Review & photos by Andrew Bansal
September 27th 2014, The Viper Room, West Hollywood CA: Los Angeles-based rock ‘n roll group Hillbilly Herald were in the enviable position of opening for Slash in all three of his club shows at the Troubadour, Roxy and Whisky in West Hollywood earlier this week, and ending their “0.8 miles in 5 days” tour, they headlined the Viper Room last night. The last and only time I saw Hillbilly Herald was when they rocked the Cat Club with an insane performance during the 2010 edition of the Sunset Strip Music Festival, and for one reason or another, I kept missing all of their shows since then. Last night, I was finally able to rectify that and got a chance to witness what Hillbilly Herald are like in 2014. The Viper Room was packed to near capacity on a typically busy Saturday night, and following a couple of very decent opening acts, specially Blackpool Republic who played just before the headliner and put on a lively show, the audience was in readiness for a healthy dose of Hillbilly Herald.
At 11 PM, the curtains drew apart and Hillbilly Herald began a 60-plus minute 14-song set with the tune ‘Sucker Punch’, vocalist Jimmy Herald as crazy, wild-eyed and compelling as I’d remembered from that 2010 show. Brandishing a mic-stand decorated with Pabst Blue Ribbon 24-oz tall cans, Jimmy Herald entertained the Viper Room crowd with an exemplary display of all the ingredients a rock ‘n roll frontman should possess, the voice, the stage presence, and the attitude.
The set began with some mid-tempo rockers but the new tune ‘Hotter Than The Devil’s Dick’ onwards is where it kicked into top gear, every song thereafter such as ‘Shame On Me’, ‘2 Lane Blacktop’ and ‘Dallas Bride’ making a positive impact on the audience. Hillbilly Herald have certainly added a lot to their musical arsenal in the last four years with some excellent newer material, and the one thing most noticeable about their music is it doesn’t rely on speed and instead a part a slower, bluesy style of rock instead for the most part, but packing a mean punch throughout. Hillbilly Herald clearly being in close ties with Slash, the guitar icon’s appearance in this show was humored, and even though that didn’t happen, we were in for an unexpected surprise.
Basketball star Dennis Rodman came up on stage to sing a cover of AC/DC’s ‘T.N.T’, and rejoined the band for the last song of the set. Expectedly, the Viper Room crowd, which included Steel Panther bassist Lexxi Foxx sans wig and costume making a rare public appearance, went nuts and everyone was rushing to take photos and video of Rodman’s time on stage. I could barely hear his vocals on the two songs he sang with the band, but this was obviously more about the man’s appearance than his performance.
All in all, a tremendously energetic and enjoyable set by Hillbilly Herald, who showed that they’ve taken their musicianship up several notches in the past few years. Rock ‘n roll fans really can’t go wrong with Hillbilly Herald.
Set List:
01. Sucker Punch
02. Greedy
03. Dead On The Money
04. Bad Boy Bruiser
05. Hotter Than The Devil’s Dick
06. Shame On Me
07. 2 Lane Blacktop
08. Dallas Bride
09. Burnin’ Bridges
10. American Guy
11. Better Than This
12. T.N.T. (AC/DC cover, with Dennis Rodman)
13. Yellow Belly
14. Rock ‘N Roll (with Dennis Rodman)