Normally Bluesbunny would do a nice preamble at the start of a live review. Something about the nice dinner that he had just had. Or the quality of the ale at the venue. Perhaps even some musings on the meaning of life and the way his warped mind has linked it to the bands that he is about to hear. Not tonight, however. Running bit late, Bluesbunny heads down into the basement at Nice and Sleazy in Glasgow, pulls open the door and just gets slapped in the face by loud, raucous music. Glasgow's own Grease Monkeys are on the stage and they are not taking prisoners. Drums pound, guitars shriek. This will be the real thing, then!
It has been a good week for eardrum bursting, in your face, music (Sara & the Snakes, the Fnords and Spookey on the Monday night) and tonight would turn out to be another fine example of why you should always turn the volume up. Loud, proud and all in the name of entertainment of course, but this is not background music. Jagged guitar riffs punctuate their songs. Part punk, part garage, they look, and sound, as if they belong in this red painted basement. They don't do songs as much as chants. Crowd pleasing chants at that. With no pretensions at all, they do what they do very well and they make a very refreshing change from the surfeit of self obsessed singer songwriters that contaminate the airwaves these days.
Next up is Scott H Biram. If you want an original, then he is your man. He looks like a deranged redneck and plays like he lives the rock 'n' roll lifestyle to the max. An anachronism in this digital age, he sounds like he belongs on a scratchy old 78. We notice that he even has a megaphone with him. It doubles up as a siren adding some truly Beefhartian moments to his angry country blues. It is a stage show (but not as we know it …). There is humour there too as he announces that he shares his birthday with both Muddy Waters and Robert Downey Jr before launching another assault on his trusty Gibson guitar. Anyone who can make Glasgow's' resident madman Dave Arcari look well balanced has to be treasured (or maybe just handled with extreme care). Scott H Biram is an analogue man in the 21st century. We'll drink to that and so, without a shadow of a doubt, would he. Bluesbunny is glad that musicians like him are still around and touring but we will be making sure that he goes nowhere near our sister.
Rounding things up for the evening are the Black Diamond Heavies. Funnily enough, Bluesbunny thought that Scott Biram was the headliner tonight. Certainly, no band in their right mind would like to follow him. Perhaps, therefore, the Black Diamond Heavies are not in their right mind. Certainly they start by announcing that Scott Biram is having party later in his hotel room and that we should bring booze and our sister. That kind of sets the tone for the show with this two piece band (Van Campbell on drums and John Wesley Myers on keyboards and vocals) providing the sort of music that mixes languorous southern groove that Little Feat used to make with the snarling energy of the Stooges. Whilst they are considerably more aggressive than your average chart band, they do not approach the madness we have just experienced with Scott Biram. This is the kind of music best experienced with large amounts of strong drink (with perhaps a controlled substance on the side). It might well have been the drink but that Fender Rhodes sound made us wonder if Mr Myers was about to launch into the theme from "Taxi". Thankfully that did not happen and those growling vocals reminded us Tom Waits on his angrier days with a crowd taking a special liking to the thunderous version of "Guess You Gonna Fuck It Up".
The venue sound was well up to the mark and a good time was had by all. In terms of picking a winner for tonight, that is a bit of a challenge. You have got to take Scott Biram out of the equation as there ain't no one quite like him. That leaves the Black Diamond Heavies and the Grease Monkeys. The Grease Monkeys gave one hell of a good showing tonight so they get our vote.