Gig Review: Hard Stairs
Upton Marina – 17th July 2026
Another warm, humid evening and I’m sat next to the cooling waters of Upton Marina. There’s plenty of activity out on the water, but I’ve settled for a beer in front of the small garden stage.
It’s the lead-up to the busiest weekend of the year in the metropolis over the bridge. As campervans and caravans fill the adjoining fields, tripling the size and population of the town, Upton Blues Festival is about to take over.
Meanwhile, I’m here to see a band I’d sort of lost contact with since the dreaded pandemic. Hard Stairs have grown from a duo to a trio since then and released a few albums, which I have been able to keep up with. It was time to catch up with them in person.
Their music is brash, punk-edged blues, garage blues, as raw as gravel rash and just as bloody. I love it.
Guitar and vocals are delivered by Horsten, drums are courtesy of Martin, and bass is in the capable hands of Kristien. They open with a rattling good ‘Train’s A Coming’, Martin whipping up that old railroad rhythm.
‘Usual Blues’ adds a bit of weight, Horsten growling out the lyrics while Kristien adds a nice bass lead. Full sail, we set out into choppy blue water.
‘Tell Me You Love Me’ is a sultry, slow-burning blues, contrasting with the rockin’ and rollin’ ‘Woman’. We’re fast heading for a break, time for a refill, but not before an edgy take on The Doors’ ‘Roadhouse Blues’ is thundered into the evening.
‘Messing With The Kid’ starts us back up, followed by a tasty bit of bass from Kris, underscoring a vintage Tennessee Ernie Ford song, ‘Sixteen Tons’, which morphs into a mishmash of nursery-rhyme rock.
Then came the glorious, newly released ‘Chicken Hearted Woman Blues’, which is how I came to be here this evening.
I’m sure Horsten’s laying eggs as he cavorts about, hovering on one leg, but unlike Jethro Tull, not quite in full control of what the other is doing! He’s warmed up and enjoying himself, which simply means the music grows with him, building into an almost seamless blast into sundown.
You can’t put Hard Stairs into a particular box; if you did, you’d need to nail the lid down. There’s something feral about their performance.
Whether the songs are theirs or regurgitated standards, it’s a wild ride, and I’m more than happy hanging on in there.
Check out ‘Chicken Hearted Woman Blues’, freshly laid and available for digital download on Bandcamp now. Worth it just for the artwork!
Photos & Words: Graham Munn