Right, time for a field trip. Where to? Bluesbunny finds an invitation to the Big Bash in Whitburn in his pocket. It is in the Miner's Welfare Club. That means cheap beer and there are no less than five bands - Ewan Butler, Dropkick, The Scuffers, The Strands and the Dead Sea Souls. That should do nicely for the difficult task of keeping Bluesbunny amused on a Saturday night.
Ewan Butler is the opening act tonight. A local boy from just down the road in Bathgate, he looks quite at home on stage even dedicating a song to people with curly hair just like himself. He has some strong local support with him so he gets a good response too. Showing a notable talent for the nuances of life in his song writing, especially "Street Rogues", and a not inconsiderable amount of charisma, he rattles through a short but uplifting set. There is no shortage of singer songwriters in the Central Scotland area bur Ewan Butler distinguishes himself from the crowd with his youthful enthusiasm and sharp observations on life.
Occupying the next slot are Edinburgh band Dropkick. The master popsters have come to Whitburn to entertain us with some songs from their upcoming album "Dot The I". It has been a while since Bluesbunny has seen Dropkick live and it has to be said that they have become a very tight band. Of the songs, "Backdoor Key" impresses the most (Bluesbunny might just have been singing along to this one…). Just the thing to replace that gap in your record collection left by the Housemartins and the Beautiful South. Andrew Taylor's drumming seems a lot more relaxed than before and there are always the sonic joys of some Beach Boys' style sibling harmonies to lift the spirits. They don't really go in for a bit of banter with the audience between songs preferring to let the music do the talking. Make no mistake however, they have improved immensely since last seen and are shaping up well.
Time for Bluesbunny favourites The Scuffers to take to the stage. Here's one for the books as the normally laidback band have metamorphosed into a band that really works hard for your attention. Big Gav Wallace is his usual charismatic self but you could not fit a ring pull between the rest of the band. In fact, they make the whole performing thing look easy. It is still good time honky-tonk music with that sentimental edge but it is now delivered with real determination. Like Dropkick, The Scuffers have brought some new songs tonight but they do not forget to include old favourites like "Lovesick Blues" and "Holler". It may not have been the ideal venue for their music but they manage to convert a few more people to the Scuffer sound. Music to raise your drink to without a doubt.
For a change of pace and style, the next band are The Strands. Local lads, they bring a very polished brand of loud rock music to the Miner's Welfare. It is a sound designed to scale up all the way to a stadium with Calum Bell's drumming driving things along with precision and style. "Ruins" pretty much proves that they can deliver the goods in writing rock songs too and they certainly seem to be appreciated by the crowd. Not too difficult to see why as this is crowd pleasing stuff that you can sing along to whilst punching the air. They stick pretty close to the recipe book throughout their set managing to squeeze all the important rock clichés into "Never Enough". They do manage to throw in a bit of humour in the intro to their last song "You Got About" dedicating it to "any slut" as they fire up the smoke machine. A band with real Kerrang appeal.
The last band on tonight is the Dead Sea Souls. Talk about targeting your audience. There could not have been a better band for the audience demographic. That is not to undermine their abilities, of course, as their ska flavoured funk would get the dead up to dance. They don't do poetry- or subtlety - as "Young Team" proves but they sure know how to fill a dance floor. You can see that they should do well commercially too as the songs, whilst simple, are infectious and danceable and that is not an easy thing to achieve. With every song being greeted with a rousing reception, you can see that they have many fans with them tonight. Particular credit is due to the fluent and relaxed guitar from James Sweeney that really caught the Bluesbunny's attention. The party spirit was in full flow as the Dead Sea Souls as they tore through "Natural Progression". How could we tell that the party spirit was in full flow? Several male members of the audience had actually stripped to their underpants in a futile attempt to improve their dancing ability! Some cursory research indicated that this was a normal occurrence at a Dead Sea Souls gig. An excellent live act.
No complaints tonight as all the acts did well. The Big Bash at the Whitburn Miner's Welfare is a very enjoyable event and is well worth attending. It was well organised, had cheap drink, and very decent sound. Makes you wonder why the venues in the big cities rarely manage anything of this quality. Anyway, time for some chicken pakora.
Where once were jobs, there is now music. Good music at that. Bluesbunny hopes that he gets invited to the next one.