Knock back the moonshine and get ready for a good old-fashioned hoe down.
Knock back the moonshine and get ready for a good old-fashioned hoe down, the South is rising again with southern rockers Melonheadman. 'The Good and the Bad' is the band’s debut album and boy is it tasty!
OK, admittedly the seven-piece are from the wrong "south"... Kent, to be specific... they may not ever have been to the Southern states, they may never have tasted moonshine... but hot diggidy dawg can they play Southern Rock and that makes the other potential missing factors more than forgivable!
Sounding exactly like a modern Lynyrd Skynyrd with the sleazy crush notes, high energy guitar melodies, tinkling piano dances and more boogie woogie than you can shake a stick at, Melonheadman definitely stands out from the crowd. Their music sounds so genuine that I was practically expecting the General Lee to rock up outside my house! Singing songs about bad doctors, medicine men and wild-hearted women, you can’t help but fall for Melonheadman’s unique charm.
If I had to criticise 'The Good and the Bad' (which I really don’t want to do!), it does get a bit clichéd in places with 'moonshine' being mentioned rather frequently, but this in no way detracts from what is one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long, long time. From gentle, dancing piano melodies to full-blown dirty rock, the band cover it all superbly, making it sound so easy!
I love Skynyrd, I love ZZ Top and it’s almost as if I’ve got the best bits of both mixed together with a generous dose of modern rock for good measure. I can’t think of a single modern band or artist that has such a good grasp on the genre. Sure, Kid Rock gives it a good try but he’s not a patch on Melonheadman; I’m already looking forward to album number two!
Melonheadman have plenty of gigs listed on their Myspace page and I definitely intend on catching them live very soon to find out if they’re as good in the flesh as they are on CD. If you want to transport yourself to the toe-tapping South, I suggest you pull on your best denims, plaid shirt and cowboy boots and hot foot it over to your nearest venue!
Melonheadman is vocalist and guitarist Simon Savage, guitarist Ted Rogers, 5-string bassist Tim Farmer, drummer Rob Landau, backing vocalist Melody Savage and keyboardist Sam Woods.
To find out more about this thrilling band, check out their Myspace