JACK RABBIT SLIM: FEB 09
Dave and Bobby took a short trip down to Guildford Hot 50's Rock'n'Roll Club
to see Jack Rabbit Slim on February 14th.
The date probably explains why certain other members of the band weren't allowed out to play!!
;-)
This was, as they say, the most fun you can have with your clothes on! Cracking evening. Guildford Hot 50's Rock'n'Roll Club
(listen - it's a hassle typin' all that out every time. No disrespect to the club, but d'you mind if I just put
"The club in Guildford" or something similar? I'm tired, I'm hungover, and frankly I'm lazy, ok?!). Anyway, where
was I? Oh yeah, the club in Guildford is cool. It's near enough for us to drive to in under an hour, there were loads of friendly
and familiar faces (plus some that fell into one category but not the other, and some that weren't in either),
and much fun was had catching up with Mel & Sharky, Chris & Anna, Aaron, etc before the band took to the stage.
The venue is a decent size, plenty of room for those who want to dance, the bar's in a separate room so the bar staff can
actually hear what you're ordering, which is always a welcome bonus, as it does the band's credibility no good at all being served
a round which consists of three Babychams and a Drambuie & Creme de Menthe! Anyway, I digress. Result of too much of the good
ole No. 7 last night...
The only downside with the venue, if I'm being critical, is that (as the football pundits will tell you) it's a game
of two halves. If you're at the front half, nearest the stage, the sound from the band is pretty good, but if you go to the
back half, where most of the tables are, certain frequencies don't travel so well (there is a partial divide halfway back,
which is obviously the cause of the problem). We started out standing towards the back, and the sound was very "woolly",
lots of "lower mid-frequencies" and not enough treble to make the vocals and guitar sound crisp and clean.
Sorry if that's a bit needlessly technical for you - just think of it as a tip from us next time you visit Guildford
Hot 5... the club. Stand at the front to get the best sound.
After some good rockin' sounds from Mr Pete Bruce on DJ duty, Jack Rabbit Slim (no, I'm going to be lazy with that one too!)
took to the stage, looking totally cool and bursting with energy, ready to let rip. And let rip they certainly did.
We were treated to two sets of outstanding top-drawer rockabilly, played superbly by very capable musicians and all fronted
by the energetic Mr Bob Butfoy. I'm not going to bore you with a full list of the tunes that JRS belted out (and besides,
we've already established that I'm too lazy to have bothered writing them all down!), but included in the set were
"Generous Lover", a great instrumental called "Helldorado" (which in places was strikingly similar
to our own "El Paso" - nothing sinister implied, just a weird coincidence), "Voodoo Slide",
"Long Time Dead", "Blues Caravan", "Black Dog", and an interesting medley of "Mystery
Train" into Rufus Thomas's "Tiger Man". At least, I think that's what they were all called. My one criticism
of the evening (apart from the sound problem which nothing can be done about without rebuilding the venue) would be
that there was only one thing that Bob said on mic all evening that could be understood, and that (unsurprisingly)
was when he pointed out that they had copies of all their CDs available to buy from the band at the end of the evening!
And we hope they sold by the bucketload. This band deserves to be riding the crest of the wave on which they find themselves at
the moment - they're one of the top rockabilly bands around, and this was a top night out. Even Dave, who understandably
likes a band with a piano in it and was consequently gutted that "Jeeze Louise" didn't feature the piano that's
on the studio version, yes, even Dave had to concede that this was "the best band I've seen on the circuit. Ever. Full stop.".
Enough said. Cool venue, top rockin' band. Both are highly recommended!