Page 46 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 98

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TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN – BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 3, 27.06.18
“Shall we go round and introduce ourselves?” asks support musician in a leather waistcoat, is naturally more of a frontman than his bandmates,
Sonia Leigh. The venue is only partially full as she takes to the stage in Graham Whitford, Noah Denney and Caleb Crosby, who mostly stay en-
the small O2 Academy 3. Sonia is from Nashville and country-inspired, grossed in their instruments. After the first couple of songs Tyler’s already
but has a UK backing band to give her a rockier feel on stage on this run. dripping with sweat. The venue is hot, dark and sticky. The band play a
After listening to Sonia online we were expecting her to be a full-on coun- mixture of material from their latest self-titled release as well as their back
try artist, just herself and her guitar, but her live show has much more of catalogue. ‘Heartland’ and ‘Don’t Mind The Blood’ are infectious rockers
a low-down, raw, rock ‘n’ roll air. ‘Walking In The Moonlight’, ‘My Name Is that you can’t help but sing along to, while ‘Aftershock’ is a darker, fuzzier
Money’ and ‘When We Are Alone’ are catchy nuggets, although heavy sludgefest. Drummer Caleb gets up from his stool and comes to the fore
drums, guitar and bass give them a rougher, dirtier sound than on disc. during a cover of ‘That’s Alright, Mama’. He brings a drum and drums on
She jokes that she “shouldn’t have eaten that Chinese food,” before telling its sides, later getting off the stage and into the photopit with it, which adds
the crowd she says awful things on stage. ‘Alabama Bound’ wraps her set an extra bit of enthrallment to the set. They tip their hat to blues legend
up as a real southern driving tune, ending with a bluesy jam, paving the Muddy Waters with a cover of ‘Got My Mojo Working’ and later in the en-
way perfectly for headliners Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown. core to Tom Petty with their motivating version of the rock classic ‘You
In ‘Last One Leaving’ Tyler Bryant sings ‘She’s here for the wrong rea- Wreck Me’. The funky ‘House That Jack Built’ takes you to guitar heaven
sons,’ but Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown are definitely here for the right with its climactic ending akin to a runaway rock train with the four-piece
reasons. The four-piece band from Nashville are all about the music and on ten. Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown are still quite an undiscovered
this comes through in their entire set. You can tell from the moment they band, despite having opened for the likes of AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses
step on stage that they live to play their instruments. Tyler Bryant, dressed and Graham’s father being a member of Aerosmith. These guys have def-
initely worked hard at their craft though and play their instruments per-
fectly, so will definitely follow in the footsteps of their forebears. Catch
them in a small venue while you can before they blow up and hit the big
time.
YYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Tyler Bryant & Caleb Crosby (Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown)
Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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