Raw Blues Energy With Modern Teeth
Editorial
By Glitch & Gold
March 2026
4 min read
Some bands feel built for streaming algorithms.
Others feel built for stages.
The Small Fortunes belong firmly to the second category.
The Warrington based band carries the kind of raw, blues driven energy that doesn’t try to reinvent rock music. Instead, they lean into its roots, amplifying the grit, attitude and groove that made it powerful in the first place. Listening to their catalog, the lineage becomes clear. Junior Kimbrough, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker echo through the foundations, but the modern execution feels closer to acts like The Black Keys or the early urgency of The White Stripes.
What sets The Small Fortunes apart is the sense that their music was not designed in a studio first. It feels like it was forged on stage.
There is movement in the rhythm section. The guitars bite rather than shimmer. The songs carry a physical pulse that makes you imagine a crowded room, dim lights, and amplifiers pushing just a little harder than they should.
Tracks like Time’s No Friend Of Mine and Castaway carry that tension well. There is a blues backbone underneath everything, but the delivery feels urgent, modern and unapologetically loud. The band clearly understands the tradition they are drawing from, yet they avoid sounding nostalgic.
That balance is difficult to achieve. Too much reverence for the past can turn blues rock into a museum piece. Too much modern polish can strip it of its soul. The Small Fortunes manage to sit directly between those two poles.
Part of that identity comes from their chemistry as a band. Founding members Louis Menguy and Louis James began writing together during the pandemic, eventually shaping the project into a full lineup with bassist Liam Clarke, drummer Adam Christopher and keyboard player Paul Glover. The result is a group that plays with the tightness of a unit rather than the precision of a studio project.
And it shows.
Their second EP Down To The Wire pushed that momentum even further, leading to sold out UK tour dates and an expanding audience that clearly responds to the band’s high energy performances. It is the kind of growth that usually happens the old fashioned way: through live shows, word of mouth and audiences discovering that the band on stage delivers something real.
There is also a certain confidence in their aesthetic. The visual identity, the artwork and the overall presentation all feel coherent. It is rock music with swagger, but not without taste. The image is tough, but never careless. There is a sophistication underneath the grit.
In a landscape increasingly dominated by polished indie pop and algorithm friendly songwriting, bands like The Small Fortunes remind listeners why rock music still matters when it is played with conviction.
Because sometimes the most powerful thing a band can do is simple.
Plug in.
Turn it up.
And let the blues do the talking.
Featured genres:
Blues Rock, Garage Rock, Roots Rock