A decent crowd had assembled at Bannermans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Heavy Pettin’s Lettin’ Loose album. Before the headline act, we were entertained by Ayrshire’s Lyin Rampant celebrating their own 1987 Up and Cumin’ album (what was it with 1980s Weegie bands and the missing “g”?)
Folks might not remember all of the tunes on Up and Cumin but it’s hard to unsee its Scorpions-esque “of its time” album cover featuring a hair-sprayed lady sprawled on a bed who appears to have derived a great deal of pleasure from a bottle of Bells whisky, albeit not in the conventional way. Frontman Stewartie Adams still looks the part with a fine mane of hair reminiscent of Dave Meniketti. He powers through the guitar parts and vocals but mostly with his head down and I think he may have had prompts for some of the lyrics written down. It’s not surprising really as it is the band’s first gig for over 30 years and they had only had one “secret” warm-up gig before this short run but they’ll be back to play on home soil at Winterstorm – Ayrshire’s Woodstock – in November. Set highlights include ‘Crazee’, ‘Breakdown’, ‘Promises’ and ‘Kill Them All’ and I’m sure they’ll be even slicker in Troon.
Before Lyin Rampant, the crowd were treated to a short but super-charged set from Dundee heroes Lixx. Singer Joe was not in danger of banging his heid of the roof Chris Holmes-style but the smaller stage at Bannermans did curtail some of his nimble gyrations a bit. You can’t keep a good man down though and he managed to high-five most of the crowd while still getting more eye contact than Specsavers with the front rows. As always, ‘Zero Zero’ was a crowd pleaser but some of the newer material, like ‘Private Eye’ from this year’s 44 Below album is already firmly established in their set. In common with the other bands on the bill, Lixx have a grounding in the 20th century but unlike the others, they’ve been prolific in recent years too and ‘21st Century Wreck’ is a boot-stomping glam-punk modern classic. They were clearly “on the clock” but by the time they finish a frenetic outing with ‘Supercharger’ they’ve got everyone pumped up, including legendary singer Blaze Bayley who was looking good and was a very welcome presence in the venue.
Back in the eighties, Heavy Pettin’ rode their hairspray, Weegie banter and fine tunes all the way to Top of the Pops, America and Eurovision in a short but glorious career. They’ve popped up a few times in more recent years and it’s good to see them back, with Hamie still sporting great hair, great teeth and “where’s the burds” charm. He’s still got the cut-off golf gloves and tartan scarf, although I think the current scarf carried the badge of the Alabama Crimson Tide college football team. I believe current Florida resident Hamie may have spent some time there, and in Texas, so his accent is definitely part Alabama / part Weegie bammer now. They’ve still got wide appeal. As well as this short UK tour, they started the month with a gig at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood and they’re off to Singapore shortly too.