It was certainly the night for wailing guitars and young Blues Rock Gods down at The Perth Blues Club on Tuesday 22 April. No shortage of testosterone on stage, but a few patrons could well have done with some earplugs, such was the volume of the music at times.

DJANGLE, a local Perth Blues trio who play a more traditional style of early Blues, took to the stage in darkness and eventually were found by Rick Steele, the MC extraordinaire. Songwriters Greg and Andy took us through a mix of originals and classics, taken from their recent album, Blues In My Bed, and their previous one, Dirty Linen. An impressive array of instruments was played throughout the set and some equally impressive harmonies came from all three musicians. It was the ideal set to warm up the crowd, yet did not give an inkling of what was to come.

Then, on came JAMIE SOUTHWELL, a 19-year-old from New South Wales who has learnt his craft from the likes of Kevin Borich, Mal Eastick and Phil Emmanuel. It started the way it ended—a full-on explosion of guitar riffs and wah-wah pedal effects, á la Hendrix. No doubting this guy’s awesome talent !! He had the crowd well and truly involved and plenty of patrons on the dance floor.

Equally impressive was his tight rhythm section, which consisted of two stalwarts of the Aussie contemporary music scene in Mark Kennedy on percussion and Harry Brus on bass. These two have played with absolutely everybody you can think of. We were also treated to some of the best drum and bass solos you are ever likely to experience anywhere. Jamie’s vocals were crystal clear and the sound overall was perfectly balanced, thanks to soundman Rik.

The crowd had started to drift by the time MIKE ELRINGTON made it on to the stage with his locally-recruited rhythm section, but this did not deter him from letting rip with some powerful guitar playing and stage antics. This young(ish) Victorian gave it his all, as evidenced by his sweaty shirt by the second song. (Needless to say, it was like a soppy rag by night’s end !!)

Again, he had all the effects at his toe-tips and even jumped off stage to give us an unplugged vocal—very effective. His vocals lacked clarity at times, making it difficult to hear the lyrics of his songs. However, he gave us a great rendition of Hendrix’s Crosstown Traffic, complete with behind-the–back and teeth-playing of his guitar. All that was missing was the lighter fluid !!

And just when we all thought that it was over came the best part of the whole evening. (It always pays to stick it out to the very end because you never know what you might miss out on - and this was one of these special occasions.) Mike invited James back up to share the final three songs of the evening and the electricity surge would have spiked in Synergy for sure.

First up was a version of Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love, which saw the two guitarists trading licks like there was no tomorrow. Talk about dueling banjos !! This was a hundred times better. To send the punters out in to the rain with a satisfied smile on their face, the newly-formed duo gave us the call-and-shout classic, Hey ! Hey ! The Blues Is Alright !, a fitting way to end a great night of Blues Rock from two of Australia’s most talented youngsters.

There’s only one place in Perth on a Tuesday night that delivers a top-class line-up of LIVE acts, and that’s down at The Charles Hotel in North Perth, where the Perth Blues Club has been the frontrunners for over sixteen years.

See you down there, and bring some friends.

Derek Cromb is announcer on 'Play The Blues', 89.7 TWIN CITIES FM, Sundays, 8-10pm WST
Check out www.twincitiesfm.com.au