Roadhouse Live At The Podium, Schiedam (Rotterdam), Netherlands – 12/5/2011

A return to this great canal side venue . Our Dutch agent and super friend Hester had as usual paved the way for this show. After a record breaking drive and ferry journey to Schiedam in which Roger only had 4 attacks of road rage (he’s mellowing out!) we arrived at Hester’s. Time for a blow out dinner and rapid consumption of red wine before the difficult canal side unloading at the Podium.

It was a shame that it was quiet in this really atmospheric venue. However, a good influx of people just before the start took the crowd to respectable levels (but not to the levels of the packed house we played to last time). This was Sam’s first trip to Europe with us and the crowd soon took her to their hearts, as she delivered great versions of ‘The Lying Game’ and ‘ The Big Easy’ .

We played a much rockier set here than usual and by the end there was much legendary Podium table hammering and shouts for more.

At the end of the evening their was some grouching from the Management with regard to our overall volume, whch apparently was at global thermo nuclear levels. As we left at around 2am, we heard the beginning of a nice row between them and their sound engineer, the charismatic Louie.

The next day Hester took us for a barbacue at a lovely plot of land that she owns on the outskirts of Schiedam. It was great for the Band to chill and spend time with one another for a change. We were then invited to play at a jam being held at the Podium for a local band friend and musician. Within five minutes of our arrival Mandie and I were on stage to a packed house belting out ‘Stormy Monday’ alongside local guitarist Frank. Sam soon joined us for ‘Rock Me Baby’ and then Danny was riffing it out on his own with the locals.

So it was a day off, but somehow we had managed to play another show……. Belgium tomorrow

Gary

Our first visit to this established Blues Club in Derbyshire. The recently refurbished room was quite an obstacle, as the sound was incredibly boomy and loud. Roger was laying off of the kit and it still sounded as if it was massively miked up!

However, after we managed to get the sound balance under control this was a great gig. A massive thanks to all the Roadhouse fans who made the journey to see us that night, what a great turnout. We even had a guy who drove up from Bognor!. A special thanks for all the people who saw us on the main stage at Skegness this year and came back for more.

Set wise we again heavily featured songs from the new CD, Dark Angel. ‘Too Tired Too Pray’, ‘Rainmaker’, ‘Swamp Girl’ and ‘Working  Class Gospel Drinking Blues’ all had a good airing. One of the many stand outs of the night was how the Band are settled into playing ‘Play with Fire’, Mandie’s lead vocal on the new album.

Encores abounded and CD/DVD sales were really positive. Its nights like this one that keep the Band going. thanks to all for your great support

Gary                                                                                                                                         The legendary Bill Hobley

We’d been gigging hard to promote Dark Angel and I felt had earned 3 weeks off. We came to East Harling for this friendly little show, a venue that we’ve played at for the last 7 years, mainly to warm up again.

They are friendly lot at East Harling and it was nice to see two good groups of Roadhouse ‘Die hards’ as well as long time friend and supporter, the excellent photographer, Alan Harvey.

Overall, it was a quiet night on the crowd front. However, we had a good night and instead of being ring rusty, the Band were on great form. We brought one or two additional covers into the set to cope with the social club type nature of the venue and audience, ‘Not Fade Away’ going very well, despite a long absence from the set list.

Mandie and Sam seem to form more of an understanding every time that they sing together and the new harmonies on ‘Rock Me Baby’ were great. Vocally I was on top form, I mention this because since this gig I’ve had some problems with straining my voice and losing range. This has happened from fairly early in the first set onwards. Bill and Roger were really ‘tight’ and it seemed like they had not had a break at all.

Roger Hunt

Even though there was only about 40 people there, there was a remarkable shout for an encore and it was our pleasure to oblige

We return to East Harling on the 12th November.

Gary

Roadhouse began twenty years ago as a big bad bar-room blues band but it’s now eased into a swampy voodoo vein with Gary Boner, the brains behind the outfit, writing or co-writing most of the songs.

On this CD his soulfully precise lead guitar and raspy, leathery whispered vocals are to the fore: alongside three girl singers who feature strongly on songs like the chugging Tellin Lies and So Over You, which has more than a hint of Stevie Nicks about it.

There are just two blues based numbers here; T-Bone Walkers ‘Stormy Monday’ and Boner’s own Working Class Gospel Drinking Blues. The rest are straight ahead rock numbers like ‘Too Tired To Pray’ , epic gothic ballads like ‘Dark Angel’ and the nervy southern funk tune ‘Swamp Girl’ which contains some swirling psychadelic guitar runs that heighten the songs dark feel. This CD should be the one that propels Roadhouse into the big time.