One of many good things about rockabilly is it gets the pretty girls dancing.
Lethbridge rockabilly trio Bent 8 with Dino Caravaggio on guitar and vocals, Evan Herbst on stand up bass and vocals and Dean Wilson on drums were happy to oblige, Feb. 4 at the Slice.
They alternated sets with Calgary’s Buzz Elroy and the Hayseed Rockets.
The crowd of approximately 30 were warmed up by Bent 8 by the time I arrived in the middle of an entertaining set of original and classic rockabilly.
Caravaggio ripped and roared, Herbst supplied unstoppable bass and Wilson kept the chugging train track rhythm steadily rocking.
Buzz Elroy and the Hayseed Rockets kept the energy high with an unstoppable rhythm and a whole lot of Texas twang and biting Telecaster riffs which put the audience right into the mood of ’50s Sun Records.
Bent 8 were just getting warmed up in their second set as Herbst did a neat trick by jumping into a cluster of dancing girls with his stand up bass during “Baby Please Don’t Go” and got one of them to hold a steadily throbbing E note on the bass while he left to visit Tyler Brownfield working the door, then got a drink at the bar as Caravaggio experimented with a little feedback for a few bars as he returned.
Buzz Elroy didn’t do anything like that but made up for it with some charisma by looking and soundling like Buddy Holly and ever yodeled a few bars as his band kept step behind him.