Torsdag, 22 februar 2024
On a pretty dreary night, a not-so-modest crowd of rockers braved the rain-tripping ice and made their way down to Rockefeller for some old fashioned, re-invigorated ‘70s style rock, courtesy of Dirty Honey, from Los Angeles y’all. The venue mix-tape, rounded off with the band’s AC/DC intro, set the tone for a night of music which we have all heard before, with these new songs. And it was principally new songs, as the band are touring their sophomore record “Can’t Find The Brakes”, which featured heavily in the set.
The band looked the part, in their 70s gear, broad brimmed hats and extensive hair. It’s not ironic, but it is done with good spirit. They are four good musicians playing music they love for people who love it too. We could hear echoes of Free in “California Dreamin’”, or “Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters” in “Roam”, or Led Zeppelin in “Scars”, or Aerosmith on “Tied Up”. Marc LaBelle’s vocal style is very much from this space, high-pitched, edgy, and generally clear, though there were moments when the very top end seemed to trouble him. Guitarist John Notto plays a kind of standard blues rock distilled from the legends of those times (and after), full of machismo and flamboyance, and is very comfortable producing solo after solo as the tracks unfold. His work on “Roam” was particularly good. To judge from this performance alone, bass player Justin Smolian is probably the most technically good musician on the stage. His playing on “California Dreamin’” especially was very fluid, nimble, an excellent counterpoint to the straight groove of the piece. Drummer Jaydon Bean has only been with the band since early 2023 and seems very much at home with the material already, and helps the band remain a tight unit.
They are unapologetic in their leaning on their influences. We got “Honkey Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones and “Last Child” by Aerosmith, and when “Scars” started, you would have been forgiven for thinking they were going to cover “Keep On Swinging” by Rivals Sons. Indeed, speaking to the crowd before he introduced the short acoustic section in the middle of the set, LaBelle remarked “I see a lot of Rival Sons t-shirts here…. a lot of Guns ‘n’ Roses – what, you don’t like them? Why not? [asking a heckler] You think they’re outdated? Well, we love Axl, we love Slash, we love Duff. We can’t say a bad word about those guys, they’ve always been really good to us”. The ballad “Coming Home” which followed was pretty standard stuff – but it was well executed. In fact the material in general was well played, and the crowd clearly enjoyed it. From the second number, they were clapping along, and ready enough to join in on the vocals on “Heartbreaker” from their debut record, but which had been reworked and re-released in January last year.
They also clearly value their fans. LaBelle explained that they had changed the set to include “Roam” off the new album because he had met a guy at the front of the queue who had requested it for his birthday. It’s not every band that would do that. Good thing too – it sounded great.
The highlight for the undersigned was the extended musical break in the middle of “Scars”. It was here the band took the most musical risks, with an Eastern, Mixolydian sound emerging from the music that was not hinted at by the simple form of the song. Bean played particularly well here, driving the music with a rapid snare pulse while Notto rambled and drifted, dodged and weaved, spooling off line after line and Smolian improvised around a fundamental pattern which held the music together. The audience were captured here, clapping along as Notto and Bean pushed the tempo higher and higher until the break ended and the original theme returned. It was delicious stuff which belied the simplicity of the rest of the writing in evidence.
After that, the pace rose inexorably to the end, with a mixture of material from their first two releases and the new album. “Won’t Take Me Alive” is apparently already strong enough to go into the encore, which showed a warranted confidence for a band only on their second LP.
A nostalgic show for some, but it was a crowd of all ages, which shows there is still room for bands playing this kind of music when they play it well, like tonight. 4/6
Text: Alex Maines
Photography: Anne-Marie Forker
