It’s always fun to hear fun, loud, exciting, dirty, bare bones “pedal to the metal” with a touch of sleazy rock and roll show. Lethbridge’s best kept secret Theoretically Brewing is starting to have music on their patios.
So an enthusiastic cohort of local punk and metalhead relived a reimagined ’80s night of high octane, head banging fun at Theoretically Brewing with local rock band Hell Diablo, Vancouver’s Rebel Priest and Toronto’ s Deadwolff, June 30.
Hell Diablo had their usual greasier look as the slammed through tracks from their excellent CD “Blood is the New Black,” and added a couple of new songs from their upcoming new album. As usual, “Cold Hearted Man,” “Nowhere Road” and “666” were among the highlights.
A new one “ I’ll Be your Maniac” has a lot of potential.
They supplied some snarling riffs, matching Tyler Brownfield’s vocals and bluesy / stoner rock solos from Taylor Ackerman.
Rebel Priest and Deadwolff were Sharing Deadwolff’s double bass drum kit, so changeover was fast.
Vancouver’s Rebel Priest kicked things up a notch, drawing from the best of the early 80s. So there were plenty of greasy riffs, big solos and gang vocals.
They played songs from throughout their career, this being their first visit to Lethbridge as Rebel Priest, though frontman/bassist Jayme Black, dressed with a touch of glam rock influence, has been here before with other bands .
A couple early highlights were “ Electric Lady” and “ Back Alley Blues.”
They plat\yed their new beer drinking anthem Coat Check Girl from their latest EP “Lesson in Love”
Just to underline the ’80s influence, they turned Hall and Oates’ pop hit “Maneater” into a high octane metal song.
They ended with the two songs from the new eP that they made videos for — “Lesson In Love” and the outstanding “Dive Bomber.”
Toronto trio Deadwoolff embraced the spirit of the ’80s, looking like they just stepped out of 1982 with shag hair, moustaches, skinny jeans and high tops.
There was a plenty of gritty guitar riffs and smoking guitar solos and an endlessly throbbing bass.
Frontman/bassist Thomas Wolff leaped around and traded places with guitarist Bobby Deuce, each singing into each other’s microphones.
They played their new EP including the highlights the Judas Priest inspired“Pedal to the Metal,” “Double Up” and “Six to midnight”
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor