I close my eyes. The cicadas chirp loudly in the balmy night air and above them I hear the noise of many thousands of excited people anticipating what is about to come. Many have camped out overnight and been here all day to bagsy a prime spot near the front of the stage in this huge open air stadium in foreign climes.
Then there is an explosion of bright lights and the crescendo of sound at a Spinal Tap # 11 on the amps and PA stacks, from guitars and bass and keyboards and saxophones, and a banshee-type vocal wailing, like a war cry to signal the alert of the imminent proceedings….
I open my eyes and the stars above are twinkling, seemingly brighter than before, almost winking at me to say, Oi, wait until you see / hear this! The stage is ablaze and the band rip into an incendiary set that may well worry the hell out of the headliners, who about to do their thing straight after this lot.
Mick, and Keef and Charlie and Ronnie and co backstage, warming up to entertain this humungous crowd. But first, raucous Brits, Jim Jones All Stars tear the place a new one with a set that could wake the dead and the crowd’s roars of appreciation even louder.
Then I realise the above is just a day dream and I am not actually under the stars in a warmer climate, I am in a jam packed [sardines have more room in the tin!] upstairs room at The Prince Albert pub and music venue, a stone’s throw from the English channel and pebbly beach of Brighton, the home of the mods – but not tonight. No Vespas or Lambrettas or Parkas to be seen.
It’s a flipping chilly Brighton on an October Friday night to witness one of the most under-the-radar [when it comes to the mainstream that is], bands you may be yet to come across, but you really, really should. And why I was imagining them opening for the greatest rock and roll band in the world, The Rolling Stones. Yep, they sound that good.
Ladies and gentlemen and those who do not identify as either, I give you Jim Jones All Stars…
The penultimate show on their current 10-date “Born To Ride” UK tour which culminates tonight [Saturday 25th October 2025] at the sold out Lexington in London, with the launch gig of their brand new fabulous 16-track live album, “Get Down ~ Get With It!”.
The album was unleashed to the general public on the same day as last night’s Brighton show.
Fronted by Jim Jones on guitar and lead vocals – formerly of Thee Hypnotics, Black Moses, The Jim Jones Revue & Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind – joined by former Jim Jones Revue members Gavin Jay (bass) and Elliot Mortimer (piano and keyboards).
The Jim Jones All Stars are augmented by guitarist Carlton Mounsher, drummer Aidan Sinclair, backing singer and percussionist Ali Jones, and saxophones from Stuart Dace and Tom Hodges.
Having played sold out tours and festival appearances across the UK and Europe, Jim Jones All Stars were personally selected by The Black Crowes on their “Heartless Bastards” UK and European dates in 2024.
Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes says this about Jim and his band: “That’s the real rock n roll business right there!”. Jim and the All Stars also recently joined The Wildhearts on their Spring 2025 tour dates.
The band’s debut album, “Ain’t No Peril”, was released in September 2023 to universal praise. Their sophomore studio album “Cat Fight”, produced by Chris Robinson, is due in March 2026.
Their new live album “Get Down ~ Get With It!” [via Assai Records] is “an unvarnished document of a deep, immersive, and mind-bending journey—a transcendent and hypnotic rock and roll experience. It highlights the band’s gritty, unapologetic sound, brimming with raw authenticity and attitude. Visceral and uncompromising, it is an electrifying live performance that true believers will never forget.” So says the press blurb for it.
Jim says: ” ‘Get Down ~ Get With It’ is a bookend of where the band is at right now and it’s a cool way to mark the end of this chapter of the band before we release our sophomore album in 2026″. Mixed by Jim Jones and mastered By Nick Page at Forking Paths Mastering, Los Angeles.
The “Born To Ride” tour opened in Leeds on 10th October and called in to Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Tunbridge Wells, Bedford, Birmingham and Bristol, before Brighton and London. Plus a live music session for Marc Riley’s BBC6 Music show [13th Oct].
For those of us that need and desire to lose a few pounds pre-Christmas, last night’s sweaty gig at the Albert would possibly have done the trick.
Especially shaking your bits to the relentless groove and grind of the down and dirty rock and roll Jim and the band delivered in their raucous 20 song set, plus single song encore. Of those 21 songs, 10 are on the new live album.
The gig had an an almost evangelical electricity to it. Jim’s vocals howl and growl, snarl and rasp and his body language, strutting around the tiny space he has left on this small stage crammed with the eight of them and all the gear, says: We are ‘aving it large tonight Brighton, and there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it, except to get down, get with it!
Aggressively snatching the mic stand and leaning into the crowd at times in vintage rock and roll posturing. It suits him, but on a bigger stage I am sure he’d be wild. Tonight’s small stage a big contrast to the YouTube video of Jim and the band in action at London’s famed Eventim Apollo.
The sound here is a melting pot of greasy, dirty, garage. Maybe a splash of surf, grunge and even psychobilly. Some soul and r’n’b flavours [when r&b was not about samples and vocal acrobatics]. It is about nods to gospel, to the blues’ and above all else, this really is good ole honest rock and roll, folks.
When the snare drum broke and took a while to replace, the playful banter from Jim filled the gap and gave us all a breather and a chance to swig some liquid refreshment.
Raw as a nose bleed, the two guitars cut through the mix like a chainsaw on the rampage. The brace of saxes sometimes screech like foxes in the dead of night – reminding me of the great Davey Payne, an original Ian Dury Blockhead. The volume was loud enough that you could literally touch the walls and feel them vibrate.
There was no single standout moment of the songs they did; it was all shit hot. Perhaps these: “Cement Mixer” and “Gimme The Grease” were among my faves.
Jim’s bands have had a few different names across his career. This one should be called The Jim Jones Experience, because that is exactly what this gig was; an experience we’ll not forget in a hurry. All Stars indeed.
* History factoid for ya: The Prince Albert is a pub and respected music venue in Trafalgar Street, built in 1848 – converted from a three-storey town house in 1860.
Tourists snap pictures of the iconic mural painted on the side. Originally, the wall was known for its Banksy artwork “Kissing Coppers” in 2004. In 2013, a mural of 26 deceased musicians, actor Oliver Reed and legendary footballer George Best was added by two local graffiti artists.
The mural repainted in 2017 and updated regularly since. There is debate about the identity of the musician on the chimney between Joy Division’s Ian Curtis and Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. For me, that has got to be The Man In Black, Johnny Cash.
Photos by Manja Williams
Words by Steve Best
