BAND SPOTLIGHT | Royal Son of a Guns

Hailing and railing from Chicago, while curtailing nothing pertaining to righteousness and proper behavior, this trio describes themselves as “barstool smashing miscreants” ready and willing to “take Americana on a psycho-cathartic hayride through the thorny nettles of the American roots music underbelly,” – and they mean it, folks. With Blue Moses on scrambling electric guitar and riveting vocals, Tomoko pounding the electrified washboard and other percussive items, and John every which way all over the bass, the thrilling threesome recently released Thieving Lying Blood, while spending their precious time riding up and down the Illinois range playing crazy gigs in wild and wooly barrooms. Proclaiming to be a mish-mash of “Johnny Cash meets Black Sabbath,” Royal Son of a Guns claim a musical territory covering rock, outlaw country and acid folk, a dangerous and diabolical landscape indeed. Joined at this representation of rock gone raucous by the Nashville-based, California-born band, Radar Vs Wolf and Bar None’s own Bernie Flesch, this show may blow off the roof and then shoot right through.