As a potentially deadly heatwave descends upon the country, one could think of a better idea than to join several hundred dancing, sweaty people in a sweltering underground club. But see, the Sheepdogs are back in town. Three years almost to the day after their last Paris gig, and hot off of the release of their excellent new record Outta Sight, the Canadians played a typically exciting set that transported the attendees back to a time most of them are too young to have known.
Cosmetically, the classic rock revivalists get all of the elements right: the vocal harmonies, the two or sometimes three-pronged guitar attack, the funky rhythm section... If you closed your eyes, you might think you were in a Muscle Shoals studio in the early seventies.
The Sheepdogs have been releasing great records for fifteen years but the addition of blues guitarist Jimmy Bowskill to the line-up seven years ago has really skyrocketed the band into the stratosphere: his solos are nothing short of explosive and his rapport with singer/guitarist Ewan Currie is a big part of what makes the show so good.
But their best weapon is their superb songwriting. Songs like I've Got A Hole Where My Soul Should Be or Learn and Burn are every bit as good as classics from the bands that inspired them like the Allman Brothers or Creedence Clearwater Revival. And after ninety minutes of classy Southern Rock, we all dispersed into the parching night with the realization that we had just spent the evening in the company of one of the classics bands of tomorrow.
