Hillstomp brought their hard-driving blues to the Top Hat for the first time on Friday April 15, 2011. To say the crowd was appreciative would be an understatement; ecstatic and blown-away would be closer to the truth. Is there a duo anywhere who plays faster and louder? This is rompin' and stompin' stuff, creating an audience/performer vortex, which threatens to lift the roof off.
The buckets are plain enough in this image, but you can't see the brake drum and some of the other toys tucked away in this far-from-standard drum kit.
Henry Christian
John Johnson
Hillstomp gave everything they had for a lengthy set, with much howling, growling and dripping sweat. I think their performance and the crowd reaction gave them some satisfaction.
The Dodgy Mountain Men were feeling their onions on this night, and deserve much credit for warming the crowd up for the headliners. One unique aspect of this outfit is percussion provided by tablas.
As usual, there are more images of this night on the flickr archive. Each of these bands has a set, as does Black Mountain Moan, the opening band. All three bands have previous coverage on this blog, and at least one set from an earlier performance on flickr. Hillstomp now has five sets on flickr, counting two performances at the Palace and two at the Badlander.
In a previous post about Black Mountain Moan, I labeled this young man Zak, but, according to his emails, he uses the more traditional Zach. I apologize, Zach.
I can't end this post without mentioning the "free and family friendly" 6 to 8 time slot every Thursday and Friday at the Top Hat. On this Friday, the Jen Slayden Family Band performed, and as usual kids running, dancing and playing contributed to a very different bar experience from the usual. The Family Band included Jen's son, daughter and niece. They also have a set on flickr.
