of the rest, but there’s surely no rest for the wicked, as, with the echoes of Ricky Warwick and the Fighting Hearts Saturday night show still ringing in our ears, ROCKFLESH are back at the Waterloo less than twenty-four hours later. Likewise, many of the same faces are present in the crowd for a second consecutive night of full-force rock n roll. This time round, though, we’re worshipping at the altar of electric, life-affirming sleaze and punk (or a combination of the two), both old and new, with Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate and New Generation Superstars.

The Dukes of Hazzard theme tune is a somewhat unusual (if welcome) intro track but New Generation Superstars aren’t a band to follow convention. From the outset they’re loud, raucous, profane and really rather splendid. It’s punk-fuelled, sleazy electric mayhem from start to finish, but let’s not get bogged down with labels. The band plug into the primal electric current that makes you want to jump, move and throw yourself around; they’re fast, utterly irreverent and a shot of adrenaline to start the night. 

They fly through the first four songs before they even draw breath, a turbo-charged blur of fun and attitude.  Lead singer AJ and guitarist Davey Messiah banter and bicker, but it’s always entertaining, their on-stage antics and filthy delight in what they do is infectious, creating a great rapport with the crowd, aided and abetted by bass-player, Jonny Suicide, a permanent grin on his face, as he urges the crowd to higher levels of interaction. Their names obviously pay homage to their punk heroes, and with padlock necklaces, leather and God Save The Queen T-Shirts, their look emphasises this punk aesthetic still further. 

Song titles seem almost irrelevant, as they’re all about energy and attitude, but ones that jump out include opener ‘King of the World’, ‘The Price’ and ‘Guess What’, where they have the crowd raising a middle finger and shouting “get f**ked” in the chorus.  It’s juvenile and silly but that doesn’t stop it from being nothing short of glorious.

Their set simply flies by, always the sign of a great performance.  Rock n’ roll isn’t supposed to be safe and sanitised, it should be about living in the moment, lost in the joy of electric guitar, an angry lyric and sticking it to the “man” (and one crowd member is absolutely enraptured in just such a way, lost in his own world, hands raised in supplication). New Generation Superstars are the absolutely embodiment of that ethic, and time in their company is surely one of the most fun ways to spend forty-five minutes on a Sunday evening…

Thirty-five years.
Thirty-five years. 

Yes, it bears saying twice.  It seems impossible that quite so much time has passed since “Blackout in the Red Room” was first unleashed on an unsuspecting record-buying public.  But the calendar doesn’t lie and over three decades later, we’re still here and so is Jizzy Pearl. The sole remaining member of the band that recorded that opus, Jizzy remains a star whose shine and power has not been diminished by the passing of the years.

A magnetic, talismanic figure, he prowls, spins and covers the whole stage, all expansive gestures and wide-eyed intensity as he takes us through the whole of “Blackout…” alongside a number of other choice cuts from his back catalogue. So, we lead off with ‘Slutsy Tipsy’ and ‘Rock Queen’ and you’re immediately struck by how vibrant and fresh these songs still sound and this continues through the whole set. That an album of this vintage can sound so powerful is a testament to the quality of the songs themselves and of course, Jizzy’s talent in breathing life into them.

The crowd hangs off his every word, and, consummate performer that he is, Jizzy plays with them to perfection, bumping fists, grasping hands (and mobiles!) and fixing individuals with a feverishly intense gaze; the crowd in turn lap it up, reflecting his wild energy. The album evidently has a large number of devotees for whom it is quite clearly of huge significance; they know every beat, every lick, every lyric, singing the words back with a fervour that matches their hero’s.

‘Fuel to Run' is driven by a deep thrumming bass riff, Jizzy singing in isolation around the groove, before the rest of the band kick in for the chorus. And the fuel that Jizzy needs?  “Jim Beam, Courvoisier, and Jack”. It’s in moments like this that you’re reminded that we’re not in the eighties or nineties anymore and that the attitudes and mores of thirty-five years ago simply wouldn’t fly today. But Jizzy is nothing if not self-aware, and acknowledges this fact himself later when talking about ‘Slave Girl’ – but like a long-lost postcard from the past, this collection of songs paints a vivid, hedonistic picture of those far-away days.

It's also a reminder of just what an uncompromising beast of an album “Blackout...” was; real, visceral, tough and sleazy, and a world away from many of the other bands with whom they were often associated.

‘Hell, Ca., Pop. 4' rocks the venue to the core and then Jizzy leaves the stage to allow the band to stretch their wings and show what they can do. Stevie Pearce on lead guitar has been throwing out muscular riffs and spitting fiery solos all night and here he takes things to another level that sees weathered audience members either shaking their heads in amazement or nodding them in approval.

But then Jizzy’s back and we are treated to a hatful of songs mostly culled from second album “Wasted in America”. Inevitably the set draws to a close with ‘Why Do You Think They Call It Dope?' and the album’s title track, raising the excitement and energy that’s already at fever pitch to positively stratospheric levels. 

Tonight, may well have been an exercise in nostalgia, but these songs evidently mean a lot to a lot, as can be seen by the audience’s frenzied response. Music lives long in its fans’ hearts and memories; it transports you to a different time and place, one where you were someone else, somewhen else.  L.P Hartley once wrote “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” and whilst that is undoubtedly true, there’s surely no harm in visiting it once in a while. Just for tonight, Jizzy was our guide, taking our hand for a stunning trip down memory lane (although it was perhaps less memory lane and more a downtown alley…)

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate + New Generation Superstars