When The Bobby Lees drummer, Macky Bowman, started removing his clothes (shirt and pants, to be exact) before the set and proceeded to jog in place, I knew this was a performance to remember, and he was only starting to warm up. Bowman then raised his arms over his head and began twirling his drumsticks while frontwoman, Sam Quartin, launched the band into an explosive set with “Guttermilk” from their 2020 release, Skin Suit.
The music was fast, loud, raw, and raucous, and the audience loved every second. With Nick Casa wailing on the lead guitar and Kendall Wind, the bassist, dancing and swirling like a rhythmic tornado, Quartin lunged back and forth across the stage in a ferocious and feral state.
So send in a messenger, signal, or something
– “Hollywood Junkyard”
To show me you care
I’m Dorothy waiting, the tornado taking me
I dunno where, oh
When she started to belt out the lyrics, “So come and find me in the Hollywood Junkyard, I’m gonna be a star… Come and find me with my eyes like diamonds, they say I’m gonna go far,” the crowd eagerly chanted along. It felt like we were being transported into a ’70s punk/garage rock Firebird time machine with Quartin’s lead foot on the pedal and no seatbelts on. Wind’s bass and Bowman’s drumming kept pushing us faster and faster until we were all spinning out of control.
In a way, the music felt dangerous and dirty, but it’s what I think most of us have been craving. Something raw and primal with nothing pretentious about it. It was just what we all needed, a glorious helluva ride.
So, fasten your seatbelts because The Bobby Lees are still on their 2023 tour in the U.S. If you are near these upcoming venues, you must catch them live. https://www.thebobbylees.com
