Bloody Hollies

Their previous visit to the UK was to record a Peel Session, but this band still seems to be one of the USA's best kept secrets, despite having an album out on the esteemed Sympathy For The Record Industry label. However, back home they have received rave reviews following their shows at SXSW. The Washington Post described "the full-throttle cymbal-crashing punk" of this Buffalo, New York band as one of the highlights of the festival, whilst one Detroit newspaper described singer/guitarist Wesley Doyle as "a budding musical genius with a wicked sense of humor who just might be the new Todd Rundgren of garage rock". Elsewhere, Wesley is called "a true rock'n'roll guerilla...not only does his guitar sound like a swarm of killer bees with stingers fulla snake venom but his vocals are pure ragged trouble". All Music Guide, meanwhile, says they are "experts at making stripped-down and basic sounds vital and exciting - their take on garage rock is amped up with the relentlessness of punk and tempered with keen pop structures". Another newspaper says that out of 30 odd bands they saw at SXSW the Bloody Hollies were the best of the bunch, "a sweat-soaked blues frenzy that had the urgency of an ambulance careening along back-alley streets with a man on the brink inside"