New music shows pop up in the UK all the time, but very few feel like a coming together of different worlds. That’s exactly what Mr Steve’s first ‘A Good Time Rock & Roll Show’ achieved on Thursday 6th November.

Held at the famous Good Mixer in Camden, (Mr) Steve Cutler accumulated a group of musical acts from his now many contacts, to put on his inaugural show.

The main discussion going into the night, was the fact that two of the acts had released new singles the previous day. Kent rockers Tres Kings released ‘My Favourite Letter is K’ and Sammy Vincent released ‘Tell ‘em How The Life Leads’.

Night openers Arid Wave also announced their new EP ‘Husker Doom’ on the day, releasing 27th November.

Playing the Good Mixer feels like a rite of passage for any act. A dim-lit corner pub in the heart of Camden and at the centre of the UK music scene. The walls hum with the ghosts of decades worth of music, but the Mixer has held onto its chaos and charm in a gentrified corner of London.

Latecomer to the bill, Charles Bueller, was called into the fray at the final hour after Sammy Vincent was unable to perform.

Armed with a borrowed acoustic guitar, Bueller took to the floor (there’s no stage) to perform several tracks from his upcoming debut album, the first ever to be produced by indie legend Peter Doherty.

The embodiment of a vagabond, he doesn’t need an invitation to turn on a sprinkle of stage magic, strutting through soulful ballads as if he didn’t have a borrowed Hello Kitty guitar strap draped over his fur-lined overcoat.

Showcasing hits from the upcoming Strap Originals release, he played ‘Tall Handsome James’, ‘What a Day to be You’ and the toe-tapping ‘Female Horror Renaissance’ among others. There’s no hiding behind an acoustic guitar, but there’s an understated charm glinting beneath the layer of eyeliner that adorns his eyelids.

Following a Leonard Cohen cover, clearly a huge influence on the young songwriter, he rounds off the set with ‘Bueller’s Blues’ as the room was plunged into silence.

Every pair of ears tuned into the soft pluck of guitar strings and smooth lyrical hums.

A short smoke and bar break later, the silence was shattered as post- hardcore/grunge band Arid Wave rattled their waythrough their opening track ‘Honesty’, it seemed a far cry from the previous set. The crowd were at the mercy of the Southampton-based rockers, and the attentive and receptive audience from the ballads of Bueller seemed a thing of the past.

Consisting of Ben Palmer (Guitar and vocals), Will Palmer (Drums) and Chris Cutler (Bass), their music is built on thick, electrifying riffs and fast, crashing drums teamed with dense, low-end bass. The trio had the crowd bouncing, crashing around the floor as Ben Palmer’s vocals screamed over the music, reaching impressive lengths. Will Palmer is an energetic drummer who revels in the live shows. They continued to battle through ‘Life is Combat’ and ‘Pushing Thirty’, a fast and loud hit that was added to the set due to its popularity during the soundcheck.

The three of them powered through in an aggressive and unrelenting manner, thriving on the front-row energy. As they end their set with ‘Strange Hill’, ‘All I Gotta Be’ and ‘Big Dumb Thing’, they’re rough around the edges but this unpolished authenticity is part of their charm.

As the rhythm section of Will Palmer and Chris Cutler clattered and clanged, Ben Palmer grasped the opportunity to throw himself into the crowd, riffling through his final riffs whilst rubbing shoulders with the pit.

Thanks to the support of Songbird HQ, headliners for the night came in the form of Kent based indie rockers Tres Kings. The trio are riding a wave of success that has carried them throughout 2025.

Tres Kings are Wez King on vocals and guitar and brothers Lacs and Rhu Fuller on bass and drums.

This week, they released new single ‘My Favourite Letter is K’, recorded at The Libertines HQ, The Albion Rooms, engineered and mixed by award winning sound engineer Jason Stafford. This comes after other releases ‘Scuba Diver’ and ‘Antenna’ this year.

The latter opened proceedings on the night. A fuzzy and fast-paced indie/garage rock single. It’s a call-to-arms and the Good Mixer crowd are receptive. Any fears of things slowing down following Arid Wave are quashed, the crowd are here and present, still thriving.

They continued rattling through indie hits ‘Sucking on Lemons’ and ‘Feel it Again’, the crowd hanging on to every word, every riff and every crash of the drum. They followed the early stages of their set with a fantastic cover of ‘Dakota’ by Stereophonics (especially at the request of Mr Steve himself!). If you closed your eyes, you’d almost mistake King for Kelly Jones.

The band took a short pause to announce their next single to the crowd, the newly released ‘My Favourite Letter is K’. There’s soaring guitar solos, funky basslines and energetic, pounding drums. But Wez King really leaves his mark on this song, his soaring vocals stealing the limelight as he showcases the range he possesses. The crowd sing the chorus back in unison “My favourite letter. Will always be K in the end”.

The trio continued with energetic, upbeat indie anthems originally released by King as solo hits, ‘Cool Kid’ and ‘Officer’. Both feature catchy choruses that the audience are quick to learn and sing back to the three-of-them.

They back these two tracks up with another roaring indie rock cover. This time ‘Molly’s Chambers’ by Kings of Leon. A clear crowd pleaser that the revellers sing back to. Belting every lyric nearly as loud as Wez King himself.

Before closing the set, they roared into an unreleased track ‘ET’. This once more features a classic Tres Kings rhythmic bassline and upbeat drums. The riffs from King are powerful and fast. He stuns the crowd once more with his impressive vocal range.

Clearly taking inspiration from their indie heroes, they round off the fast-paced set with ‘Wake Up the People’. The delivery in this borders on spoken word, but the similar fast-paced riffs, bass and drums are prevalent throughout. This song is clearly aimed at energising a live crowd, and that’s exactly what the trio do.

And with the final strum of guitars and crash of drums, the first Mr Steve’s ‘A Good Time Rock & Roll Show’ is complete. With acoustic ballads, heavy roaring grunge and upbeat catchy indie anthems, there was something to please every reveller.

Anyone involved in the London, Camden and Southampton music scenes will have crossed paths with Mr Steve by now, and if by some miracle they haven’t, he is prevalent in the social media space surrounding these events. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for future events for good vibes and even better music.

Review by Bradley Halcrow (@brad_halcrow_writes) for THE SONGBIRD HQ

All photography by Libby Grinham (@libby.grinham)