On a chilly spring evening at Bristol’s premier community-owned live music venue, it’s ‘Monday Funday!’ as Hillbilly Moon Explosion bring their agglomeration of rockabilly, jump blues, swing, and country music to the main room of The Exchange.
The band’s provenance dates to 1999 in Zurich when English-Swiss bassist and vocalist, Oliver Baroni, and the Italian-Swiss singer-guitarist, Emanuela Hutter, came together and merged the names of each of their previous music groups, Hillbilly Headhunters and MD Moon, respectively. Following a couple of iterations of lineup changes, English guitarist Duncan James and the Paris-based Sylvain Petite, on drums, now complete the ensemble.
The lustre of their live pedigree continues to endure into the group’s 28th year. An eclectic rabble itches with excitement and anticipation before the band, accompanied by an instrumental track that is part Kill Bill, part spaghetti western, take their places confidently on the stage. A short pause ensues as each instrument undergoes its final tweaking adjustments…then we’re off!
The band launch into their opening salvo, Let’s Go (Back in Time),with its groaning rhythm and psychobilly grit. Think ‘I Cant’ Hardly Stand It’ by The Cramps, but sped up, with a nod to the swagger of Jack Scott’s ‘The Way I Walk’. Emanuela’s sultry vocals are a gentle salve to the intermittent barking of ‘”Let’s Go” by James and Baroni.
The energy ratchets up with the turbocharged ‘Sometimes Late At Night’, a punk-ravaged song delivered with a controlled sophistication that only the Explosion could command. The staccato ryhthm of ‘I Live in My Head’, reminiscent of ZZ Top’s ‘La Grange’, follows, and by now the audience is enraptured. There are already various pockets of dancing, swaying and toe-tapping bodies, while, on stage, Baroni feverishly bashes away at his upright bass with hair flopping across his brow.
Emanuela cuts a stoic, confident and sophisticated presence in the centre of the stage, saying little between songs. Baroni does the lion share of the audience interaction with his adroit banter, imploring the crowd ensure they have an alcoholic beverage in hand as he self-deprecatingly asserts: “the more you drink, the better we sound” which elicits a chorus of laughter. Is it really only Monday? The vibe feels like a weekend blowout!
The band eases into a cantering, but steady, pace as the forlorn ‘The Long Way Down’ and ‘I’m Goin’ To Milano’. The former highlights Emanuela’s rich, dark cabaret tones ahead of a more peeled-back instrumentation, while the latter is a sub-2-minute skirmish of bouncy swing era danceability.
After the lilting reggae style of ‘Nothing Takes the Place of You’, the band tears through a litany of fan favourites starting with ‘Queen of Hearts’ with it’s Morricone-esque, cinematic arpeggio. We’re well into the second half of the set and ‘Death By My Side’ revisits the Wild West theme with a fun Jimmy Dean ‘Big Bad John’ style country song. Although sounding a bit like 1970s campy Cowboy and Indians TV show, it’s a light and silly interlude before the topics of divorce and depression are treated in that typically rip-roaring Hillbilly Moon Explosion fashion with jump bluesy, pulsing rhythms populated with plenty frenetic instrumentation and wild exuberance.
This is rockabilly fusion at its best, conjuring up all manner of scenes in the audience’s imagination while they dance away the Monday blues. As the set draws to a close, we’re jettisoned into yet another world, this time one of 1930s speakeasies and Bugsy Malone-style slapstick with Tommy gun shoutouts and Motel T car chases as the Oliver Baroni takes over lead vocal duties, again, for a splendid rendition of ‘Live the Life’.
For their energy and enthusiasm, the crowd is rewarded with a 3-song encore, including a rare outing for the band’s cover of ‘Baby, I Love You’ by The Ronettes. The band then lead one another off stage, in turn, to a rhythmic flow of music which recedes as each member gently places down their instrument before filing off stage. Finally, only the light strumming of lead guitarist, Duncan James, remains before, he too, departs. But not before blowing a kiss and bidding farewell to an adoring crowd.
Dan Adshead
