| |
Whiskyfun
Home
(Current
entries)
Concert
Review
Index
(All Reviews
Since 2004)
Leave
feedback
 |
Copyright
Nick Morgan and crew
|
|
|
Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
|
 |
|
HAYSEED DIXIE
The Forum
Kentish Town, London
Sept. 14th 2005
by Nick Morgan |
 |
I
blame this gig on a good friend of mine, Ol’
Misery. Every now and again Misery (as I like to
call him) sends me compilations of his favorite
sounds, normally stuff like Bangladeshi funeral
chants sampled with the best of Brian Wilson’s
Smile. Exhilarating stuff! Anyway a few months ago
a Misery special dropped on my doormat. Half way
through, just as I was giving up all hope, I was
stopped in my tracks by a country tune, “What
was that?”. I played it again and realized
to my delight it was a bluegrass pastiche of that
great rockers’ favourite, Motorhead’s
‘Ace of Spades’, by a band called Hayseed
Dixie. I was hooked – or so I
thought. Hence the gig.
Big mistake. Hayseed Dixie are a one joke band,
playing frenetic ‘rockgrass’ renditions
of a comical variety of vaguely heavy metal tunes,
ranging from AC/DC (Hayseed Dixie – get it?)
through Kiss, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. They
even manage to include the marvelously funny Outkast
and the less amusing but highly fashionable Franz
Ferdinand. The problem is that once you’ve
got the ‘joke’ of each song, normally
at the start of each arrangement, then each one
frankly sounds pretty much the same. It’s
like hearing a one-dimensional stand-up comic doing
jokes about his mother-in-law all night, and about
as interesting. That’s why we left early. |
 |
That’s
not to say that the band isn’t without talent.
Singer and fiddle-player Barley Scotch (aka Nashville
recording studio owner and PhD-holding Guardian
reader John Wheeler) sings and plays strongly, and
does his best to engage the audience with ‘comic’
patter (more of which later) as their interest patently
wanes as the night goes on. The guts of the band
are provided by Don Wayne and Dale Reno, on banjo
and mandolin. These ‘boys’ are sons
of the famous banjo picker Don Reno, who co-wrote
‘Duelling Banjos’ back in 1955, or thereabouts.
And their playing, despite the comedic bent, is
of the highest quality. |
| But
from the look of it both Don Jnr. and Dale were
with their Daddy at the time, for they both look
to be the wrong (oops, I meant to say the right)
side of 50. Now despite his advanced years Dale
burst onto stage not in bib and braces, like the
rest of the boys, but a cut-off B&B outfit in
tribute to AC/DC’s Angus Young (headband and
all) , and for the first few numbers does a pretty
good and laughingly incongruous Angus routine with
his mandolin. But time takes its toll on us all,
and as Dale slows down he begins to seek frequent
refreshment from the huge tub of iced beers that
sits behind the band. As a consequence he takes
increasingly prolonged absences from the stage for
‘relief’. |
| But
that’s ok, because Barley Scotch is there
to drawl though a parody of a good old boy routine
that like the songs becomes increasingly threadbare,
complete with a Alabama 3 revivalist religion thing.
And lots of beer. Now I guess it may be an attempt
to jolt the straight-laced sour faced PC majority
out of their sanctimonious smugness, but in the
end it’s flat and repetitive. A discourse
about ‘ass’ and breasts (both of which
feature heavily on the cover of their new album
A Hot Piece of Grass), is followed
by one about women’s pubic hair (it’s
supposed to be a George Bush joke), NASCAR (it’s
an American sport apparently) involving more breast,
‘ass’ and beer, and divorce, which brings
on more of the same. |
 |
In between, in addition to the covers, we also get
some of the boy’s own tunes, most notably
‘I’m keeping your poop (in a jar)’,
and for whisky lovers, ‘I married the moonshiner’s
daughter (she made me liquor all night long)’.
Ouch!
Ho hum indeed. Well, it maybe that my sense of humour
is failing me (actually I don’t think it is)
but this all seemed to add up to something pretty
lightweight. A decent idea executed well, but not
one that really adds up to an hour and a half in
a concert hall, or for that matter forty minutes
or so on a disc. So if you have to listen to them
think hard about buying an album; maybe get in touch
with Ol’ Misery first. - Nick Morgan (concert
photographs by Kate) |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
|
|
|
|
|
There's nothing more down there... |
|
|
|
|
