Hot damn. These gentlemen have a great thing going with their high-octane brand of rock and punk. Opening with I Wanna Ride, the Rocking Scoundrels hit the stage hard and stole the attention of everyone in the room on this unusually busy March night at Paladino’s. Simple, fast melodies with resonant guitar sound, booming bass and sporadic drum combos make for a serious sound attack. While the formula of these three may seem simple, slowly developing a melody before obliterating it with sudden bursts of overdriven guitar and pounding drums, the overall delivery and performance is such that it gives the songs an air of intricacy despite the somewhat simple chord play.

The Rocking Scoundrels are: the multifaceted Dave Haynes on lead vocals and guitar, Brian “Chewy” James, a local living legend on bass and the explosive Darren Edwards on drums. This evening they continued their set with Motorcycle Baby from their first CD, All In the Name of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It's a fast, ballsy pop-punk tune with snotty rock n' roll vocals and that slightly slurred edge that complete the package. What sets the Rocking Scoundrels apart in the current rock scene is their real passion in the music and the sparse vocals/lyrics. The fact there are only three of them only adds an unpredictability to their already robust sound, making it all that much more appealing. Once a Rocker was next, with a very ‘British’ rock sound, both raw and urgent, topped with Dave’s screams, delivering poignant lyrics.

The Scoundrels were once again, unleashing a show that would energize both the hardcore and mainstream rock scenesters. Their sound soars above the predictable mainstream punk and/or rock and delivers us from the presumptuous into another dimension. Next up, Good Time from their third CD, Motorbikes, Rock Roll, & Speed had catchy, simple, old-school lyrics, like most of the Scoundrel’s songs. It works for them. They continued to wow the audience with Born to Rock ‘n’ Roll, a brand new song. Excellent lyrics and an interesting sound, holding a kind of White Stripes groove, featuring that strong kick drum beat. Couldn’t help but bop along to this one. Darren’s flamboyant drumming never ceases to amaze any onlooker.

It made sense then, for the Rocking Scoundrels to cover Sparks, the cover from The Who’s rock opera, ‘Tommy’. I don’t know, maybe it’s the British invasion thing that the Scoundrels obviously have going on. This just worked. Trademark Townsend riffs played on Dave’s sweet Telecaster didn’t hurt either. The strong point in this song is the erratic style of drumming, a trademark of Moon. You can’t help but think the legendary Keith Moon while watching Darren just go off. And ‘go off’ he did. Yet, his out-of-control flailing style, is actually tight-ass, perfect precision drumming. All of this on a mere five-piece kit! They continued to rock the house with Virgin Sex Machine. This tune carried a sense of balance between attitude and melody. Notably, the Rocking Scoundrels songs are all relatively quick, with the majority being well under the three-minute mark. Meaning emanates from their songs and the writing actually stands for something. Such is the case with Dead of Night. Heady stuff, played with frenzied unpredictability and innovation. These are all “Party Hard” tunes. Always great fun to watch and hear Brian play, a born entertainer, who sort of reminds you of a bigger version of Zakk Wylde, he’s just an amazing bassist. They closed up their set with Funhouse. It opened with a distorted, mental circus melody, leading into an extremely raw body, all coming together in a sound both carefully structured and recklessly spontaneous.

I may seem a bit bias as I’ve always enjoyed seeing the Scoundrels play live. However, tonight it was noticeable that they’ve really been working very hard. They came on and tore it up as a seasoned and completely professional sounding, original outfit. Dispensing good, clean, power rock songs seemingly without effort. Take notice, Los Angeles. Check out their websites at www.rockingscoundrels

~ Maya Dawn Henderson ~

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