Photo: Joanne Butcher
Tonight Plug plays host to Vintage Trouble; a four-man band from Los Angeles who play electric rock’n’roll, blues and soul.
Recently crowned the winners of Classic Rock magazine’s ‘Best New Band’, a buzz of excitement was circulating around Plug and the crowd soon began securing their places on the dance-floor. The front row abundant was packed with black leather jackets and Marilyn Monroe hairdos. When the band finally arrived they, without missing a beat, bolted straight into their first track.
The place immediately exploded with the sound of raw lead guitar and pulsating drums, finished off perfectly with the rich, captivating voice of front man Ty Taylor. Oozing an irresistible charisma and unafraid to interact with the audience, Taylor became the life and soul of the show. Even when sweat literally drenched his suit from blue to black, he kept the show going with an unrelenting fervour.
On guitar was Nalle Colt whose fingers skated effortlessly across the frets, mixing the tender blues with a gritty, hard rock sound. Both Rich Barrio Dill and Richard Danielson seemed to take the back seat, instead providing a solid base for the music to flourish and allowed the group to create an incredible rhythmic synergy.
The set demonstrated how Vintage Trouble could be the masters of pace, threading a repertoire of wild swing tunes about sex and whores with soothing, soulful ballads – the epitome being ‘Not Alright With Me’, a flawless piece about standing up for your beliefs.
As the gig came to an end, the low lights and absence of background music meant that Vintage Trouble were set for an encore. The crowd remained stapled to the floor until the band returned to the stage for the last time. The final song was thick with slick guitar solos and destitute lyrics about rejecting a past love.
Where other 50s-inspired bands have failed, it seems Vintage Trouble have succeeded, resisting the urge to fall into parody and performing with a sincere passion for the music.
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