BB and the Bullets: High Tide (digital outlets)

A volatile and impressive mix of originals and covers (Born Under a Bad Sign, Walking the Dog and Lennon's I Want You among them) from an unexpected source: Whanganui.

That shouldn't really be a surprise, outside of the main centres hard rocking blues has never gone away, it's the music of bars, clubs and in this case the Whanganui Musicians Club where the seasoned BB/Bullets were first heard by their management.

BB is singer/guitarist and songwriter Brian Baker who served time in Melbourne bands (among them The Makers with Enz keyboard player Eddie Rayner who guests here on the title track).

He has a good line in original lyrics, as on High Tide: “I survived the mortgage but if the river breaks its banks, please don't judge me. At least I swam before I sank.”

With bassist/singer Stu Duncan and drummer Brad McMillan – each with decades of credentials in various bands – Baker keeps things tight and clean to allow his tough guitar to cut through (check I Can Tell) and they take-no-prisoners on a barroom rock version of Rufus Thomas' Walk the Dog.

Even the original Little Fishies which on paper initially looks like a pleasant wee piece (“waves slap the side of the boat, the sea is singing and the sunlight floats”) takes a dark turn and that guitar brings in a Southern country-blues twang.

The Lennon version is fairly faithful to the intensity of the original but when it hits “she's so heavy” it is very heavy indeed and Baker gets right under the skin of a tough blues guitar solo.

It's a courageous band that would undertake it, but they are more than up for it, and BB King's signature song The Thrill is Gone although it takes a couple of hearings to appreciate that the vocal is some distance from King's broken and more melancholy style..

So here's an album which announces a band from the provinces which deserve a wider hearing in bars, pubs and festivals.

And on your soundsystem turned up loud.

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You can hear and buy this album (also on vinyl) at bandcamp here