Hard workin' blues rock band...Crow Black Chicken!
Cork, Ireland - Some of the Lust for Tone crew got down to see one of the best blues rock guys that have been on the music scene for a couple of years now, Crow Black Chicken. This tight knit trio consists of frontman Christy O’Hanlon on vocals and guitar, Stephen McGrath on bass and Gev Barrett on drums and backing vocals.
Originating from the south of Ireland, they've gigged extensively across their home country in festivals and have even played at one of the world's most famous, Glastonbury. These boys bring a raw and powerful blues rock sound to their performance and even though we caught them at a small bar venue, they had our ears ringing with bluesy goodness. Getting to a see these guys live was awesome.
Christy’s voice is so powerful and gravelly that you could lay a road with it, while his slide guitar playing would rattle the teeth in your head with so much crunchy tone. Stephen kept the bass driving the songs, often inter-playing dynamic harmonic structures to Christy’s guitar playing, sometimes breaking out the beer glass to use as a slide which was pretty fuckin' badass. Christy would often delve into hearty guitar solos and Stephen’s bass playing would thump alongside him keeping it all rocking.
Tucked away in the back was Gev, bashing out some tight drumming and rhythmically pumping along with the others to create one of the best little set ups we've heard in such a small venue. Busting out their own blues numbers from their debut album "Electric Soup" as well as some classics such as “Messin' with the Kid” these lads put on a great show!
The boys toured with blues legend Ray Wylie Hubbard throughout Texas last year so hopefully they’ll be in the U.S sometime again soon. If you can see them in a city near you get your arse down to their gig and you’ll not be disappointed, you’re bound to become a fan. Failing that, they've a load of videos on Youtube. They just wrapped up raising the loot to fund their second album "Rumble Shake", which they're in the process of readying for release in the coming weeks.
If you want to get the latest updates from the band, you can catch them on www.crowblackchicken.com. In the meantime here's a video of a track called Murmuration from their debut album titled Electric Soup.
