Country rock n roll.
The Deadbeats by name therefore The Deadbeats by nature?
Not necessarily so. The Mancunian five piece may be a dandy looking band with their choice of hats to be commended but thankfully for all concerned, the music was in place to back it up.
The start of the gig was so loud that it sent a jolt through the entire venue, waking up or startling a few folk, which can be no bad thing. You also have to admire a band that come onstage to be welcomed with a few pitchers of beers being put on stage for them.
If the attire never gave the game away, the loose country rock that was showcased early on in the set indicated the bands influences while lead singer Sam Hammond had a strong twang that would fit any country-rock record.
It's the kind of 1970s rock where all the genres started to blend together and was the time when The Rolling Stones were at their peak due to their merging of styles and stretching out from their previous albums. Okay, lets not get crazy with the hyperlative comparisons but The Deadbeats work because they are capable at pulling so much together. Psychedelic rock, bluesy rock, country rock, its all meat in the pot for the band and they turn their hand to it all rather well.
New single, 'Hotel' wouldn't sound out of place on a Kings of Leon record (a compliment from this writer) as it has that no-nonsense style with a Southern tinged lilt. With The Deadbeats hailing from Manchester, God only knows where they picked that up from but when it sounds as good as that, theres no need to quibble. The bass interlude came to the fore of the song and provided a good counterbalance to the rest of the bluster on show. This would be the song to actively seek out to help form an opinion on the band.
The harmonica riffs and keyboard stabs were becoming a vital component of the bands sound as the set continued, and again, any band looking for a favourable opinion from this writer, need only dust down their cowbell and give it a rattling. As you've probably guessed so far, theres nothing startlingly new about the band but what there is has a freshness that prevents the songs becoming pastiche.
In fact, the only moment where the line of pastiche appears to be crossed is in the opening of 'Bad Fruit', with its rinky-dink piano sounds sounding questionable but when the main body kicked in, they thoughts were consigned to the bin. The track mutated into a frenzied rocker but also included a section that can only be described as the bastard country bumpkin cousin of Franz Ferdinands 'Take Me Out.'
To make matters worse on that scale, the band even have a track called 'Moonshine.' Thankfully, it turned out to be another good song and the laughable element of the title can be glossed over. So in spite of the slightly pastiche element which some may label the band with, there was so much to enjoy and take from The Deadbeats set that it would be foolish to say anything other than the set was a rousing success.