Shanda and the Howlers at the Golden Tiki Saturday June 4, 2016

Las Vegas' premier 50's R'n'B/60's Soul outfit, Shanda and the Howlers made their Golden Tiki debut this evening to a crowd of swingin' supporters, dancers and, yes, howlers!

Led by the Big Maybelle-like blues belter, Shanda, the Howlers set fire to a couple of sets of cool covers and hot originals. Drummer Keith keep the dancin' beat going, while Luke's bass gets ya shimmyin', Micah adds fine sax flavoring and guitarist Trevor fills in the tasty, growlin', blues-based licks, despite having a torn ligament in his hand!

I totally dig Luke's cool backing vocals on "Baby, You're the One", Trevor's slide guitar on "Don't Do Much", which also included some nice guitar/sax trade-offs, they snarl through the Sonics' "Shot Down", give us a soulful ballad with groovy dynamics that reminded me of the best of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, got everyone singing - and dancing, with Shanda joining in -  the call'n'answer in Huey Piano Smith's "Don't You Just Know It", they throw in a country song, just to show that they can, do a smouldering take on James Brown's "I Go Crazy" and got everyone to participate in the frat-rockin' "Shout!".

Las Vegas has some real talent flowing these days and this combo is right up there with the best. See 'em whenever you can!