Belfast Blues three-piece The Hard Chargers are the genuine article. They are not a Heavy Rock band thinking they are a Blues band by throwing in the odd nod ‘n’ wink to the Blues nor do they play the sanitized FM radio-friendly Blues of say, George Thorogood & The Delaware Destroyers. No, they are Blues very much in the traditional 1930’s style and Chris Todd has an amazingly authentic Delta Blues voice.
The name does not lie, they charge hard and ‘Fine and Filthy’ does not hang about; coming in on the back of a delicious freight-train, almost Rock-a-Billy, beat which does not let up throughout. The riff is simplicity itself backed up by insistent bass and providing the perfect backdrop for Todd’s caterwauling as he delivers his deliciously irreverent tale of the perfect woman (I wonder did he get her number?) . The second half of the AA side single is ‘Somebody’s Friend’ which is slightly different in style to ‘Fine and Filthy’ being more mid-paced but has the same wonderful self-confidence shown by ‘Fine and Filthy’. The Hard Chargers know their genre and know they are good at it and it oozes out of the speakers. The production has a terrifically warm, live feel to it, making the listener imagine they are sitting at the end of the bar, whisky in hand while the boys strut their stuff in the corner. Really excellent.
‘Fine and Filthy’ is released on 4th May and is available from CDbaby, itunes and Amazon. The band have also lined up three ‘Release’ gigs in Ballymena, Belfast and Bangor for this coming weekend. I’d seriously recommend you get along.
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