The Bullycats
Live (Fever Dog / The Beaux Hardts / Floors and Walls)
Surely a broken leg would put a spanner in the works for your average rock band, but newcomers, Fever Dog, manage to get away with it perfectly. First to grace the stage, in a four band line up, these radio rockers get the evening off to entertaining start.
The injured frontman is poised on a stool, as he introduces his band and rolls straight into their first track ‘Thorn in my side’, with a superb sound and cooler-than-thou stage presence. They really warm up what’s set to be a great night with some talented riffs from their own songs and a practically flawless cover of The Raconteurs ‘Steady as she goes’. Near flawless as the singer’s voice has that unique edge that makes Jack White so intriguing.
Fever Dog’s style can only be described as a medley of rock and blues with just a touch of indie. A mixture of top rate tracks, they prove that, like any rock ‘n roll band, the set just isn’t complete without a ballad, and this time it comes in the form of the heartfelt ‘Nothings Changed’. Despite the mellow performance, no one seemed at all phased by the singer’s sit-down approach, in fact, when he apologised all one fan could shout was ‘f**king cool hat tho!’
After a quick changeover, The Beaux Hardts take over and immediately took on the job of entertaining the crowd, provoking some movement and dancing by the stage. The two piece band seemed like a nice gimmick with the singer changing from one mic stand to another, but it seemed to lack something (namely a bassist). The set was packed with frantic drumming and the odd catchy hook, but their metal style seemed to have no direction, being a tad self indulgent.
The next band up, Floors and Walls, oozed charisma with their funky hip hop and alternative tunes. Rap vs punk, with obvious influences from bands like Rage Against the Machine, they kept heads nodding and even the stiff buggers at the back were enjoying themselves!
Every track was danceable and catchy and they all looked like they’re having fun – a quality which rubs off on the audience. The frontman proved his talents on many occasions, holding a decent tune before snapping straight back to rap.
The crowd gained in size and spirit as the night went on and as The Bullycats took the stage their energy was impressive and infectious. The small room has packed out and everyone’s clambered to the front. It wasn’t long before knowing the songs or not made no difference to the crowd, all and sundry dancing along or at least tapping and nodding to their addictive choruses.
The band were effortlessly comfortable and clearly enjoying themselves making it really hard to take your eyes off these guys. There’s just that something about them. Maybe it’s the charismatic frontman with his frantic dancing, husky voice and every ability to reach those high notes. Or it could just be that they’re simply outstanding live and reel off one fantastic song after another. Songs like ‘You can’t let me go’ and ‘Hold me Down’ boast a flawless marriage between genius guitar work and rough edged vocals for that ballsy, blues rock.
With the drums as a backbone for their fantastic style, they’ve perfected a mix of modern rock with the rawness and riffs of a classic rock band, even throwing in a funky Beatles cover.
Most definitely one of the best bands I’ve ever seen, signed or unsigned.
It should be made a musical crime never to have seen these guys.
The Bullycats Articles
Written by Brayer on
