In the middle of a Brecon summer heatwave, this had to be one of our hottest and most exciting shows ever, as we welcomed some old and new friends for a sell-out audience at the Muse.
To start off the evening, Ruzz Evans wowed us all with his intense and rhythmic blues-rock guitar skills. Authentically retro in every respect, Ruzz launched into ‘Who Do You Love‘ with impressive fervour and rhythmic attack.
His tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan – a faithful cover of ‘Six Strings Down‘ – was much appreciated by the audience, and his own compositions, ‘Movin’ On‘ and ‘Under Your Spell‘, saw him depart from retro blues into more thoughtful, personal territory.
Ruzz mentioned that he was far more accustomed to performing with a backing band, but perhaps most impressively, his guitar virtuosity enabled him to summon up versions of the Shadows’ ‘Apache‘ and Creedence’s ‘Have You Ever Seen the Rain‘ that more than did justice to the sound of their original full groups. Finishing up with a tasty bit of slide guitar and some fine covers of Beatles and Stones numbers, Ruzz set the stage perfectly for the whirlwind that was to follow…
“Before there was Beaux Gris Gris, there was Well Hung Heart” – and what a mighty band they turned out to be!
This was unashamed, unapologetic, raunchy rock & roll, with tons of attitude.
Greta Valenti never fails to astonish with her incredible stage presence and superb vocals – we have said it before, but she really is the consummate frontwoman. How on earth she manages to keep up such boundless energy for a whole set of that intensity is a mystery. An absolute force of nature, with blue hair flying wildly everywhere, she charmed the audience, as ever, with her charisma and commitment.
Robin Davey on lead guitar was – as always – brilliantly creative, alternating between power chords, blisteringly bluesy solos… and then mischievously dropping back to the most entertainingly minimalist solo we have ever heard on ‘Made for Leaving‘.
The band as a whole are an absolute powerhouse, with drummer Phil Wilson and bassist Charlie Kay punching out incredibly strong rhythms and keeping the whole show on the road. At times you can detect hints of their rock influences – an occasional ZZ Top guitar riff, or a hint of Led Zeppelin evoked by Phil’s thunderous drums. Apparently, this was the first time that bassist Charlie had played many of the songs, which is just crazy: she was flawless and sounded like she had always been there.
It’s hard to pick out favourites from their set, because there really was no option but to get up and join in with the enthusiastically head-shaking audience. However, stand-out moments have to include Greta’s ominously menacing vocals in ‘This Is Not Love‘, some searing guitar soloing by Robin on the powerfully bluesy ‘You Got a Hold on Me‘ (destined for their next Beaux Gris Gris album), and a funky rendition of ‘Psycho Killer‘, with Charlie acting as a very fine Tina Weymouth.
As their set drew towards an end, they somehow summoned up even more energy for perhaps the most powerful trio of concluding songs we can remember at the Muse. Their own delightfully bad-ass rap diatribe, ‘Bullshit‘, was followed by a superb cover of ‘Creep‘. And after that, there was really only one place they could go next to ramp the power up even higher: a stupendous ‘Whole Lotta Love‘, supplemented by Greta’s improvised rap lyrics, sent the audience home exhausted, perhaps a bit stunned, and mightily impressed.
They say that they plan to merge their two bands, Well Hung Heart and Beaux Gris Gris and the Apocalypse. Given that both bands are up there with the very finest we have had the pleasure of hosting in Brecon, the result is sure to be unmissably explosive.
Thanks to all of these fine musicians, to everyone at the Muse for their hospitality, to all of the team involved in making the gig happen, and, as ever, to the enthusiastic audience for supporting the show.
wellhungheart.com
www.thebluesrevue.com
Photos by Barry Hill
Review by Jim Kerslake
