What the Hot Blood Bombers pulled out for their final show wasn’t an epic blowout. They didn’t leave the Italian Club – an odd choice of venue, to be sure – a pile of smoldering ashes.
What they did do was remind everyone in the room why there were one of Regina’s best bands and just how sorely they will be missed.
Originally, Regina’s Black Thunder was supposed to open the Saturday, July 16 show but because of a commitment elsewhere, they couldn’t do it. That was just fine – the Bombers did two sets, a normal-sized one at about 11:30 p.m – conveniently after the Handsome Furs show the same night – and a super-sized one later.
It wasn’t a crazy, drunken bash of a show – which wouldn’t have been foreign to the band or their fans – although that didn’t stop the crowd from ending things with a dog pile in front of the band during the last song. Instead, Dave Schneider, Shane Grass, and the departing Herb Exner blew through a huge swath of their songs in great fashion.
Everything is right about this band. They play a variety of garage rock that’s fit for the get-down-and-boogie crowd but that’s still dynamic and really cool to listen to on its own. That’s played by three great musicians, each with distinct stage personalities: Schneider, the reckless rock guitarist (he tumbled over two chairs at this show, at least once genuinely worrying some in the crowd for his health), Grass the furious bass player and counterpoint to Schneider, and Exner the expert drummer, easily one of Regina’s best.
I had to wonder what the couple of ladies from the Italian Club who were tending bar at the show must’ve thought of the spectacle. With any luck, they recognized that they saw a great sendoff for one of the Queen City’s best bands.
Check out after the jump for a picture of drunken prairie dog writer John Cameron deciding to have a chat with Schneider between songs.
