Fortnightly Music Reviews from the streets of Teesside and beyond Independent Venue Week: Red Rum Club, Cherryholt, KU Stockton, 30 January 2026
Red Rum Club Red Rum Club made a triumphant sell out return to a favourite haunt for this celebratory Independent Venue Week event. The crowd were down early, excitedly awaiting the Merseysiders and were rewarded with a sparkling set from young supports, Cherryholt. Such a smooth sound, tuneful, melodic. And melancholic, reflective. New single The Bullet features shimmering guitars. The finale, Irresistible clicks into an irresistible tempo change before ramping up a big ending. A 5-piece guitar band making their mark on their first ever gig in Stockton. There will be an early opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with Cherryholt as they feature in Easter's Stockton Calling line up. There are whoops of delight as Red Rum Club take to the stage. Frequent flyers in Ku Bar and other haunts across Teesside. I realise that this is actually the first time I've seen them as I once stood and listened from outside a sold out Stockton Calling festival stage. They have real popular appeal. And no wonder From the first number, 2025's Buck they pump out infectious high velocity guitar tunes. Straddling indie, glam but also smooching into Americana. The whole while singer Fran Doran is leading from the front, interacting with the crowd between numbers, asking us if we have been sticking to a dry January. He has had a hangover
every day after playing at the Ku Bar, he reveals, clearly Stockton and abstinence don't go hand in hand for the band with alcohol in their name. To Fran's right Joe the Blow powers the trumpet that really brands Red Rum Club's unparalleled identity. His solos are exuberant and in the rare gaps between his playing his lips are parted by a beaming grin. Such a personable lot. Arms are aloft in the throng, bopping through Afternoon and beyond. Nightcalling is a real groove along. Straight into an uplifting glam rock beat for Wild. You're a different kind of Animal to me and that means slowing it right down for the lilting Call Me On Your Comedown. We then get a cowboy tune for any cowboys in the house. Judging by the response there are plenty that must have hitched their horses on a railing outside Ku Bar. That is because Red Rum Club know how to give the people what they want and tell the people what they need!
Red Rum Club And so we reach the guitar hook signalling Hole In My Home. And the whole crowd is joining in Ho-oh-ohwow-oh hole in my home, the chorus. It is a truly joyous uplifting way to finish the set. But it is freezing cold outside and we heed the pleas of Fran not to send him outside onto the street to await an encore. Instead Red Rum Club dive straight through four numbers ending in Angleline and Vanilla to truly lift the roof off this most atmospheric of venues and make it a really special Stockton Ku Bar, Red Rum Club, Independent Venue Week, moment. Wondrous. Words: Robert Nichols Pictures: Tracy Hyman
Off The Beat with Robert Nichols and Tracy Hyman