The Dogbones
Scarlet Grey
Water Rats, London
Wednesday September 21 2011

I know only three things about Scarlet Grey: they come from Los Angeles, they've got an assortment of celeb mates in US alternorock circles (they seem to be besties with AFI, for whatever that's worth) - and they really, really want to be The Killers.

They're all epic and soaring and gutsy and grandiose, building a tower of enormodome guitars and then scaling it with an overwrought, high-emotion-content vocal. All of which serves to point up the band's central dilemma: stadium rock simply sounds a bit daft when you're not actually doing it in a stadium.

So it's a bit of a relief when The Dogbones arrive, and we can get our rock on at a slightly more appropriate scale.

Mind you, The Dogbones know all about generating a great big racket. Their guitar sound is a mighty and fearsome thing, like Marc Bolan fighting in a sack with Elmore James, while the band's enhanced staffing levels in the engine room - two drummers, one bassist - means that there's always a heavy duty rumble in their jungle. There's a new drummer tonight, keeping up his end of the tribal thunder in suitably no-shit style.

It's not all about the noise, though. OK, so it's mostly about the noise, but The Dogbones also have a sure touch with a poptastic melody and a tune you can whistle. When vocalist Nomi Leonard lets rip, red hair and red-painted arms weirdly aglow under the Shrek-green stage lighting, you're hard pressed not to sing along. Even the new songs have that instant catchiness - such as 'Jesus Will Save You' (from what? Stadium rock? Bring it on, Jeez, mate) and 'We Don't Want What You Got', which introduces itself with a chug-chug-chug of guitar like a diesel engine starting up on a cold morning.

The other great thing about The Dogbones - aside from the sheer exhilarating rush of their rock 'n' roll racket, and the stick-in-your-brain quality of their songwriting - is that they know how to put on a pageant. Nomi's body-paint experiments, in a range of exciting colourways, always lend a bit of dada-esque art to the proceedings.

But it's the way the band strut and swagger, giving it plenty of rock 'n' roll showboating, but always with a metaphorical - or sometimes literal - knowingly raised eyebrow, that turns the gig into a show.

Nomi is, as ever, a dangerous blur up front, while guitarist Johnny Orion throws a fine selection of rock 'n' roll shapes, accompanied by sudden manic grins, as if the voices in his head are telling him jokes. But you know that when he takes the lead vocal on 'Never Gonna Get Us' - the band's ritual evisceration of music biz blandishments - he means every barbed, cynical word.

Down with stadium rock, that's what I say. The real stuff is right here.

The Dogbones: MySpace | Facebook

Scarlet Grey: Website | MySpace | Facebook

For more photos from this gig,
find The Dogbones by name here.