Jim Jones Revue - Live
Thee Exciters / Skulls
Friday 23rd of May 2008
Who the heck ever said that rock 'n roll was dead?! Those heathens need to be standing in my shoes tonight, because rock n roll is not only live and kicking at The Talking Heads tonight, it's thrashing around like a headless behemoth. On parade tonight are three local acts who deliver a ball-busting, gurn inducing, leg-spasming musical extravaganza.
Four piece fuzz-rawk outfit Thee Exciters (yes, that is an extra e), do what they came here to do: have a ball and raise an eyebrow or two while they're at it! These guys rock out with their cocks out, literally. Mid way through their set, the shades-clad front man peels his clothes off, much to the delight of the crowd.
Amidst the nudity and surrounding uproar, the band plough through a set of fuzzed up, garage sleaze by numbers. Ordinarily, the lack of melody and samey riffs would get tedious. However, the drummer propels the scuzzy 12-bar-blues with a rip-tide of groovy beats and frenetic fills, keeping the toes firmly tapping. Exciters by name, exciters by nature!
Next up are resident band Skulls. And boy do these guys and girl rock. The three piece engineer a wall of sound big enough to induce a dizzying, but pleasurable head rush. Succeeding the rush, like any intoxicating buzz, is pure fluid euphoria.
The band fuses a heady mix of Zeppelin-esque blues rock and PJ Harvey mysticism, which is genuinely awe-inspiring. They stomp and writhe through a set of spine-shuddering songs, which showcase true intelligent song writing and breath-taking dynamics.
Coincidentally, there seems to be a string of mesmerising drummers on show tonight; Skulls drummer underpins the textures with intense ferocity and cerebral dexterity, plus he sports a gurn more twisted than any of Dave Grohl's facial contortions. I truly hope - hand on my heart- that this band gets picked up.
Last onstage are The Jim Jones Revue who sound like a head on collision between MC-5 and Little Richard. The five piece are snappily dressed and thrash out good-time rockabilly as slick as their brylcreem saturated hair styles. Although their sound is muddy, they get the crowd jiving to their 1950's inspired rock n roll.
To be honest, they lack the magic produced by Skulls and their revivalist sound gets slightly irritating after about five or six songs. None the less, their balls-to-the-wall performance is impressive and it is a joy to behold the crowd as they jig along to the relentless groove.
Author: Jamie S
Venue: The Talking Heads (Southampton)
Found in: Live Reviews