Tiger Sex, Fat Dukes of Fuck, New Cold War, Chuckwagon Experience at the Double Down, Saturday Sept 10, 2016

The first show that the Swamp Gospel played in Las Vegas was at the Motor City Cafe with guitar man Kei's Tinglerz and Kei also played with the Gospel's Brother Lenny in the garage greats, the Dirty Babies. I always been a fan of his wild guitar style, so was certainly a fan of Tiger Sex when he formed this with singer Kelly and various others on rhythms. K&K moved to Ohio a few years back and this was their first return-to-Vegas show after a short tour of the West Coast.

I missed the Chuckwagon Experience due to last minute issues with my dog right as I was getting ready to go out, but dug their surf/metal stylings when I saw them last year. Bassist Paul previously played with Tiger Sex while they were still in LV, so this was a very appropriate addition to the gig.

Made it just as New Cold War were going on, though. These cats are a LV based punk/grunge/metal combo led by guitarist/vocalist Andy Harrison and a revolving group of musicians. This evening their was a basic two guitar/bass/drums line-up, but apparently this can vary wildly, even including two drummers at time. In any case, all were fine players with a tight rhythm section, good harmonies, a little ska, a lot of raw power and some big, r'n'r endings!

There was a big turn-out for the return of Tiger Sex and they were certainly not disappointed! Due to issues with keeping a bassist, Kei decided to take care of it himself, got an octave pedal and a splitter and runs through a guitar and bass amp simultaneously! This can be tricky, but it totally works for TS! Drummer Ron (I believe - sorry, I am terrible with names) is a power house of drivin' rhythms and Kelly has a huge, raw voice and with all of their continual gigging in the mid-west, she has learned to control it well and give a great visual performance at the same time. The set was mostly originals and while they concentrate on high energy punk'n'roll, they aren't afraid to mix it up with various tempos - including a slow blues - while never relinquishing their potency. The crowd danced'n'moshed throughout the set - even on the slow tunes! - and dug everything they did, including a crazed version of the Runaways "Cherry Bomb" and, with their old bassist Paul joining them, an intense "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Unfortunately, they still don't have any recordings available, though hopefully they will soon. See them if you can, and if you live anywhere in the mid-west, the chances are that they will be playing your town at any moment!

Closing the night (at a fairly reasonable hour, even) were the Fat Dukes of Fuck, who were joined this night by hockey-mask wearing musician-about-town Jeff Murphy. I had not seen them before, but they had a metal-punk sound with intricate musicianship that kept the moshing going until the end of the night!