Th' Legendary Shack Shakers, The Garage, London

Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers are a band custom built for a live experience; for someone like me, growing up in the unexciting confines of Bexhill-on-Sea, their sleazy mixture of rockabilly, punk, country and god knows what immediately evokes the neon-lit barroom scenes of a thousand Hollywood movies. They seem capture an essence of the dark side of Americana, and a sound which offers that immediacy pretty much demands a live setting. While I thankfully no longer live in Bexhill, it isn’t currently an option to see them in ideal circumstances – those circumstances obviously being a backwoods Louisiana bar with Swayze’s Dalton ripping someone’s out a troublemaker’s throat while the band play from behind a mesh grill. I have to settle for The Garage in Islington, a long-time supporter of the more underground side of guitar-based music.

After an afternoon drinking Irish coffees, we reach the venue in time to catch Yorkshire’s finest Serious Sam Barrett. If you’ve yet to hear Sam’s 12 string blend of country, folk and blues you’re missing out. His musical influences are cut with an attitude taken from growing up in West Yorkshire skateboarding and punk/hardcore circles alongside a heartfelt love of Yorkshire itself – if that doesn’t have you intrigued, then this may be the wrong gig review for you. ‘Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose’, the first song from his upcoming record, fits immediately into a set otherwise compiled of classics with some finger burning fretwork and a story which will resonate with any skateboarder to come off worse from a fight with the concrete (that means all of us). The growing crowds’ loud response is evidence of fans gained tonight.

A short break and some Quality Streets later (the sure sign of rock 'n' roll excess), JD Wilkes and co take to the stage with ‘Mud’, the stomping psychobilly opener of their newest album The Southern Surreal. Wilkes is the visual linchpin of the band’s live show, with a manic energy and stage presence which adds the finishing touch to the band’s Americarnival whirl. He buttons and unbuttons his shirt compulsively throughout a set heavy on new album The Southern Surreal, and his hand finds its way down his trousers on myriad occasions. Like a sex-crazed pervert preacher, he keeps the energy flowing between each track to ensure that there is no let up for the sweat drenched crowd. Musically, however, this is definitely a group effort. The distorted rockabilly snarl of Rod Hamdallah’s guitar underpins Wilkes’ Southern Baptist preacher-like vocal contortions, with the rhythm section underpinning both. While the band may enjoy flitting between various genres, their bedrock lies in playing tight, bluesy rock n roll. It is undoubtedly this base which keeps a hold of the group’s cohesive sound, helping to make them such a formidable live machine.

While the fact of a Wednesday night slot means that the gig isn’t completely packed to the rafters the crowd could not be described as small and, from our position by the merch stand which has become our drinking spot, it feels like we are poised on the fringes of some kind of revved up and punk infused Mardi Gras. As the last spike of distortion dies down and the last beer dreg is supped, we head out into the cold London air with a strange sense of culture shock. In the heart of England’s capital, the Shack Shakers carved out their own slice of the American South for the night. Don’t hesitate to experience it when they next return.