Cowpuncher and Shred Kelly make a hell of a double bill as a sold out crowd at the Slice noticed, Feb. 6.
Calgary alt country turned indie rock band Cowpuncher started the set with a couple of older crowd favourites “ Get In The Truck” from their 2012 EP with “Hooscow” and one of my favourites “Acetaminophen” from their 2013 CD “Ghost Notes.”
But what they wanted to do is show the crowd what they have in store for their upcoming more harder edged album “Hustle.”
New bassist Shari Rae added plenty of bottom end and excellent harmony vocals to charismatic frontman Matt Olah's lyrics.
Their new sound travels down the road of catchy garage rock. “Kiss, Kiss, Kill” was one of many newer highlights as were “High Wasted” and “Crumble.”
They played most of the upcoming CD and a lot of favourites including the cowpunk of “Hooscow” and a few tracks from “Ghost Notes” including “Raised on Radio.”
Shred Kelly are always a lot of fun and had their people dancing up a storm.
They mostly focused on music from their brand new CD “Sing To The Night” and sang the title track among many others including the highlight “Oh Family” all powered by Tim Newton’s claw-hammer banjo, Sage McBride’s ethereal voice and keyboards as band mates drummer Ian Page Shiner, guitarist Ty West and bassist Jordan Vlasschaert provided a rock solid, toe tapping danceable rhythm.
They also added older favourites including one of my favourites “ Ghost Inside My Head.” They saved their signature song “ I Hate Work” for the end of the show, melding it with Loverboy’s “ Working for the Weekend.”