Music Reviews: Live, Collected, and Zombified

Has it been a week already? I hope you enjoyed the inaugural version of Marty's Musical Meltdown. Most amusing to me in this last week was the fact I got feedback at a Reculver gig from several of my industry contacts.

As promised, most of this week's content is going to be of a harder edge than last week's. But first, I start with two live reviews from a busy gigging week. The coming week will be a wee bit quieter, as I am only going to see two: Opeth on Wednesday and the Melodic Rock Xmas Bash all-dayer on Sunday. But enough of my blathering — on to the reviews.

Gig Reviews: Reculver and Murdoc

Reculver on a Blinder

Hot young hard rock hopefuls Reculver did their damnedest to produce a blinder of a headline gig on November 24th at the Underworld in cold London town. And, boy, did they achieve it! I didn’t bother to see the other two bands as I was otherwise engaged; however, I made it just in time for this storming foursome.

The four guys look and sound like 80s hard rock. The lead guitarist, Simon, throws shapes like Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame and even dresses like him. His playing has that blues–meets-country vibe. It was hard not to say, “Yee-haw!” as he introed at least one of the tunes. The rhythm section is tight as a monkey's arse, and the drummer, Jarrett, knows all the right moves. (He could do a bit more spinning his sticks... we had a brief chat about that over a few cold ones). The bassist, Jim, has the sort of cool vibe that you’d expect from any rock band bassist who doesn’t sing: he's right on the money with his playing, but he lets the lead singer and guitarist take the spotlight.

Then we come to the chap at the front, Luke. Long haired and goateed, he looks as if he stepped out of central casting for the role. He has the pipes, the charisma, and the guitar skills to get Reculver where they need to go. Unlike their previous recorded material (much of it demos), there is nothing the slightest bit grunge about this lot live. It’s pure, unadulterated hard rock with a pinch of Cinderella, Tesla, and Aerosmith. This band will go down huge in the US as long as they avoid the college indie circuit. They’d make perfect touring partners to someone like Tesla or Ted Nugent. In short: they freaking rock. Like with Tokyo Dragons & the Answer, I can't bloody wait to hear what these guys are going to do on their album (being mixed now). Oh yeah, and they are all damn nice blokes, as well. This seems to be the year for straight-ahead booze soaked hard rock in the UK. Long may it continue.

Article Author: Marty Dodge

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