Review of

“The Fabulous Swampsnakes”

at The New Inn, Buckingham - 07/10/05

By: Gaby

This was by far a more mellow night than the usual sort of gigs I tend to go to but it was far from being laid back and sleepy as many rock / blues bands tend to be.

This tight little 4some tred at times what initially appeared to be a strange assortment of rock & blues covers all jumbled up together.

The sound initially was a bit poor and it seemed to take a good few numbers to warm up but once the guitars were turned up a bit and the band got into their stride we were treated to an absolute feast of some wonderful old blues tracks that for me at least, helped seal the night.

Personally I don’t really feel that the rock numbers covered were all that good,  and musically seemed to be a bit on the slow side and I would especially give “Elvis” a miss, however when it came to blues, this band had it all: a singer with the low gravely voice of Joe Cocker, a drummer with the penchant of Charlie Watts and a guitarist that could really play some mean and enticing harmonica. (A musical feast for the ears.)

This was most certainly not a blues troop that would put you to sleep. But rather one that introduced you slowly and easily to the music that inspired much of what we today call “classic rock music”. It was good to hear.

I think that the venue was way too small (as is often the case these days) and although from what I’ve heard it’s a thriving little live music venue (and I’m all for that!) it would have been nice if the band had a bit of a stage and more room so that we could at least have seen “all” the band.

Acoustically such small venues don’t lend themselves well to sound and I think this was the case for this particular evening. However; having said that, the band rose to the occasion and provided an entertaining and subtle evening with occasions of pure “blues” genius. They also had a mixed and highly appreciative audience who relished in the band’s obvious love of the genre.

No, this most certainly was not a Rock /Metal feast, but then it was never meant to be. This was a tasteful, “all about the music”, toe tapping, “real” and appreciative journey through Rocks early beginnings.

My only humble advice guys would be “stick with the blues and ignore the rock”. (Bet you never thought you would hear that from me!)

Thanks for a nice evening guys, it was a treat!