Roadhouse Live at the Duck & Drake, Leeds – 24/8/2013

So to night two of our little Northern jaunt. Apparently crowds have been a little up and down at this really nice pub venue full of rock memrobilia. But we had a great night with lots of enthusiastic music lovers and a good number of Roadhouse fans, some of which had driven across from Preston for the show.
Set wise it was similar to the Harrogate show, ‘Blues Motel’ really kicked, Sarah sung ‘The Big Easy’ and ‘The Lying Game’ one after the other and got a great reception. We again revisited our version of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ which allowed Danny and I to branch out a bit while the ladies had a ‘rest’. Another great thing about playing this venue was that it allowed Mandie to perform to her family. It was lovely to see all of them looking so well, great folk!

There was a big shout for an encore and the positive vibe vibe/energy took us as far as Watford gap services. I reached home at 5.45am and Roger finally at 6.15.
Well done Roger for driving the Band bus.
Thanks also to Simon & Sharon for having us for the two shows and all of you for your great support
Gary

Roadhouse Live at the Blues Bar Harrogate – 23/8/2013
From the expanses of the big stage at the Cambridge Rock Festival to Simon & Sharon Colgan’s iconic little venue in the heart of Harrogate. Personal issues on band members made it appropriate the hire a tour bus for the weekend and setting off on bank Holiday Friday at 11am we were lucky t make the gig. the traffic was at an all time bad and pulled up at the Blues Bar at around 19.20 (We could have driven to Germany in that time). We set up close and personal on the little stage and as usual for this cool place kicked off to a full house of music lovers.

Due to the fact that the Colne festival was on this weekend, there was not as much hard core roadhouse support in the room. Its a real shame that after our 7 successive years on the big British stage at Colne, with 3 shut outs due to packed numbers, that we do not play there any more. Our record Company (Blues Matters at the time) lost that stage and as a consequence we’ve not even been considered to return, still who said that life was fair! So we threw a few covers into the set. The crowd response to ‘Hell On Wheels’ was great and they loved Mandie belting out ‘Blues Motel’ and Sarah’s superb version of the ‘Big Easy’. It’s brilliant to see loads of new people loving the original songs. we played Not Fade Away for the first time in ages and we even gave the girls a rest for Danny, Bill Roger and I to slog our way through an epic version of ‘All along The Watchtomwer’

The first half was packed and then as it drew near the witching hour the crowd thinned out a bit. But there was still time for ‘Preacher Man’ to send everyone off happily into the night.

Our 4th great gig at this venue, give it your support
Gary

Gods & Highways & Old Guitars Review – Music News.com Website
Roadhouse
Gods & Highways & Old Guitars

added: 24 Aug 2013 // release date: 19 Aug 2013 // label: Kross Border
reviewer: Andy Snipper

Roadhouse – Gods & Highways & Old Guitars – Printable version
We all know that this is a world of injustice but the fact that Roadhouse are not one of the biggest selling acts around leaves me nonplussed even so. This is a terrific album from one of Britain’s most established bands and it deserves to be top of anyone’s playlist.

Right from the roaring ‘Hell On Wheels’ loaded with attitude from the triple threat of Mandie G, Sarah Harvey-Smart and Suzie D and on to the tear-ass ‘Can’t Say No’ with Gary Boner’s throaty vocals and searing guitar this had me bouncing around the room in delight.

They sit mainly in the Americana camp with strong Blues and rock elements but they are at their are at their best in Fleetwood Mac-esque territory like the eerie ‘Skinwalker’ with its jangly guitars and harmonies from the three ladies alongside big drum sound from Roger Hunt. Danny Gwilym’s guitar solo is dark and has a touch of the Original American smoke to it – just a brilliant band piece all round.

The title track is a classic road song and ‘Katrina’ has deep feeling for New Orleans losses but manages to avoid the cliché of blame by focussing on the terror of the hurricane and its effect on the cities people at the time. That it leads into ‘The Big Easy’ is obviously not an accident.
Closer ‘Sinner’ is another dark piece with a distinctly Americana feel but my personal favourite track is ‘Blues Motel’ – six and a half minutes of chugging perfection with a ZZ top boogie to it.
All told, a brilliant album and full of little joys; expect it to be featuring in a lot of end of year charts, it really is a brilliant album

4 Stars

Blues Matters – National Blues Magazine – Website Review 4 of Gods & Highways & Old Guitars – August 2013
ROADHOUSE
GODS & HIGHWAYS & OLD GUITARS
Krossborder-ReKords

Roadhouse refuse to change lanes in their latest excellent release. Gary Boner’s vision of a solid and uncompromising Blues-Rock band remains uncompromised and wonderfully intact. The rhythms are incessant, the lyrical themes are familiar – dark and all-pervading sheer bloody mindedness abound. From the first backing chant of Hell On Wheels through the Wishbone Ash-like twin guitar solo of I Can’t Say No the pace is unrelenting. What is new and refreshing is the increased prominence given to the female singers Mandie G, Sarah Harvey-Smart and Suzie D, not just as excellent support to Boner’s gruff and menacing voice, but as soloists, for example in the superb title track. Katrina is appropriately sombre and The Big Easy has the groove of Alannah Myles’ Black Velvet but that song’s moody reflection is replaced by sexual tension and superb guitar soloing. The album weighs in at 10 tracks and 55 minutes, and each tune is allowed to expand and breathe. It is Roadhouse’s use of repetition that increases the unsettling and subliminal effect, for example in Slow Down. The standout cut is the call-and-response Spirits Across The Water, a powerful and magnificent song. The riff in Blues Motel puts Black Sabbath to shame. The suitably confessional yet rebellious Sinner closes what is Roadhouse’s most complete and finest offering yet. And oh yes the black and white artwork with the splash of colour is great to
Noggin

Blues Matters – National Blues Magazine – Website Review 3 of Gods & Highways & Old Guitars – August 2013
ROADHOUSE
Gods & Highways & Old Guitars
KrossBorder

What initially strikes me about the CD is the stunning photography on the cover. Just like an old Camel CD from the nineties, Dust and Dreams, it portrays John Steinback -era America when everything was bust and broken. For any first time listeners the symbolism of the guitar case in the boot of the clapped out car on the cover soon becomes evident. Roadhouse are pure guitar-driven blues rock with a tinge of Southern boogie. Opener Hell on Wheels shows that founder member, chief bottle washer, singer, co-guitarist and main song-writer, Gary Boner is in sparkling form, along with fellow guitarist Danny Gwilym, boosted by the ever dependable rhythm section of Bill Hobley (bass) and Roger Hunt (drums). Then there is the band within the band that is the wonderful Mandie G, Sarah Harvey-Smart, and Suzie D on vocals. Skin Walker clocking in at seven and a half minutes is a native American tale accentuated by Gary’s narrative, accompanied by an electro-acoustic guitar pattern.

The title track has Mandie G handling pitch perfect vocals before the guitars slip into jam-band mode. Katrina takes the listener to the devastation of New Orleans post hurricane. Suzie D does a remake of The Big Easy again with superb guitar work. With a hint of boogie, co-writer Sarah Harvey-Smart does a brilliant job on Slow Down. Country rocker, Spirits Across the Water has beautiful backing vocals. Blues Motel has a riff which could have been plucked from early ZZ Top, showcasing the great vibe Mandie G has with Danny’s guitar workLike Spirit before it, closer Sinner has an eighties feel to it. This album certainly gets my vote for one of the outstanding British releases of this year. Mr Boner works tremendously hard on his own musical vision and, in my humble opinion, he and his wonderful band have pulled it off.
Clive Rawlings

Blues Matters – National Blues Magazine – Website Review 2 of Gods & Highways & Old Guitars – August 2013
ROADHOUSE
Gods & Highways & Old Guitars
Krossborder
Despite being a big festival draw, Roadhouse exist slightly outside the blues mainstream but that’s no bad thing – the band’s dramatic rock-blues approach gives us excellent, spooky tracks like Skinwalker, another Gary Boner original that explores the darker side of American folklore, laced with a flat-out rock guitar solo and the female backing vocals emphasising the unearthly feel; at seven and a half minutes it is the longest piece on the album. Other tracks have Roadhouse’s expected “dark” themes and elements of Americana – take a listen to ‘Katrina’, which is a musically and lyrically very descriptive original on the events in New Orleans in 2005, and this number makes it easy to understand why some reviewers talk of the cinematic side of the band’s music. Some of the other tracks are rather more conventionally blues-based than we have come to expect – who’s complaining when these are of the quality of the pulsing The Big Easy, the up tempo shuffling Slow Down or the raw and rocking Blues Motel (all with female lead singers- there are also more female leads than usual on this set)? This Roadhouse lies at the intersection of Americana and UK blues-rock, and it’s well worth stopping to check it out if you need refreshing
Norman Darwen

Blues Matters – National Blues Magazine – Review 1 of Gods & Highways & Old Guitars – August 2013
ROADHOUSE
Gods & Highways & Old Guitars

CD Krossborder Records
Sure looks like a blues album. Interesting and creative cover art. It sure is blues-influenced. And this is a new record label for British blues. Checking out the band’s website I’ve managed to confirm the refreshing innovation of Roadhouse in their inclusion of not one, but up to three female vocalists, and I just wish they’d have flagged up a bit more detail on who-sings-what on which track in the 8 page liner booklet. So here’s a name check – Mandie-G, Sarah Harvey-Smart and Suzie.D. This is strident, guitar-dominant blues-rock, where each track inspires an old freak like me to strut with a little geriatric air-guitar posturing (when no-one is looking) as I tread the carpet in front of a cranked-up stereo. The production is exemplary, the songs, especially Hell on Wheels, Blues Motel and the excellent Sinner all chug along like a steam loco with the brakes off with an exhilarating mix of vocal styles. Great for listening to in the car, but play it loud, and as an enticer to see them live, it’s as good a calling card as you could wish for. This proves that whatever they can lay down in the legendary studios

Great British band Release Their Much Anticipated New Album. Roadhouse: Gods & Highways & Old Guitars

August 2013 will see the long awaited new album from Roadhouse released following on from their critically acclaimed DARK ANGEL album released in 2011.

The concept behind GODS & HIGHWAYS & OLD GUITARS was to route the music even more firmly in the Americana genre but still retain the signature Roadhouse blues/rock backbone. Eight out of the ten tracks have Americana based content but the album also uses blues structures more than any previous Roadhouse CD, while avoiding the tired cliché of standard blues structure or chord sequences. There is also a stronger reliance on the female vocalists with four tracks featuring a female lead vocal and others featuring a female driven chorus

The CD starts and finishes with the kind of epic Blues/Rock that the band is famed for, while the remaining eight tracks feature far more radio friendly tracks than on any other previous release, the songs being shorter and more accessible.

The album opens with Hell On Wheels a heavy riff driven slice of Americana and a typical Roadhouse opener. However the central hook is very strong and certainly stays with you. A song about the girl you can’t tame, more likely she’s going to tame you. The track Skinwalker is pure Native American Folklore; there are vampires, werewolves and also Skinwalkers. They may walk and talk like you, but something evil has taken residence, this really is a song of dark folklore. On the title track Gods & Highways & Old Guitars, Mandie.G takes lead vocals on this tale of a female rock and roller stranded in a desert town, looking for a new band. Slow Down is a blues shuffle with a strong and sexy lead vocal from Sarah Harvey-Smart on a song about the girl who just has to say no to the egotistical loser who is in pursuit. Final track, Sinner is familiar dark epic territory for the band – shades of sin and desperation in the mould of their live favourite Preacher Man, inspired by film noir, black and white classic movies like Night of The Hunter.

For more information and the latest tour dates, please visit:-

www.roadhousegb.co.uk

Roadhouse are a great hard working British band and they have shared the stage with a veritable who’s who of international artistes including Walter Trout, Joe Bonamassa, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Dr Feelgood, Nine Below Zero, Wilco Johnson, Mick Taylor (Rolling Stones), Pat Travers and many more. A true festival band, they have played at many festivals all over Europe including Glastonbury in 2010 and they play regularly at the Blues/Rock Festival held every year at Butlins in Skegness.

Posted by Jon Kirkman at 19:14

Many thanks to Dave and Adrian for having us back at this major festival. We went down a storm when we here in 2010 so it was great to be back. We were on stage 2 at 18.30 and our competition included Mostly Autumn who were playing on Stage 1.
It was good to catch with lots of old friends backstage including that great young guitar player Ben Poole and the chap that handles our UK PR, Jim Soars.

In front of a big and enthusiastic crowd the one hour set just seemed to blur by in minutes. Have a look at some of these video clips posted by members of the audience to get an idea of what it was like:

The Big Easy:

Dark Angel:

The set ran approx like this, Hell On Wheels, Rainmaker, Blues Motel, The Big Easy, Dark Angel, Gods & Highways, Tellin Lies, Encore = Preacher Man

Gods & Highways & Old Guitars Version 1:

Gods & Highways & Old Guitars Version 2:

What a great reaction, thanks to all that were there. After coming off stage I was interviewed by the good folk of Cambridge Radio and parts of our set have been broadcast over the last 10 days with the new CD, Gods & highways being featured on their breakfast show. I then did an interview for Radio Caroline and had a good chat with that excellent DJ Trevor Howard from Severn FM who is also currently playing the CD.

As a personal postscript Danny, Mandie and I hung around to Network and from the side of stage 2 I saw a stunning set from Dave Edwards. Bill and I grew up watching this guy in a Band called RDB, where he played with Dennis Stratton who went off to be in Iron Maiden. Totally magic, its weird how things come round full circle

Commiserations to Bill on the death of his brother Terry who was also a part of my life growing up…….. live

So to the second of our launch nights at Pete Feenstra’s great venues. The heatwave rolled on the and the air in the Boom Boom was almost tangibly heavy.
However, there was a much bigger crowd than at the Beaverwood and the Steve Eggs Band provided rousing modern Country music based support. With our host Eric Harvey looking after the door and excellent CD sales, the clock edged around to showtime

The Band were well warmed up by last nights show and a spirited opening with ‘Hell On Wheels’ lead to us attacking ‘Blues Motel with real venom and confidence. Everyone is loving Danny’s solo on that song. Sarah sang a great version of ‘The Big Easy’ and ‘Dark Angel’ brought one of the biggest cheers of the night and the longest guitar solo (Well in my defence, it was quite a good one)
Great all round musician and journalist Pete Sargeant then joined us onstage to duke it out with Danny and I on Rock Me Baby.
The title track of Gods & Highways & old Guitars was next with Mandie and Sarah really doing it great justice.

at the end of ‘Tellin Lies’ everyone was going crazy for an encore but we had run out of time. Complaints from the club’s neighbours meant we could not risk getting a top venue like this into any trouble. A massive thanks to the support that promoter Pete Feenstra has given this Band over 16 years of its existence.
thanks so much to all of you who came out on this hot summer night and gave us your support
Gary