When White Cowbell Oklahoma roars into town, you know you are going to be entertained and when you add Big John Bates and Netherlands rockers the Paceshifters into the mix, it easily equals one of the best shows of the year for rock and or rollers.
So when the caravan rumbled into the Slice, Nov. 21, that’s exactly what a close to capacity crowd got.
I caught the tail end of a frenetic set of Hives style garage rock and punk from the Paceshifters. They were hot and sweaty as they jumped all over the stage and knocked a microphone onto the dance floor.
Big John Bates were in fine form with their new line up and their new spooky, gothic southern rock along the lines of Southern Culture On the Skids.
They payed a menacing , spooky and intense set of mostly original music powered by stand up bassist Brandy Bones’ haunting voice which was well contrasted by frontman/ lead guitarist Big John Bates’ ragged, more rockabilly influenced voice.
Leanne Laboucher’s cello, which while could barely be heard over jangling Gretsch and rattling drums, provided extra ominous undertones.
Brandy Bones wandered into the audience , stand up bass raised over her head while Bates tweaked his malfunctioning effects unit and wandered over to the bar to play a bass solo until all was well.
Bates returned the favour after that, wandering into the crowd and up to the bar while soloing to bring shots back from the bar for his band mates.
Near the end of the show, new White Cowbell Oklahoma member Blind Barbecue Wilson, who has added a more metal influence to White Cowbell Oklahoma’s testosterone powered southern boogie, joined Big John Bates and the band on stage for an excellent cover of Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law” which had a more rockabilly flair, though Wilson hit Rob Halfordesque high notes on vocals. White Cowbell Oklahoma percussionist Chainsaw Charlie joined them on stage too to add extra cowbell.
To end the show, White Cowbell Oklahoma guitarist Nick, the more country of the three guitarists joined Big John Bates for an encore of a hot version of Iggy Pop’s “the Passenger,” for which Brandy Bones howled the lyrics.
With the addition of new guitarists, White Cowbell Oklahoma are even more the spiritual successor to triple guitar powered ’70s southern rock bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and my personal favourites the Outlaws and showed it.
While they are known for shredding toilet paper with a chainsaw and setting things on fire, as also they did, Nov. 21, that is just the sauce to a juicy, sizzling steak blending a variety of influences doused in kerosene and testosterone.
The fireworks started right from the beginning of their song “Cheerleader” as Chainsaw Charlie sent sparks flying into the air off his cowbell, singeing the edges of Arianna Richardson’s tinsel bed hanging from the ceiling.
They played songs from throughout their career including much of their new double album and early classics like “Shot a Gambling Man.” “ Faster than Sin” and “Put the South In your Moth. To emphasize White Cowbell Oklahoma are more than just sizzle, flaming cowbell and sparks aside, they added Dutch progressive Rock Band Focus's fiendishly difficult instrumental “ Hocus Pocus” into the solo of one of their own songs complete with note perfect yodelling from Blind Barbecue Wilson.
The guitarists played harmonized leads and riffs like it was second nature and Clem T Clemson was an exuberant frontman clad in white cowboy hat.
They were in fine form with the new line up adding more of a metal influence a lot of southern rock and boogie with country music. So there were lots of big riffs, lots of groove and those gorgeous harmonized guitar solos which have become somewhat of a lost art.
To bring the show to a close, Chainsaw Charlie fired up his namesake during “Monster Railroad” and shredded a roll of toilet paper held up on a stick held by two of the band members while the rest played the song. The crowd happily danced among the mess on the floor and tossed bits of shredded toilet paper at each other.
