The Real McKenzies had to have known they'd have the cards stacked against them when they agreed to hit the stage with The Brains and Reverend Horton Heat. The band had to have known that, slotted as the mid-card band between two rockabilly acts – one of whom is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary on this tour, no less – it was unlikely that they'd be walking into any room full of people who would be there to see them first, but they did it anyway.That takes guts. That takes a confidence that most bands just don't have – but The Real McKenzies proved they had on May 3, 2012 when they walked into the Starlight Social Club and won a lot of hearts and respect for themselves in the eyes of two other bands' fans.
Walking onstage against pretty high odds as the McKenzies did may sound incredibly courageous (the room had the unmistakable odors of pomade, axel grease and Dunk in it), but the band still had to run its colors up the flagpole to see how good or poor their chances were that night. Presumably, that's why they opened their set with “The Tempest” too; the song is little more than a gang vocal and a drum beat and they wanted to see either how many supporters they did have in the room or how dense the air of indifference might be for a Scottish-punk band standing before this rockabilly audience. In that, the band discovered they weren't alone right away as a small chorus of voices came back at them singing along; the odds weren't as long as they had initially looked and that's when the band just went for broke.
Armed with a set of songs ranging in vintage from songs which originally appeared on 2001's Loch'd And Loaded all the way up through 2012's Westwinds, The Real McKenzies simply unloaded without bothering to pause for breath during their truncated set time. Fan favorites including “10,000 Shots,” “Chip,” “Drink Some More” and “Culling The Herd” were all wrung out beautifully and not a note was phoned in through any of the sixteen songs which were covered through the band's set. Singer Paul McKenzie seemed to be intent on making sure that Reverend Horton Heat would have no choice but to turn up to eleven in order to be remembered over his band's show. The singer regularly teetered precariously on the lip of the stage – he almost seemed to be held up by those closest to the stage, on occasion – and he barked, bellowed and crooned every word of his songs with a love and catharsis which implied that his life depended on it while guitarists Kurt Robertson and Mark Boland cracked heads and piper Gord Taylor split eardrums.
As they rifled triumphantly through “The Message,” the audience knew that the band's set must be coming to a close but, just as a “one more shot” measure to make sure, The Real McKenzies belted out “Anyone Else” to win the last hearts in the room before clearing out and almost daring Reverend Horton Heat to top them. The Real McKenzies had left an impressive mark in their wake certainly; while The Brains had kicked off the show and set a respectable bar, The McKenzies raised it effortlessly to an incredibly high mark. To the Rev's credit, they did win some of the attention stolen by The Real McKenzies back, but not all of it; while the show was great all around, The Real McKenzies proved themselves to be the biggest stars of this show.
Artist:
www.realmckenzies.com/
www.myspace.com/therealmckenziess
www.facebook.com/therealmckenzies
www.twitter.com/#!/real_mckenzies
Further Reading:
Ground Control – "The Real McKenzies Show The World What They're Made Of" – [Feature]
Tour:
The Real McKenzies begin an American tour on May 18, 2012. For a complete list of upcoming shows, click here .
