It’s a Sunday night in Crumlin but when you combine Black Spiders, The Hot Damn! and a great venue like The Patriot, you can guarantee people will come out on a rainy Sabbath. With another excellent album added to their arsenal this year and some festival slots (including one a couple of miles up the road), it’s time to raise our middle fingers once more and say “Fuck you, Black Spiders,” to a hairy, sweaty band playing unadulterated hairy, sweaty rock and roll.
like their tour opening for Hayseed Dixie, they’re poles apart from this headliner, too. But just like Black Spiders, The Hot Damn! are all about giving people are great night through the power of music. It’s still rock music and going by the audience, there’s a warm response to their pop rock sound. It’s sugary sweet enough to send you into a diabetic coma but unlike pop music itself, there’s depth to it and far more enjoyable. Bounding onto the cramped stage, the quartet work their socks off to entertain and warm up the audience which they easily manage. As they blend some of rock’s heavy hitters from the less heavy end of the spectrum, there’s all manner of influences like Queen, The Darkness, Blink-182, Royal Republic, and Blondie.
It’s a set all about having fun and despite having a little too much fun themselves the night before, they’re still so slick and polished that if vocalist/guitarist Gill Montgomery hadn’t mentioned it, you would have never known. Instead, they batter through their set with grace and aplomb in equal measure, carefully peppering their readily available singles with numbers to be heard on their debut album. Vocal harmonies from bassist Lzi Hayes and guitarist Laurie Buchanan add to the Queen/Darkness/Royal Republic vibes against Montgomery’s accomplished leads. Meanwhile, she and Buchanan spar and twist their guitar work around each other with Buchanan turning in one of the best solos on “Loud and Clear” which would have sat right at home on her previous band, Aaron Buchanan and the Cult Classics.
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There’s also some meaty basslines from Hayes, especially on “Jukebox on the Radio” and she locks in perfectly with drummer Josie O’Toole who furiously batters her drumkit into submission, giving Danny Dolan a run for his money. As the ridiculously catchy “I Didn’t Like You Anyway” closes out their set, it’s a distillation of everything that is The Hot Damn! in one song with relatable but witty lyrics, vocal harmonies, a catchy hook all from a band that ensures you have a great time. Indeed, anyone that can listen to this band and not smile should probably seek medical advice.
With the crowd thoroughly warmed up, Black Spiders grab the crowd by the scruff of the neck and don’t let go, playing an ideal blend of their four albums, digging out all the old favourites and a healthy dose of recent album Can’t Die, Won’t Die. They might have some more room to play with that their predecessors but the five of them can’t quite stretch their legs like they usually do and it’s a more careful approach to throwing themselves around the stage. Regardless, they deliver their trademark thrilling show, paying homage to the glory and power of uncompromising hard rock.
Taking no prisoners, it’s a heftier set than last time around with more songs on offer. But not only that, this tour heralds the return of some of their biggest hitters which had been omitted last time around. Yes, “Si, El Diablo” is not only back but it kicks the night off, showing they’re not messing around. There’s an issue with one of the guitars for the majority of the song but the rest of the band take it in their stride, powering through and displaying professionalism, especially as when the guitar returns, it slips in seamlessly, making its presence known and ensuring the song sounds as beefy as it should. There’s also the return of tongue-in-cheek “Balls” and the evergreen “Just Like a Woman”.
Speaking of tongue-in-cheek, “Hot Wheels” and “Alright Alright Alright” from the recent album put in early appearances before a bevy of older material which sees “KISS Tried to Kill Me” also rear its head rather early. But what makes tonight’s performance of one of their most popular songs even better is the stage invasion by The Hot Damn!. Decked out in accurate KISS make-up, the four girls rush the stage and begin to attack their touring partners with toy knives. It’s a sign of the camaraderie the two bands have as well as their continued intent to make sure everyone goes home having been thoroughly entertained.
And when it’s not about hard-charging riffs, at times, it’s about going as fast as possible with “Teenage Knife Gang” basically acting as an homage to Motörhead, a blend of rock with punk fury. Likewise, later numbers “Stabbed in the Back” and “A Rat is a Rat” also run at a breakneck pace, all of them vicious and frenetic in their delivery. We get the ritual of raising our middle fingers to the band during “Stay Down” and yelling “Fuck you, Black Spiders,” an act which never gets old. It’s this big, bold, brash song with its bombast which truly encapsulates who and what Black Spiders are as a band as they worship at the altar of the art of the riff.
“St Peter” also makes its grand return, the doom-laden track as close to bringing it down a gear as it gets. For a band that doesn’t deal in ballads, they’ve got a handful of tamer tracks which skew this way or more psychedelic, particularly on This Savage Land. But this isn’t the night for those kinds of songs. The three-pronged attack of guitars works incredibly well, each of them complementing each other and no-one stepping on another’s toes, effortlessly finding balance. Adam Irwin’s bass lines are full-bodied as if wrestling his own bass guitar which snarls and growls in equal measure, working in tandem with Wyatt Wendels’ drumming which marries substance whilst knowing when to keep it simple as well as make it entertaining.
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Appropriately, “What Good’s a Rock Without a Roll” brings the evening to a close and much like “Stay Down” acts as their raison d’etre. Chunky, chugging riffs duel one another, there’s a dose of humour and you’ll want to headbang or sing that infamous line of “Eat thunder, shit lightning!” Or probably both. It may have been Sunday and close to the end of the tour but it doesn’t stop Black Spiders from giving it everything they’ve got. Rather, it would seem they’ve stepped it up a notch, turning in a performance which is now a high watermark. They’re a band that never disappoints in the live environment and are a perfect reminder of how great no-frills rock can be.
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