John's Blues Picks, Toronto Bues Society Online

The Perpetrators The Gas and the Clutch Perps

I thoroughly enjoyed the first album by these
Winnipeggers and am happy to report that this one is
even better. The `pedal-to-the-metal' version of Hound
Dog Taylor's "59th Street Boogie" sets the stage for
the band's own new songs plus a couple of unlikely
covers. J. Nowicki plays the guitars and takes most of
the vocals, Ryan Menard, of Rockin' Highliners fame,
is on bass and Scotty Hills is on drums & vocals. Taj
Mahal's "Lovin' In My Sweet Baby's Eyes" is the first
of these and it survives its electrification very
nicely indeed and would be a charted single on my
radio station. The other is Neil Young's "Are You
Ready for the Country" and if you can imagine R.L.
Burnside and Kenny Brown doing this song, you're close
to the sound created here. For their own songs,
they've moved from Hound Dog to Magic Slim for
inspiration and pull it off admirably. "She Lets Me
Know", "One Year Ago" and "Sent Me Down the Road" are
settings of everyday observations and feelings, the
core of the blues. They are trying to arrange a visit
here in a couple of months, until then we can go to
www.perps.ca.

- John Valenteyn