Billy Dwayne and The Creepers, Six Gun Romeo and Blacktop Deceiver at Darrells 10-20-2012

I am going to get this out of the way first thing;

Oh Canada!

What a treat it was to have some great musicians and truly nice guys visit us from the nation of Canada.  Every time I witness a band from our neighbor to the north I am reminded of their moxie, talent and style. I will fill most of that in down the page but I just had to start with a pic of the same bunch of party animals that I started with last night.

Here they are the next evening in a similar pose (less the lead vocalist). The sound tech/booking agent for Darrells warned me to be prepared for some hardy souls in Los Caminos/Six Gun Romeo and his information was correct.

I laughed after I mentioned to the band that it was great to see them hanging around after their set, Craig said "where else are we going to go?" Love those guys. And before I go any further, I need to share a pic of a highly coveted item. I don't want for much; I have a great family, awesome job, lots of toys, and a summer home. But I want one of these bad:

That is the logo for Six Gun Romeo as displayed on Craig's back. This is not a cheap print, that is a beautifully embroidered patch. I asked Mike about getting one, they are precious and not available. My life will not be complete until I get one, I would eat a bug to have that on the back of a killer leather jacket. I won't whine here, I am a grown man...oh please, please! Me, Me, ME!

Blacktop Deceiver was first up tonight, I love these guys and have seen and reviewed them before. You can read a previous post here: http://liveseattlemusicintheclubs.blogspot.com/2012/04/whitetrash-whiplash-and-blacktop.html, it was a awful venue (the Horseshoe in Woodinville, may be better by now), seeing them at Darrells was a much better experience.

As luck would have it, I forgot to purge my storage on my camera, again. Normally I would blame my camera and use it as an excuse to get a new one, but it is operator error. I had a choice to keep the pics I took of BD and not have any left for the other bands, (one of which I had never seen) or delete all and start again. I chose the later. I am hoping to post some pics that Scott took later.

Blacktop Deceiver is Jason on vocals and occasional rhythm guitar, Ron on lead guitar, Jay on slap bass and Vetala on drums. They play rock, rockabilly and blues; high energy American music.

They rocked as usual tonight; great bass, killer lead and rhythm and dynamite percussion. As usual Scott and Dan of Darrells put together an inspired show. I did get a pic of them relaxing after their set.

See Blacktop Deceiver here: https://www.facebook.com/blacktopdeceiver?fref=ts

I hope to add more notes and pics. I am a visual guy and I can't write up a good review without visual clues.

If you have read last night's review, you know that Los Caminos is also Six Gun Romeo minus one. I couldn't imagine them being any better. I haven't taken Test Pilot, their most recent CD, out of my car deck since I got it. The addition of the lead singer and the change in genres was freaking genius metamorphosis.
.

Six Gun Romeo is: Mike Moy on rhythm guitar and vocals, Shaky Shaw on lead guitar, Craig Wardle on drums and Dr. Tom O'Riordan on bass and Junior on lead vocals. Los Caminos blew my doors off last night without a vocal, tonight Junior and the boys took it to another level. It was as good a show as I have seen in a long time.

Junior was moving and bopping from the get-go. He was an imposing figure, 6'4" is my guess and when he had the mike you were paying attention. He added the rockabilly love to this ensemble. I was in heaven as I saw these killer artists burn down Darrells.

Junior was all over the stage; alternately flying, juking, jumping and dancing as he belted out the awesome vocals. He caressed his retro mike, pouring his emotion into every tune. He had an amazing set of pipes and delivered all with humor and wit. He wrote lyrics for many of these tunes, loved!

If I am drooling on your monitor there is a reason, this is what gets me out of the house in the evening, what sits me down at the keyboard the next day. You must see these guys live, they have energy and talent, the best of the genre.

Mike was laying down the rhythm on his gorgeous Gretsch.

Then Shaky pulled out his identical beauty.

Craig is an exceptional drummer, driving the band with his marvelous style and energy.

I had waited for a special pic at the end of their set. After the final tune last night Craig immediately tossed his sticks up in the air and stood up. I figured he would do it tonight too. I caught it a little late but you can see one stick suspended in mid-air down by his right knee.

Tom is laying down the killer bass with steady reserve, an integral part of this stellar band.

Junior had the greatest moves, my favorite when was when he took the mike all the way down on the mount and circled it, no hands crooning the dynamite vocals.

They had the crowd up and dancing. Their rep had proceeded them as there was a lot of promotion on Facebook plus Leon and Mike pumped the show on the Shake the Shack on Friday night. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shake-the-Shack-on-KEXP/48699667862?fref=ts

Here is SweetPea and Billy Dwayne on the dance floor.

These guys are very together and have a great presentation. Friday night they had matching cool red, retro style shirts with bitchin' racing stripes and their names on patches on the front. Saturday they had matching black shirts with that super-cool patch on the back. Did I mention that I must have one...think I did. Just in case you forgot what it looked like and don't want to scroll back up to the top:

They brought lots of swag for sale. The previous evening I broke the bank and bought everything Los Caminos had. I also purchased CD's and items from the other bands. The boss (my wife) was not happy and I was put on an austerity budget. I did cobble enough cash to buy a CD. I always support the bands as much as I can. I will have to order some T's on line.

I would have found money for the panties as mine were chaffing me, but they were sold out.

One more pic of this killer band. Thanks guys for coming down and showing us how our more genteel (HA!) neighbors rock. See them here: https://www.facebook.com/sixgunromeo?fref=ts

Billy Dwayne had been waiting in the wings, well on the dance floor. He and The Creepers watched the boys from Vancouver in awe like the rest of the crowd. This was going to be a tough act to follow.

Billy and the boys did not disappoint. They were as hot as I have ever seen them. They must have called for their magic mojo deep inside. Scott and I smiled and nodded as we recognized they had brought the killer sound to Darrells tonight.

Billy Dwayne and the Creepers are Bill Piefle on lead guitar and vocals, Kevtone Guess on drums and vocals and Wesley Amundsen on upright bass. Three guys that can make a roomful of awesome rockabilly music.

Kevtone is one of my favorite drummers, he drives this great band with his skillful beats and feet that dance on the bass and high-hat.

Even during the breaks, he is playing his snare, rattling on his set so that none of us fall asleep. I love how he decorates his drums with beautiful (and modest) girls.

Billy has a great voice and plays a stellar lead guitar. He broke out his Bixby Gretsch too, this was the third one onstage tonight, his was orange. What a beautiful instrument.

I always love to watch Wesley slap the bass.  I was talking with Jay, one of the great staff at Darrells about Wesley's poor fingers. The tips must be made of leather. I wonder how he can pick anything up? I will bet he can use them as sandpaper for light jobs. My wife thought he probably uses them to clean spark-plugs on his hot-rod.

He bangs at the doghouse with so much energy that the house shakes when he plays. He has the killer style too, check out the do and the tats!

The dancers came out and the floor was filled for most of their set. There is SweetPea dancing again, this time with one of the gorgeous girls attending this evening.

Kevtone is always moving, I love to watch him work/play. Sweet man too, he is all smiles and always friendly to me.

I don't see enough of Billy, he and his boys are seasoned pros, marvelous artists who know how to keep the peeps happy. I am always feeling great after one of their sets, a sign of a memorable performer.

See Billy and The Creepers as soon as you can, you too can have that happy rockabilly feeling.

See Billy and his mates here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Billy-Dwayne-and-the-Creepers/300967686625419

Darrells is the killer place to see music of all types right up front and personal. Dan is the owner and runs a tight ship, the service is great, the ambiance sublime. Courtney is serving drinks and Jay is at the door. Scott is making sure the band can hear itself, and the audience can hear the sound clearly and never too loud. Here is Scott setting up, wonderful guy.

See Darrells here and if you are lucky enough to live in the Seattle area, attend a show. They have the best of the every genre and update their calendar regularly: http://www.darrellstavern.com/

It will be a fun but challenging week. I have the killer projects going at work and my wife and I just got a new son. My sweet boy Magoo passed away about a month and a half ago and as fate would have it, another amazing Malamute (mix?) fell right into our laps. Here is a picture of Jeep (named after Popeye's dog), life will not be the same for at least a year and a half. We will loose a lot of stuff, gain a lot of gray hairs.

Next week it is Greasers vs Surfers at Slim's Last Chance Saloon. The Hard Money Saints, Stars of Bombay and Banzai Surf will be scorching Georgetown (Seattle area). I hope I will see you there.
http://www.slimslastchance.com/shows.html