Romance, ganja and the devil: Buzz Lightyear at Delicious Clam

Calum Keiller is the lead singer of Buzz Lightyear. He’s also one of the co-founders of Sheffield DIY venue Delicious Clam. He has to have open heart surgery on Wednesday – it’s a serious operation that will require around four months of recovery time. But before that minor inconvenience, he’s liberated himself from hospital to help run three days of music at ‘Clamlines’ and do what he and Buzz Lightyear do best; kick out the jams!

Buzz Lightyear play a style of psychedelic stoner rock that sounds like it’s been handed down to the band from Mother Rock herself. Sabbath and Zeppelin seem to be their key touchstones, and what else do you need? Beavis and Butthead would absolutely love these guys. As they career from one monster riff to another, the immediately classic nature of their songs mean it’s sometimes hard to believe they don’t already exist.

The set is heavy, but not all encompassing as each instrument is given space to shine. Keiller’s earth-shaking bass-six is the grounding for Greenman’s never-ending supply of face-melting riffs. The drums can at times be subtle and complimentary, and at other times absolutely gargantuan. Bathed in, or possibly emitting, green light throughout their show, their lyrics seem to focus on the three most universal subjects of our age: romance, the devil and ganja – usually all at once. Take the chorus of fan favourite ‘Lord of Fire’ as an example: “Lord of Fire / Bring me my weeeeeed!”.

At one point Keiller announces “This song is brand new since Tuesday, so it’s very likely to go wrong” before they launch into a seemingly flawless 15-minute freak out that features more timeless riffage and unholy, stream-of-consciousness style lyrics inspired by his recent hospital stay. Despite the potential heaviness of the situation, Buzz Lightyear are all about fun – the audience are left with aching jaws (from all the smiling) and sore necks (from all the head banging). Hurry up and get well soon Calum!