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“The Billy Bats are a two-piece from Kansas, consisting of Jason Vivone on guitar and vocals, and Zach McCall on drums and vocals. As such, comparisons to the White Stripes seem inevitable. Indeed, a song like ‘Tangled’ could in fact be the Stripes. However, what stops them becoming mere copyists is that their Blues influences appear genuine. There’s an Elmore James feel to ‘Crash and Burn’, a Wolf vocal married to a Hooker boogie on ‘Subtle Nuance’, and a Robert Plant lustiness to ‘Kung Pow Chicken’. It’s fat, bassy music with plenty of space in it. They’ve retained the rhythm of the Blues form but dispensed with the histrionic guitar parts. What the Billy Bats have in their arsenal that gives them their own identity is a deadpan sense of humor, such as the ‘MSG is good for you’ chant in ‘Kung Pow Chicken’; the furtive development of a fledgling relationship in ‘Bed or Sofa’; or in the kookiness of love song ‘Sweet Pea’. It’s too adult and knowing to capture the teenage market the Stripes have, but for those with a taste for irony and off kilter Blues then you should find something to sink your teeth into here.”

BLUES MATTERS #51

Duncan Jamieson