Graveyard Johnnys, Shakeout, The Long Tall Texans.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 7th February 2009.

Thankfully, Upbeat Promotions decided that the show must go on, despite all the snow and ice that has virtually brought the country to a standstill this week. This psychobilly night opened promptly at 8pm. It's a genre of music that has seldom, at Esquires, had the whole evening dedicated to it. Despite initial reservations, I was at the evening's end, ready to applaud such a farsighted idea.

I feel what made the evening special was the appearance of the first band called GRAVEYARD JOHNNYS. Despite a long, horrendous journey from their hometown of Newport, South Wales, they were the most charming of guests with, I must say, a cheeky sense of humour. As I chatted to them after their performance, the trio revealed that people had mistakenly thought the band were called Tesco Value Brandy!! The error might have originated from the posters and flyers which were printed with the name of the supermarket's liquor! The said bottle though, was in the hands of the band and they very kindly offered me a swig, which on this bitterly cold evening was gratefully accepted! The Graveyard Johnnys comprise Liam Collins (guitar, vocals), Tom Lord (drums) and Joe Grogan (upright bass, vocals). Of their impressive set, it's the catchy and singalong "Voodoo lover" which I enjoy the most. Also of note was "Streetblocks and city lights", which coincidentally is the name of the band's current album, which hopefully shifted a few copies here tonight. The trio seemed to make a lot of new friends and they are due to appear at the forthcoming Bedlam Breakout festival in Northampton. Meanwhile, perhaps promoter Mojo will be persuasive enough to get Graveyard Johnnys back here at Esquires in the near future.

With the large stand-up bass dominating every band tonight, it as time to see it again being manically thrown around by our next visitors SHAKEOUT. Phenomenally inspiring and energetic, they too had their fans in attendance. Their set, for me, was dominated by a song called "Like a wild man". A high spot for the quartet.

With the psychobilly tunes being played between bands, it was now time for everybody here to enjoy THE LONG TALL TEXANS to their hearts content. There is to be spotted spasmodic be-quiffed rock'n'roll jerking and a-jiving breaking out around the room from this mixed-age group of fans. This Brighton trio certainly know how to put on a dynamic stage show. Although the one-tracked evening of psychobilly sounds does begin to wear me down a bit, I particularly enjoyed the LTT song called "The indians". With shouts for an encore, the loyal fans were rewarded as The Long Tall Texans played a couple of extras. The evening was probably a gamble, but it seemed to pay off.