Thursday 15 July 2010

Texas Cowboys Want To Take It Higher


Family members noticed this band in the Melkweg line-up and looked them up on YouTube. They decided it would be fun to see Texas Hippie Coalition perform and soon I was interested too. So I joined them to see these Texas cowboys live on stage.

Texas Hippie Coalition at Melkweg Amsterdam, July 10 2010 (Ronald Says 7 out of 10)
They are an impressive bunch. Singer Big Dad Ritch is huge and could have walked straight from a Porky's movie set. The rest of the band all have wild hair, big tattoos and chains linked to their pants. Bass player John Exall keeps swinging his long string of hair for almost most of the night. Guitarist Eddie Bishop shares a joint with the people in front of the stage and the rest of the band. It must be hard to resist when playing in Amsterdam.



Their Pantera inspired sound is a mix of loud metal and some more laid back southern and stoner rock. The slower songs get too corny as they start to sound like Nickelback. Some songs are too easy and they need to avoid the rock cliches more. But they make up for their lack of originality by putting lots of energy in it and despite their higher state of mind still are able to play a good set. The band probably don't take themselves to seriously either. They are playing Europe for the first time and are trying to gain a foothold over here. But they may need a bit more than a lifted spirit to make that happen.

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