Montreal psychobilly trio the Brains are always a great draw in Lethbri
dge.
Rene De La Muerte Guitar / Vocals; Colin the Dead double bass and drummer Phil The Beast were a complete blur as they blasted through a devilishly good set of short, fast paced psychobilly music with railroad track clattering upright bass, plenty of twang, a touch of rock and spooky vocals, at Inferno, Nov. 18.
They sounded like a darker Reverend Horton Heat mixed with the Misfits. They played a lot of their new CD “Out In The Dark,” including the title track and “The Witch” and crowd favourites like “Screaming,” exploring all manner of serial killers, murderers, ghosts, ghoulies, wolfmen and assorted monsters and much more.
They had a great crowd, especially for a Wednesday night.
“We love it when it is eight rows deep in chicks and guys in the back asking each other what we‘re doing right,” quipped upright bassist Colin the Dead.
The audience danced and sang along with some. There was even crowd surfing as multi-coloured laser light flashed through the smoke in the air.
It was a solid night of punk and metal music.
While I missed Penitentz and The Spacewolves, I was pleased to catch local band Gender Bender, who I haven’t seen for a few years. They played a solid set of sleazy ’90s/ ’80s rock chock full of snarling guitar riffs and lyrics, which mostly appeared to be about drinking beer. I couldn’t really understand the frontman’s vocals, but he had some solid melodies. There were plenty of wah wah drenched guitar solos and some catchy songs in their tight set.
Calgary hardcore punks the Motherfuckers may as well be made honourary Lethbians as they’ve played here a half dozen times in the past year. As always, they played their typical tight set. Tattooed frontman Dan Izzo screamed and howled, growled and grinned in the middle of the audience as he quickly stripped of off his shirt revealing a multitude of tattoos.
“Ordinary People” was an immediate highlight of their “relentless” set, which included much of their last album of that name.
