Feeding Frenzy: Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons – Glasgow November 2023
Slow Dragon Music headed out to The Garage a while back, to witness Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons doing what they do best; raising hell.
It’s far from our first time catching The Bastards. It used to be a yearly pilgrimage to go watch Motörhead, and having the family keep the tradition going is a delightful replacement. In more intimate venues, it’s also easier to get up close and personal with Phil & co. It’s not all about the big boys, though, and PC&TBS always bring some worthy talent along for the ride.
Cologne five-piece, Sweet Electric kick things off…
…with a nod and a half to GnR / AC/DC (and maybe Steve Tyler, going by all the open shirt and animal print action – Slow Dragon). The pedal to the metal, dirty riffin’, scarf wielding quintet, swerve through a quick set list, thanking the crowd for coming down early and never missing a beat “you may not know who we are now…but you’ll never forget…” Dropping the bass into some funk with Livin’ It Up got the crowd pumped whilst latest album, title track, Hard Times rings throughout The Garage in chorus “When hard times come. Then hard work follows”. Frontman and Massive member, Brad Marr states in a thick Australian accent (now residing in Germany for those wondering about the rehearsal commute!), that this is the first gig in Scotland, and the boys are eager to come back, and we’ll have them, with bells on.
Supergroup, The Cards – featuring original Saxon guitarist Paul Quinn, Harrison Young (Doro, U.D.O.) and Koen Herfst (Armin van Buuren) – are up next…
…and with such legendary status, the crowd are all in, hook, line and sinker. Mixed with songs from both 2019’s self-titled debut, The Cards play classics such as Bandit On The Run. Quinn left Saxon earlier in 2023 due to the toll of heavy touring, so it was nice to see him dip his toe back in so quickly, and that all things are amicable. As Young tells the story about how Quinn sent Ride the Freight Train both himself and Biff Byford, (a race to who would write a riff first), perhaps we can believe the rumours that he will return to Saxon in the studio at some point. Solid crowd pleaser The Gamble recalls and cements the lads’ choice to be musicians, out on the road. King Kong is what I came for, with its bluesy, bar and grill, Roadhouse feel. This was rather a history lesson in good ‘ol rock ‘n’ roll, than nostalgia, but you are left with that feeling of “they never make rock bands like they used to”
And here we are…
Like every autumnal Motörhead UK tour, the family day out (or is that just us lot?), was on with Phil and the boys are back on fairly local turf (comparatively speaking). The array of Motörhead songs is spliced throughout with starters We’re the Bastards, Going to Brazil up early. The Bastards’ Freakshow got newer fans jumping whilst my all-time personal favourite Born to Raise Hell followed as the older punters gave the newbies a good “what for”. A slow number for Mr C comes in the form of another track worthy of this new Roadhouse movie, (just my vote, if it must be redone, a killer soundtrack is a requisite), dirty ‘lil number, Dark Days carries the blues throughout the cloudy venue. A couple of covers begins the end of the set with the infamous God Save the Queen (…bit late – Slow Dragon) and Bowie’s Heroes before the three-song encore concludes that if Bastard headbanging doesn’t kill you, then you’ll surely be Killed by Death!
AVZD and Merch Goblin
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Feeding Frenzy: Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons – Glasgow November 2023
