My baptism of The Reverend Horton Heat came earlier this year
\nwhen I saw them play at a moderately sized club in the city which I
\ndwell. With little music background I had on the group, I didn’t
\nknow what to expect. Sweat soaked and with many drinks in me later,
\nI knew the full meaning of what they called a “Psychobilly
\nFreakout”.<\/p>\n
The next day I bought three of their albums. And they’ve become
\na signiature soundtrack for my summer so far. The Reverend, upright
\nbass player Jim “Jimbo” Wallace and drummer Patrick ‘Taz’ Bentley
\nare one of the most consistantly enjoyable trios of this decade.
\nPicture a 90s Buddy Holly with an affection for martinis and
\ncocaine and you’ve got a good idea of what The Reverend Horton Heat
\nsound like.<\/p>\n
Like Mojo Nixon, The Reverend sings about average American
\npleasures, but with a surprising amount of wit and musicianship.
\n“Bad Reputation”, “Marijuana” and “Eat Steak” are some of the songs
\non
\nSmoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em<\/i> that need no explaination about
\ntheir content.<\/p>\n
\nSmoke ‘Em<\/i> is a good introduction for a non-conformed
\nReverend fan. It’s their first major release on the SubPop label.
\nAll of their releases showcase a trio who couldn’t be tighter if
\nthey wanted to. Though an upright bass does not have the range of
\nan electric bass, Jimbo does wonders with it, providing the drive
\nfor the band. His flame-streaked bass is the centerpiece of their
\nrevved-up live shows.<\/p>\n
The Reverend’s skillful guitar playing is heavy influenced by
\n’50s rockabilly and sounds amazingly fresh today. And Patrick “Taz”
\nBentley is a great rhythm section, playing off of Jimbo’s
\nsyncopated playing. It’s a simple formula, but it hasn’t failed the
\nband yet.<\/p>\n
The humor of the band is especially evident in the song “Eat
\nSteak.” If any song could piss off a vegetarian it would be this
\nsong. With a twisted horse trot beat, The Reverend gives us tasty
\nlyrics like “Eat steak\/Eat steak it’s a mighty good food\/It’s a
\ngrade A meal when I’m in the mood”.<\/p>\n
Unlike artists such as Tricky, The Reverend Horton Heat proudly
\nwear the label of music that they helped bring to exposure. The
\nsong “Psychobilly Freakout” is a proud declaration of a new spin on
\nRockibilly. Half a full out jam session, half a psychedelic
\nexperimentation with feedback, it’s one of the songs that will
\nforever define the band’s sound.<\/p>\n
Their later works have the same intensity of
\nSmoke ‘Em<\/i>, which is both good and bad for fans.
\nThe Full Custom Gospel Sounds Of The Reverend Horton Heat<\/i>,
\ntheir next album, is pretty much the same formula, with a few new
\navenues explored.<\/p>\n
I guess that may be the main weakness the Reverend Horton Heat
\nhas. All of their albums are a fun, safe bet to enjoy. But you
\ncan’t get the full exposure of the band’s capabilities unless you
\nsee them live. It’s sort of like trying to put the energy of a
\nParliament show on CD.<\/p>\n
For those who can’t see them live, I would recommend holding up
\na convenience store if need be. They’re not an act to be missed. To
\nget started though, pick up any of their albums. If you like your
\nrock n’ roll rebellion undiluted, this band is for you. Not
\nrebellion as in Public Enemy or Clash style, but rebellion as in
\ntrue rock n’ roll excess, this band is up your alley. Grab a deck
\nof cards, eat a bloddy steak, drink about six gin and tonics and
\nthrow
\nSmoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em<\/i> down while you’re puffing on a
\ncigar during a game of spades on your payday and you’ll be a
\nbeliever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7360],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-35683","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-reverend-horton-heat","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35683"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35683"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}