The Unwieldies and the Devil's Duo at the Huntridge Tavern, Saturday May 21, 2022

 

None of my bands have played at the Huntridge Tavern since pre-Covid days (in fact, the last Swamp Gospel gig was at the Huntridge), but we felt like it was time to get back in and felt like the Devil's Duo would fit in this intimate space. We asked our pals, the Unwieldies, to join us, and they were gracious enough to do so. Hope that everyone who attended stays safe'n'heathly!

(This photo was banned from Facebook, so let's see if Blogger has an issue with it! :) )

Obviously, we have no way of taking photos of ourselves as the Devil's Duo played, so we have no documentation of our show at this time. Despite some small technical issues with the PA and a sparse crowd at the beginning, the room filled up as we played and we had a fun time literally playing every song that we know - from Johnny Cash to Tom Waits to Hank Williams to X and the Knitters to Bessie Smith and many other old-timey tunes on our acoustic guitar and banjolele. The response was good and we hope that we will get back to the Tavern again before too long.

Of course, I have ranted'n'raved about my fave acoustic act, the Unwieldies, more times that I can count and they never fail to entertain'n'impress. With a set full of tunes from the numerous CDs, they have incredibly cleverly written originals, fun arrangements of covers and, as always, some brand new numbers. The Huntridge libations aided in some fun'n'sassy repartee and the musicianship is always beyond top-notch. This eve besides Dani (guitar/vocals) and Rob (bass/vocals), they had their mainstay violinist Jack, along with dobro master Richard and banjo wrangler Erik, somehow all managing to fit in the Tavern's entertainment nook, along with a huge cigarette machine! 

Totally fun night from start to finish so thanks again to the Huntridge for hosting us, along with bartendress supreme, Emilie and manager Buck, for taking the chance on a wacky acoustic night. We'll do it again soon!

RIP Bob Neuwirth

Bob Neuwirth, Folk Singer-Songwriter Who Had Profound Impact on Bob Dylan, Dead at 82 

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recommended gigs

 Thursday 5-19-22 - Crimson Riot, Forget Me Nows, Nova Babies at Soul Belly

Friday 5-20-22 - The Psyatics with Complete Disaster at the Dive Bar

Saturday 5-21-22 - The Devil's Duo and the Unwieldies at the Huntridge Tavern

Sunday 5-22-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-23-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-27-22 - Shanda and the Howlers at Soul Belly

Friday 5-27-22 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-27-22 - Little Miss Nasty, Gina and the Eastern Block, Dead Posey at the Usual Place

Saturday 5-28-22 - Kepi (Groovie Ghoulies) at Evel Pie

Saturday 5-28-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-28-22 - Monster Zero, the Nuclear Undead, First or Last, Latest Regrets, Societies Infection at the Double Down

Sunday 5-29-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Sunday 5-29-22 - The Devil's Duo play a private party

Monday 5-30-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tues 5-31-22 - The Chords UK, the Rebel Set, TV Party, Cromm and the P200 at Taverna Costera

Wednesday 6-1-22 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast with special guests the Pluralses at the Double Down

Friday 6-3-22 - the Psyatics at the Double Down with Thee Swank Bastards and the Way Outs

Saturday 6-4-22 - The Psyatics video shoot at Cemetery Pulp - EARLY! 6:00 pm!

Saturday 6-4-22 - the Souvenairs at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 6-4-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 6-4-22 - The Pluralses, Stagnetti's Cock, Cadaver Pudding and Battering Ham at Starboard Tack

Sunday 6-5-22 -  Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Wednesday 6-8-22 - Joe Jackson at the Smith Center

Thursday 6-9-22 - Total Chaos, Soldiers of Destruction, Gob Patrol, Endless Struggle at the Dive Bar

Friday 6-10-22 - Sandbox Bullies, the Hideaway, the Devillians at the Dive Bar

Saturday 6-11-22 - Mojave Sun, the Dirty Hooks, Mother Mercury at Soul Belly

Saturday 6-11-22 - The New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Monday 6-13-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 6-14-22 - Babes and Blues at the Usual Place - live music by Thee Hypnotiques and Burlesque

Saturday 6-18-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 6-19-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 6-20-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 6-23-22 - Zeke, Soldiers of Destruction, Suburban Resistance, Downtown Death Rattle and Cutthroat at the Dive Bar

Saturday 7-2-22 - The Devil's Duo and the Unwieldies at Cemetery Pulp

Satuday 8-6-22 - Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party presents the Surfrajetts, the Volcanics and the Sheiks of Neptune at the Usual Place

Baron's Court, All Change by Terry Taylor

 

Yet another find recommended by the fine people at Ugly Things, Baron's Court, All Change is, as the cover proudly displays, "the Holy Grail of hipster novels"! Set in England in the mid-1950's, the story follows the exploits of the unnamed teenage protagonist, an early Modernist, who can't be bothered by the folks living their straight'n'narrow lives and is instead enamored with spiritualism and jazz. The first leads him to an affair with a sexy, somewhat older woman, and the later sets him on a path straight to "Charge" - marijuana! 

Loosely based on Taylor's own life, he writes in a swingin', hipster jive speak, which was quite controversial at the time, especially as he would write as people would speak, with "swear words" and depictions of bohemian lifestyles. Of course, considering the time, there are some non-PC phrasings, but nothing meant as insulting - it is just the way they spoke at the time.

As would happen in stories of this sort, the marijuana pretty much takes over - continual partying, buying, selling, etc., with some of the descriptions sounding pretty on the mark and some a bit dramatically over-the-top. Of course, there is some other drama, as well, with various women, a pregnant sister, drug dealers, violence, police and more, all told in a compelling hipster-speak.

It's a great read with a somewhat unresolved ending, as often these stories have, but highly entertaining and compelling throughout. A fun find depicting the early days of just-pre-swingin' London. Seek it out!

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - Alan Sillitoe

 

Came across this 1950's book in a kinda roundabout way, via Ray Davies talking about it in the most recent Kinks book that I read. Apparently, the Davies brothers appreciated Sillitoe's rowdy, life-loving, boozin', womanizin', well dressed, pre-Mod, sorta Teddy Boy-ish main character as well as his expressive writing style.

Seemingly at least partially autobiographical, Sillitoe's Arthur loves drinkin'n'women in the evenings, and works hard doing piece work in a bicycle factory during the day, a job that he actually doesn't mind all that much since it is one he can basically do automatically and let his mind roam free while earning the cash for his more earnest activities.

Sillitoe's style is truly engaging, with a great attention to detail while maintaining a fun and flowing storyline. On occasion his British-isms and phonetic depictions of their accents can be a bit much, but nothing that takes away from the story and while Arthur may have some character flaws (he drunkenly vomits over two strangers and beds another man's wife as you first meet him), he comes across as an intelligent, likable bloke who knows his place in the world and does his best to enjoy his lot in life.

Of course, there's plenty of drama - he gets his mistress pregnant, gets a fairly daft recommendation on how to handle it (that somehow works, although there doesn't appear to be any medical reason why it should have), and immediately bed's his mistress' sister, thereby getting numerous soldiers after him simultaneously! Of course, much more goes on, excitement mixed with daily trudgery, as Arthur's life kinda sorts itself out for him.

Great style and an engaging story about "real" people living real lives. I'm going to look more into Sillitoe's writings.

recommended gigs

 Friday 5-13-22 - Jenny and the Spurs and Dog Party with The Devil's Duo at Soul Belly

Saturday 5-14-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Dillinger Block Party

Saturday 5-14-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 5-15-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-16-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 5-19-22 - Crimson Riot, Forget Me Nows, Nova Babies at Soul Belly

Friday 5-20-22 - The Psyatics with Complete Disaster at the Dive Bar

Saturday 5-21-22 - The Devil's Duo and the Unwieldies at the Huntridge Tavern

Sunday 5-22-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-23-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-27-22 - Shanda and the Howlers at Soul Belly

Friday 5-27-22 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-27-22 - Little Miss Nasty, Gina and the Eastern Block, Dead Posey at the Usual Place

Saturday 5-28-22 - Kepi (Groovie Ghoulies) at Evel Pie

Saturday 5-28-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-28-22 - Monster Zero, the Nuclear Undead, First or Last, Latest Regrets, Societies Infection at the Double Down

Sunday 5-29-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Sunday 5-29-22 - The Devil's Duo play a private party

Monday 5-30-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tues 5-31-22 - The Chords UK, the Rebel Set, TV Party, Cromm and the P200 at Taverna Costera

Friday 6-3-22 - the Psyatics at the Double Down with Thee Swank Bastards and the Way Outs

Saturday 6-4-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 6-5-22 -  Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Wednesday 6-8-22 - Joe Jackson at the Smith Center

Thursday 6-9-22 - Total Chaos, Soldiers of Destruction, Gob Patrol, Endless Struggle at the Dive Bar

Friday 6-10-22 - Sandbox Bullies, the Hideaway, the Devillians at the Dive Bar

Saturday 6-11-22 - Mojave Sun, the Dirty Hooks, Mother Mercury at Soul Belly

Monday 6-13-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 6-14-22 - Babes and Blues at the Usual Place - live music by Thee Hypnotiques and Burlesque

Saturday 6-18-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 6-19-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 6-20-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 6-23-22 - Zeke, Soldiers of Destruction, Suburban Resistance, Downtown Death Rattle and Cutthroat at the Dive Bar

Satuday 8-6-22 - Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party presents the Surfrajetts, the Volcanics and the Sheiks of Neptune at the Usual Place

The Barnyard Stompers - CDs

 

We had a totally fun time playing with the Barnyard Stompers a couple of weeks back and while buying some merch, they were good enough to gift us with their entire CD catalog! Damn nice folks and totally entertaining! 

That said, be forewarned that this duo is extremely, almost painfully, non-PC in their lyrics about drinkin', womanizing, killin', stealin'n'beatin'! Their image is proudly "white trash" and hick-ish, although they are sweet'n'friendly and put on a charismatic, entertaining gig.

Lead singer/guitarist Casey has a fine voice, and sings like a cross between Junior Brown and Rev. Peyton (from the Big Damn Band) while doing most of Telecaster wranglin', although his wife, Megan, occasionally moonlights from bashin' the drum kit and handles some git-work done when Casey is busy with some harp playing.

Overall their sound is very country - sometimes more than others - but with a heavy, bluesy, downhome tone mixed in, along with a bit of punk rock rowdiness. The Casey Miller and the Barnyard Stompers CD (the one with the pistol/wagon wheel on the cover) is probably the most traditionally country, with steel guitar on a number of tunes and a fuller sound in general. Songs about Texas, Tennessee, Knoxsville, truck drivin', shotguns, the devil, Jesus and drinkin'n'fightin' kinda checks off all of the proper country subjects while the tunes are melodic'n'countrified, although there's a pure Tex-Mex number in "Tomorrow Ain't Promised", partially sung in Spanish, which was a bit of a surprise. 

Goin' Down to Meet the Devil (with the sorta Tenacious D-inspired drawing of them fighting the devil) starts off with more of a cow-punk, high energy sound and is generally a bit harder edged, with plenty of tough, bluesy moments mixing with their own style of country punk and they even go acoustic for "500 miles From Home" and "My Woman's Man". This 2019 release is damn near commercial compared to the loose, purposeful trashiness of some of the others - even the lyrics don't seem to be nearly as confrontational. Pretty darn rockin'!

The Drunk and Dirty live CD is certainly filthy enough simply from the song titles and the lyrics do not disappoint if you're looking for absurdly X-rated numbers with simple, country-ish singin'n'playin'. If this is indeed recorded at a live show, you cannot hear the audience and the drums are a bit buried, but Casey's voice and guitar are plenty prominent and Megan comes through when she harmonizes with Casey. Listening to this one, it hit me that Casey reminds me a bit of David Allen Coe, as well, which I assume he would appreciate. Funnily, most of these songs aren't nearly as offensive as some of their other songs - these are just funny'n'goofy, in a Rudy Ray Moore kinda way.

I dig the simple, stompin' harp-driven "Corn Liquor" that opens Outlaw With Chainsaws Part II, in kinda a chain gang chant kinda way, that moves into their usual bluesy, D-tuned, outlaw country bravado in "Payback", "Roll On", "California Kicker", "Bad Man" and throughout the rest of the album. They go acoustic for the horror movie-influenced "Saw is the Law" and rockabilly for the (I think!) anti-crack "Pipe Hittin' Daddy" and they close with the powerhouse title cut that continues the horror movie theme.

They do an acoustic gospel parody in the opening title cut for "Highway Gospel" before returning to what they do best - down'n'dirty, D-tuned country blues with more tales of chainsaws (yikes!), the devil, fightin', murder, misogyny, sinnin'n'drinkin'. Some fast, some slow, all crazy!

This duo is as nice as can be and totally fun and engaging live, but if you have an aversion to offensive lyrics, this ain't for you! But, if you have a sick sense of humor and dig raunchy country blues, check it out!

RIP Lee Angel

 

RIP Lee Angel 1940-2022 - Farewell to the Original Girl Can't Help It

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Jonny Whiteside says farewell to this influential woman.

Fans of Thee Fourgiven will recognize her from our fliers - I was, naturally, knocked out by this beauty the first time I saw her pic in a Little Richard biography that I got in the early 80's. Great story here.

Teenage Werewolves, the Psyatics, Lost Cat at the Usual Place, Saturday May 7, 2022

 

Once again, promoter Ralph Carrera of Beau Monde Productions was good enough to add the Psyatics to this fun show at the Usual Place. Being a huge Cramps fan I certainly wanted to check out the touring Teenage Werewolves whether I was playing on the bill or not and the addition of LA's all-femme garage combo Lost Cat, along with hip DJ's and burlesque made it a full night of rock'n'roll insanity.

Unfortunately, the insanity bled over to the scheduling of the night due to unforeseen circumstances, with Lost Cat apparently getting lost on their way from LA and the Psyatics having to take the opening slot, even though we still played at about the time we were originally scheduled for. DJ Cromm was spinning some great cuts before out set and we had a good time with our usual mix of garage/jazzy/no wave/ whatever the heck it is that we do! The crowd was sparse but enthusiastic and a fun way to start the eve.

The headlining Teenage Werewolves came on after us with our drummer Ron once again earning the MVP of the evening by loaning his drum kit to both the TW's and Lost Cat. The Werewolves consist of a dynamic lead singer (Jack) who actually looks like a cross between Lux and Nick Cave (!) and who comes from Lux's hometown, with two guitars (Kent and Roy) - one of which was a cross between Bryan Gregory and Kid Congo while the other actually was made up as a werewolf (!), along with Nick Knox-ian drummer, Louie, and two stunning dancers/percussionists, Kitten (who performed with the Cramps themselves in the past) and Moana adding to the visuals and the mayhem.

The set list was made up of true Cramps classics, including ravers like "Potentate", "Wighat", "Teenage Werewolf" (of course!), "The Way I Way", "Goo Goo Muck", "Garbageman", "Black Leather Lagoon", "Drug Train", "New Kind of Kick" and plenty more. The lovely Kitten actually sang "She Said" - probably the first time I've heard a female cover that one! - and dueted with Jack on another that I can't remember off hand - and she had a fine voice, as well. Encoring with "Human Fly" and "Bikini Girls" - with the bikini clad dancers brandishing light-up machine guns, natch! They pretty much knocked it outta the park from start to finish - - fab playing from everyone, Jack is a terrific Lux-ish frontman, and they all looked cool, too! Definitely highly recommended for a psychotronic good time! (Yes, I took a ridiculous amount of photos - they were certainly highly visual!)

The between bands burlesque wasn't quite as organized as the last Beau Monde show that we played, with burlesque MC Kalani appearing to be a bit in her cups, as it were, and ad-libbing and inviting most of the audience on stage and trying to convince them to all participate in some burlesque, which everyone declined (thankfully!). We did get some dancing to a Lydia Lunch soundtrack, which was interesting, but the loosenes just added to the more casual atmosphere of the night.

Lost Cat were eventually found and ended up closing the night instead of opening it. I was pretty exhausted by then, as the show was already running late and we had also played an afternoon show AND my week had been super stressful (seems a theme with me when we play a Beau Monde gig, unfortunately) and I was only able to stay for a portion of their set, but dug the trio's stripped down, kinda low-fi garage sounds with simple but solid playing throughout and cool songs. Kiki (guitar), Angie (bass) and Lucy (drums) ran through numbers with titles like "Mental", "Bitch Fight" and "Losers" (giving you an idea of their attitude) along with covers from the Headcoatees, Coasters and the Runaways, showing that they have a wide range of influences, from punk, garage and glam. I would certainly dig seeing them again when I am more awake! Hopefully, they will return to Vegas before too long.

The night was still a barrel of fun despite the looseness and thanks again to Ralph for having us and bringing out quality touring acts!

Queercore - How to Punk a Revolution, An Oral History - Liam Warfield/WalterCrasshole/Yony Leyser

 

Once again, this is a book that I simply stumbled upon and as I am not overly familiar with the queer punk rock scene as a scene (although I have obviously known quite a number of people with various identities over my decades playing music in different cities) and am always interested in learning more. As the subtitle implies, this is an oral history with numerous interviews taken from outtakes of a documentary of the same name - which is probably the best way a story like this should be told - by the people who made up the scene in their own words.

The books starts with an "Extremely Forward Introduction" by Lynn Breedlove and Anna Joy Springer that is kinda fun and certainly enthusiastic, but an outsider like me (an older, white cis-male that didn't pay a lot of attention to punk rock in general past the early 80's) was pretty lost and overwhelmed by tons of namedropping with no explanations. Warfield's "actual" introduction does actually introduce the concept of the book and its background, letting you know what you are in for and the parameters that the book is based on.

They first chronicle the late 60's/early 70's NY scene, "led" by Wayne/Jayne County, then move on to the mid-to-late 70's LA/SF scenes, which were, naturally, heavily queer, followed by - to me - an odd juxtaposition into the mid-80's Toronto scene, which apparently was literally a handful of people claiming that a scene existed, which caused one to form! In fact, the book tends to concentrate on Toronto, so I assume that people involved are from that area.

From there the chapters get a little more generic and give more of an overview of how various people dealt with being gay and being punk - which wasn't as easy even in the 80's as it was in the 70's. I have always thought about how hard it must be to find a gay partner in the music scene considering how difficult it was for me as a straight person to find someone and apparently many went outside of the scene for sexual relationships. 

Various activism is discussed, of course, and then the formation of all-queer bands - not just bands with queer members, but bands that we all about being queer, which was pretty revolutionary, despite some precedence. It turns out that zines were extremely important and influential, as well, which makes sense in those pre-internet times, as there were zines about pretty much any subject, so something as important as this was kinda inevitable. 

Naturally, the goals of the various individuals are unique to those individuals, as well, and are quite varied - and to be truthful, I'm not sure that I completely understand what some were saying (apparently some in the scene do not want things like marriage equality). But, again, I'm an old, white cis-male, so, even if I want to understand, maybe I'm not meant to.

Overall, a well-done, informative read on a specific, passionate scene that doesn't get a lot of overground press.

recommended gigs

 Thursday 5-5-22 - Shanda and the Howlers and the Rhyolite Sound at the Sand Dollar Downtown at the Plaza

Saturday 5-7-22 - The Psyatics at Garehime Park - daytime show from noon - 4:00 - come down and skate'n'rock!
Later Saturday 5-7-22- The Psyatics at the Usual Place with Cramps tribute band The Teenage Werewolves and all-female combo, Lost Cat! 

Sunday 5-8-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-9-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-9-22 - Goldtop Bob at the Founders Club

Tuesday 5-10-22 - Tigers on Opium and Zach Ryan at Soul Belly

Wednesday 5-11-22 - the Damned and Kid Congo at the House of Blues

Friday 5-13-22 - Jenny and the Spurs and Dog Party with The Devil's Duo at Soul Belly

Saturday 5-14-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Dillinger Block Party

Saturday 5-14-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 5-15-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-16-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-20-22 - The Psyatics at the Dive Bar

Saturday 5-21-22 - The Devil's Duo and the Unwieldies at the Huntridge Tavern

Sunday 5-22-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-23-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-27-22 - Shanda and the Howlers at Soul Belly

Friday 5-27-22 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-28-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at late night at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-28-22 - Monster Zero, the Nuclear Undead, First or Last, Latest Regrets, Societies Infection at the Double Down

Sunday 5-29-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-30-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tues 5-31-22 - The Chords UK, the Rebel Set, TV Party, Cromm and the P200 at Taverna Costera

Friday 6-3-22 - the Psyatics at the Double Down with Thee Swank Bastards

Saturday 6-4-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 6-5-22 -  Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Wednesday 6-8-22 - Joe Jackson at the Smith Center

Saturday 6-11-22 - Mojave Sun, the Dirty Hooks, Mother Mercury at Soul Belly

Monday 6-13-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 6-14-22 - Babes and Blues at the Usual Place - live music by Thee Hypnotiques and Burlesque

Saturday 6-18-22 - Thee Swank Bastards late night at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 6-19-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf Sunday Brunch

Monday 6-20-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Thursday 6-23-22 - Zeke, Soldiers of Destruction, Suburban Resistance, Downtown Death Rattle and Cutthroat at the Dive Bar

Satuday 8-6-22 - Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party presents the Surfrajetts, the Volcanics and the Sheiks of Neptune at the Usual Place

RIP Howie Pyro

HOWIE PYRO, D GENERATION Co-Founder And Former DANZIG Bassist, Dead At 61

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This article gives a good overview of Howie's many accomplishments, from his time in the 70's NYC band The Blessed (name taken from Bowie's "Hang On To Yourself" - they changed the line to "we're the Blessed") to his current work and his innumerable musical projects in between - even Rolling Stone has acknowledged his accomplishments. I only met him once, but he was totally nice and personable and from the outpouring of love online, he had more friends than one can count. Another taken way too young.

The Barnyard Stompers, the Devil's Duo at the Dive Bar, Sunday May 1, 2022

 

We're never quite sure where our new combo, The Devil's Duo, fits in, seeing as we're an acoustic guitar/banjolele duo covering tunes ranging from Bessie Smith to Tom Waits to bluegrass to country to acoustic punk rock numbers. So, other than a few friends' combos, we just ask around to see who will have us! I guess maybe we shouldn't worry too much, as I don't mind varied shows in general. In any case, this night turned out to be a fun one!

Our set might have been a little loose, but I thought that we did a good job entertaining the Sunday night denizens with our basic set. We got a good reaction from our version of Eddie Novack/Beast of Bourbon's "Psycho" (the Barnyard Stompers even got up to dance, since Novack is from the same area as they are) and closed the night with a ragged but fun take on the Danzig/Johnny Cash song "13" that we're working up for our gig on Friday the 13th at Soul Belly.

(Obviously, we couldn't take pix of our set, but here we were after we played.)

We didn't really know too much about the Barnyard Stompers, other than they are also a duo (and also a couple - married 8 years ago in Vegas!) and are sorta/kinda self-proclaimed (in their own way) Outlaw Country/Honky-Tonk. Of course, they also have a wide variety of influences, and they were very personable and really interacted with the audience - many of whom had seen them before. With a grunge-y D-tuned guitar (played by a fairly well-oiled Casey) and some powerful drums by Megan (who acknowledged that she was higher than she'd ever been before!)  they did some fairly straight country, some bluesy numbers and even some straight out punk rock! At one point they did a medley of an original that merged into "Kaw-Liga" (kinda politically incorrect these days, but what the heck) into a Slayer song! Later they covered Cocksparrer (!) and at other points, Casey gave Megan his guitar, which she played while keeping a drum beat as Casey played some blues harp, then did a heavy original called "Outlaws and Chainsaws" before ending with Casey by himself doing the NIN's song that Johnny Cash did! (Funnily enough since we did Cash's Danzig song as our closer!)

Like I said, they were super personable, fun and funny on stage and off and we picked up some merch, so more on that later. Once again, The Dive Bar brings to Vegas an act that might not have an outlet here otherwise, so thanks to Nate, Angee, soundman Josh and the whole Dive Bar crew!