Sat 3/16 @ 9PM
As I write this, Cleveland’s much-traveled Whiskey Daredevils are flying home from Europe, where they’ve just played a series of shows in Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and Belgium. Barring an unforeseen event like — say, a their earth-shaking music causing a volcano eruption that grounds planes all over Europe — they’ll be home in time to share their brand-new release, Whiskey Daredevils III, with fans at the Beachland Tavern tonight.
As is typical with this band, the title is as tongue-in-cheek as their music. It’s not their third album; it’s their eighth. (Their debut was called Greatest Hits; Introducing the Whiskey Daredevils was their fifth album). And after slightly under a decade together, the quartet is one of the most reliable purveyors of that jacked-up, modernized version of ’50s /country/rockabilly, often dubbed punkabilly. (They call it “no-frills rock n’ roll.”)
The band’s roots in the style are deep. Vocalist Greg Miller and drummer Leo P. Love has been plying essentially the same sound since the early ’90s with the Cowslingers. Following the ’slingers 2004 demise, they, along with bassist Ken Miller, essentially extended that band under another name. Recently Rebecca “Sugar” Wildman — well-known locally through her stint with punkabilly soulmates Lord of the Highway — took over on bass.
As longtime fans know, the Whiskey Daredevils repertoire is larded with sarcastic tunes usually delivered at a frenetic pace with twangy guitar and Miller’s deadpan smartaleck vocals, mixed with teary ’50s tributes that often have a sly kicker in the lyrics.
III puts more emphasis on the band’s serious side, with many tunes that could have been ripped straight from the ’50s, save for a sly or lewd reference here and there that wouldn’t have slipped past the censors of that era.
There’s a lot of darkness and danger in these songs, starting with the big, bruising “Swim the Lake of Fire,” and closing with two songs that deal with violence, “One Less Than .45” and the spiraling “Willie Nelson,” a lengthy murder song whose ominous opening verses hint at its denouement long before it arrives.
“Honest Man” and “Corina” deliver the spirited, old-school rock ’n’ roll the band’s built its following on, while “Gentleman Caller” has a down-and-dirty Jerry Lee Lewis leer that’s been a hallmark of its attitude. But “Never Again” is genuinely lovely, like something ripped from Roy Orbison’s repertoire, with its sweeping reverb guitar, plaintive vocal, and swaying cha cha rhythm, emphasizing its fatalistic sadness. It’s a classic, well-written tune that will stick in your mind.
Overall, III trades the snide lyrical hooks for tunes with more emotional complexity, still packaged in time-honored and instantly accessible musical styles.
The Torments and Matty B and the Dirty Pickles open the Daredevils’ CD release show. Admission is $8.
Cleveland, OH 44110