The evening kicks off in good style with Dead Hombres - who also supported the Warner E. Hodges Band at the Dublin Castle last December. This band have a very authentic 1950's Gretch guitar/Fender amp sound. Similar attention has gone into their retro rock 'n' roll image to match their gritty sound. Their songs aren't too shabby either and they make an excellent act to kick off tonight's proceedings. Tonight was supposed to be the debut of the band's new singer Marie, but unfortunately a motor accident on the way to soundcheck put a stop to that. Apparently Marie is OK and will be making her first performance with the band later this month. Tonight Nigel continued with lead vocals as if nothing had happened, but will be stepping back from the mic in future to concentrate of guitar duties.
The next band take things up another gear. The
Witchdoktors are what I call a 'proper' rock 'n' roll band.
A mix of 50's style rock & roll, 60's trash/surf rock and a bit of a punk edge. What is and
isn't 'rock & roll' is a very subjective thing, and everybody will have a different opinion. I think it's a much overused term these days used to describe almost any form of rock music - when I heard a DJ on Xfm describe Coldplay as a' rock 'n' roll' band I knew it was time I found myself a new radio station. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned the Witchdoktors are very much a rock 'n' roll band and are true to it's spirit - unlike many bands I hear described as 'rock 'n' roll'.
Warner E. Hodges must like the UK - even with Covid-19 still around he is starting to tour here not once but twice a year! At a time when many US artists won't come over at all. He only played in London about four months ago, and now he's back again - and already has another UK tour planned for October. Sorry about the shite pictures of the back of people's heads but it was a sold out show and I didn't want to force my way to the front and stand in front of people shorter than myself.
The Warner E. Hodges Band are less of a pure rock & roll band than the previous act as there is a little country mixed in - and a large helping of hard rock. No 'War Pigs' again, although to be fair the band now have two new albums to promote - and if you really need to hear their amazing version of 'War Pigs' you can buy their live album. To be honest that song might be a little too close to the bone at this particular moment in time....
There is no set list as such - Warner just reads the room and makes it up as he goes along. There are less covers and more original songs on this tour, although AC/DC fans in particular would have gone home happy. Warner likes to keep things spontaneous, and there are certainly some surprises tonight - who would have expected a country rock band to do a
Wildhearts cover? I know certain members of the band would have particularly enjoyed being able to play 'My Baby Is A Headfuck'! You also wouldn't expect a country rock band to kick into a really great full on punk rock version the the Sex Pistols 'Holiday In The Sun' - with it breaking the Big Bopper's 'White Lightning' in the middle before launching back into a very spirited version of the Sex Pistols classic, but that's exactly what happened! Those two songs went down an absolute storm with the crowd. Jason & The Scorchers 'White Lies' was a great but
not unexpected cover as Warner was and still is a member of that country/punk band. A rockin' version of John Denver's 'Country Roads' was pretty inevitable too, but the set was still mostly from Warner's own albums. One cover which felt more timely than ever was Neil Young's 'Rockin' In The Free World'...
All in all a terrific night at one of London's small but legendary venues. I look forward to seeing this band again later in the year...
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