Best of the west

Oh yes. Denim, leather, hair, electricity, sweat, beer, guitars, violence. All the ingredients for prime rock'n'roll action are here. And prime rock'n'roll is exactly what you'll find on the excellently named Raw Star Guitars; the debut album these six decibel-dishing desperados have considerately strapped together so that we timid city folk don't need to don bush shirts, grow beards and fly to Greymouth to see them.

It's bloody good. Songs fall roughly into three camps. There's the fast and furious Datsuns-ish riff-monster approach of "Reeperbhan Style" and new single "Get Started". There's the more expansive and melodic Rolling Stones/Clash/Who-isms of "Back To Thee", "Ride On", "Bailout" and "Somewhere".

Then there are songs such as "Black Rock'n'Roll Heart", "Popcorn Double Feature" and the mighty "Crossover" that sound more like the choppy, nasal UK post-punk sound of The Only Ones or Wreckless Eric.

In other words, these boys are blessed with range, a damn fine singer (Rex Bourke) plus three lead guitars flapping and fluttering and billowing like flags above a rock-solid rhythm section. The Dellburgoes are also blessed with some melodic and harmonic depth. The guitar interplay is so innate, so unconscious and perfectly judged, you just know these guys have spent years knocking around together, drinking and laughing and fighting, sleeping on each other's couches and with each other's girlfriends, until they've started to play together like a single six-armed guitarist with one brain.

Although the production on some songs could've done with more red-zone punch and snarl, Raw Star Guitars' best moments are as wild, beautiful and temperamental as the West Coast from which it sprung .

The Dellburgoes
Raw Star Guitars
(Devil Made Me Do It Records)
Coasting towards glory
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