It's been a few years since I saw a three band bill on a Sunday night. But shades of the old Roundhouse days were quickly dispelled as this blues triumvirate set about dragging crossover blues into twenty first century with some great success.
But first things first, Blues Matters the magazine and label had worked hard in conjunction with Roadhouse (whose hometown gig this is) to make the evening such a success. In addition to the bands, the label brought a shop full of blues related goodies, to further amplify the feeling of an event. And by the end of over three and a quarter hours of quality rocking, it is fair to say that the excellent crowd had indeed witnessed an event worthy of the name.
Roadhouse took the stage for the first of two sets, playing a brief introductory half-hour outing that immediately set the standard for the evening. Both guitarists Gary Boner and Jules Fothergill weaved in and out of some hugely impressive material from the funky New Orleans influenced “Voodoo Queen” to the Americana style anthem “ Blues Highway ”. More significantly perhaps, their music while being blues based, pushed the boundaries through strong song, great hooks and some scintillating playing.
Egypt followed and cranked up the volume as they powered
their way through a muscular mix of Groundhogs, John Lee Hooker and self penned
material. Guitarist Eric Chipulina is a chip off the old Tony McPhee block
and together with the seamless bass playing of Alan Fish and the redoubtably
Peter Correa on drums, the power trio even dipped into the Hogs past for “Split” (I
forget which part to be honest), and a raucous Johnny Winter “Mean Town Blues”.
Best filed under heavy rocking blues, Egypt blew away any remaining cobwebs and fully deserved their hearty applause.
And so Holland 's Mellotones . There was a real sense of
anticipation before they hit the stage, and in terms of hi energy and twin
guitar antics the band did not let anybody down. Had the Fabulous Thunderbirds,
The Black Crows and even The Hoax not already strutted their stuff a decade
or more ago, this band would be a revelation. As it was they have a handful
of killer songs of their own, notably the humorous “Swamp Thing”, the Bo Diddley
beat of “No Sympathy” as well as the Southern rock feel of “Tumbleweed”, and
the heavy riffed “Dead Men Walking”. Allied to their OTT stage antics, this
is one kick ass band worthy of your attention.
The whole evening was nicely wrapped up with a Roadhouse/Mellotones jam, which also featured Blues Matters harp playing scribe Pete Sergeant, Alan Fish on bass and a Mellotones roadie on guitar. The only missing figure here was the powerful Eric Chipulina on guitar.
A great three band bill then that never let up on the energy levels, and a great time was had by all.
Pete Feenstra