Rockabilly Boogie Night brings the best in old school rock 'n' roll to the Pit & Pendulum on the last Friday of every month. For November, Hyperjax were in town.
The evening for Hyperjax, a three piece 50s rock 'n' roll cum rockerbilly cum psychobilly three-piece from Preston by way of Burton-upon-Trent, didn't have the most auspicious start. They were competing with the jukebox and despite asking, "can we have the metal off please?" they kicked off their set anyway. Fortunately, someone had turned off the competing noise by the time Blood 'n' Sand's Adam & The Ants-esque intro had started, all floor tom to the fore.
Blast Me Into Outer Space is the aural equivalent of those 1950s sci-fi b-movies but then the set is brought to a screeching halt by technical issues. Fortunately, it doesn't take long to fix and by the time they get to the song Burn, they are introducing the only man in Nottingham to have a Hyperjax tattoo. Of course, he shows it off - two lines of lyrics, right next to his heart. If that doesn't get you to swipe right, I don't know what will.
It's all highly energetic and really good fun - at one point a mini mosh pit/dance circle breaks out and even the people that aren't dancing are tapping their toes in time. However, there are a couple of nits to pick. In an hour long set, it would have been nice to have one slower song to add a bit of variety, a bit of light and dark to the set. Also, Neil, the drummer, is referred to as "the wolf" on the band's Facebook page, which feels like one of those nicknames that you try to make happen rather than one that happens organically and he's wearing shorts. I know how hot it can get playing drums but there's really no excuse for shorts.
I always like a band with a double bassist but my eye was more drawn to Sam, the singer/guitarist and the shapes that he was pulling. They all start with feet wider than shoulder-width apart and then can involve leaning back or holding the guitar up to the side a bit. They do look like "proper" rock 'n' roll poses and I feel that my words haven't quite done them justice.
After some very insistent audience demands, they play Happy Pillz as an encore but that isn't enough for this crowd. Another two songs still don't sate the audience's desire and they are almost dragged back on stage to play Rock On, after which they announce, "that's all folks!"
Despite the be-shorted drummer, it's a really good set. I can't imagine that many in the audience are whistling these songs on the way home or catching the band afterwards to buy merch but they've all had a bloody entertaining night. And you can't ask for much more than that.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
