Boo Tikis
It’s an early start and finish for this latest instalment of Dracula’s garage as a fair few of the packed crowd are off to see the Dead Boys show in town later. Our host Dave Checkley is focusing his attention on the wonderfully named Boo Tikis with Lyse on drums and Robber Byker of Gay Bykers on Acid on bass and backing vocals. The set is fast paced with surf rock guitar, melodic bass accompanied by Lyse’s Jesus and Mary chain style drumming. These tracks build on their 2020 album release Electric Desert and some have a similar feel.
‘Purple Skies’ starts the show and they don’t let up from the off. ‘I Want You’ and ‘Puttin the Move On’ follow. These songs have a real driving feel and are very infectious. Some of the titles are wonderful and dark, ‘Oedipus Hex’ and ‘Isola Della Mort’ have inventive grooves to match their tiles with some great guitar and bass licks and tight drums that seem to skip along effortlessly.
‘Leave Me Alone’ leads us into ‘Diabolo 66’ from Electric Desert. There are some dark songs here and the final leg kicks off with the happily titled ‘Here Comes Death’ and the set ends with ‘I Wanna Change Your Mind’, ‘A Girl Like You’ and the excellent ‘Place in the Queue’.
Great set and I hope to catch them again very soon.
https://thebootikis.bandcamp.com/
The Head Hunters
The first and last time I saw the Head Hunters was in the Wagon and Horses so must be a while ago now. This new line up of Ozzie, Birchie, Jez Miller and Nelson of King Adora fame have played a few gigs now including London’s Hope and Anchor and more recently the Blues Club at the Hare and Hounds and the Night Owl in Brum.
With the pedigree and musical history of the band members this show featuring Gunfire Dance songs, and tunes from the band members times as members of the Brian James Gang and playing for Walter Lure of Johny Thunders and the Heartbreakers this show was always going to be a banger.
They start with ‘Bliss Street’ with its crazy guitar riffs and a classic chorus they all throw out with Ozzie leaping around on his drum stool battering the kit. They follow this with a class version of the Heartbreakers ‘Take a Chance’ before launching into ‘You Got Me Hummin’ and the slow bluesy groove that is ‘Pretty As Sin’.
They play a cool version of the Brian James song ‘Aint That a Shame’ which shows the quality of the songs he crafted and it fits well in the set. I can’t believe that came out in 1979. They continue the onslaught of their wonderful dirty rock and roll straight out of the dolls, thunders and pistols school with ‘Hour x Hour’ and ‘Bad Things’
They bring the show to a climatic end with the classics of ‘Bird Doggin’, ‘Blue’, which for me is the best song of the afternoon and covers of The Kinks ‘I Need You’, and 60s classic ‘Night Time’. They finish with New York Dolls ‘Chatterbox’ dedicated to Walter Lure who kept them amused with stories from his career as they travelled to gigs as part of his band.
This was an excellent show with choruses and the playing was top notch, with Nelson playing some blinding lead. The original Gunfire Dance album ‘Archway of Thorns’ was a great album and it was good to see their songs released in 2022 on ‘Witness to the Crime.
I will no doubt pop along to their show at the Victoria on 4th May 2024. Good to see Ozzie back behind a kit and I bet that foot pedal is a game changer.
