Tonight’s headliners Drunk Detectives are somewhat of a local supergroup that features Mark Carter who can usually be found fronting Johnny Cash tribute Cash Converted (or on a train), Paul Tucker (The Mother Ukers, Moonbeams, Fox and the Owl… amongst various others , Mark Arnold (Loose Chippings, Dumb Poets, The Bowie Experience, The Rheumatics and a few others) along with a fine drummer Tony Butcher that has been tempted out of retirement. Hangoverhill’s Matt Black is also sporadically called upon to add his keyboard skills to proceedings. The band name is a nod towards 1970’s TV series The Sweeney and this is displayed with their Regan & Carter backdrop.
Like Interesting Wallpaper the band sound comes from a plethora of influences and the quartet sounds quite unique with their pooled musical ideas set around Mark Carters song writing. They sound like have been locked in a rehearsal room, fed a steady diet of alternative rock, punk and indie and then told to go outside and cause a little trouble.
There is something gloriously unpolished about Drunk Detectives, and I mean that in the very best possible way. They have an infectious energy that simply refuses to sit still, combining chunky, slightly ragged guitars, driving rhythms and hooks that somehow burrow their way into your head and refuse to leave.
With ‘Midlife Crisis’, complete with its delicious country twang, and the wonderfully Dylanesque ‘Loaded Dice’, they demonstrate that beneath the apparent chaos there is some seriously fine song writing. But their pièce de résistance has to be ‘A Week Next Tuesday’, the wonderfully bizarre tale of a chap doing life in prison who remains convinced that his release is just around the corner. It is storytelling with a distinctly Drunk Detectives twist — funny, slightly surreal and completely infectious.
Then there is ‘Thai Bride’, an early highlight that delves into the seedier side of life, driven along by infectious guitar licks, a relentless rhythm and a cracking guitar solo. There is a deliciously chaotic edge to everything they do, with the band clearly having an absolute ball and feeding off the atmosphere in the room.
They don’t appear particularly interested in playing it safe or following some well-worn musical formula. Instead, they throw their influences into the musical blender, give it a very good shake and somehow emerge with something that sounds unmistakably like Drunk Detectives.
After a fine set, the audience aren’t prepared to let them leave just yet and they are called back for an encore. And what better way to finish than with a reprise of ‘Thai Bride’.