Bedlam Breakout 2024: a bittersweet occasion for my mob, The Broadway Twisters. After a few years of being constantly asked if we were going to appear at this exalted event, we finally got to take the
Bedlam stage, which turned out to be one of the highlights of that year. So, that was the sweet.

The bitter? We were seriously looking forward to catching The Hurricanes from Glasgow, who, on the eve of their appearance, suffered one of those old “creative differences” implosions that have put paid to many a band, resulting in a no-show from those guys for BB24.But every cloud and all that . . .Arising phoenix-like from the smouldering hearth of the Hurricanes, cometh… The Wild Devils!

Having morphed into a female-fronted bop machine with three honky-tonk henchmen, these Devils have since been burning up stages all over the UK, and now Georgia’s MISSING FINK Records have issued their debut record, just as nature intended, on glorious 45 rpm 7-inch vinyl!

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and impress they do with a deceptive John Lee Hooker-style hook (see what I did there?) for ON TOP OF THE WORLD, which bowls along like
early ZZ Top when they were still a blues bastard hurricane of a band. (This is a good thing, rockers).

With ROCK ‘A’ BOP, there’s that deception thing again. This time we get a couple of bars of a ’Tequila’-type groove only to change course into a TWENTY FLIGHT ROCK-type bopper. Dispensing with the sax-fest of Lorelei Lynn’s original, the WDs bring a guitar to the party with more twang than Mamie Van Doren’s garter belt.

Next up, we have THREE DAYS IN MEMPHIS, with the sweetest bass intro since Bill Black’s on the King’s MY BABY LEFT ME. Probably my favourite from this set, its RUMBLE IN BRIGHTON groove puts me in mind of Poland’s finest, The Real Gone Tones. (This, folks, is also a good thing). In fact, there’s a blues undercurrent throughout this E.P., which is always a welcome element, and lovers of the Excellos and The Fabulous Thunderbirds might do well to hit this.

The Wild Devils: probably the wildest rockin’ noise to come out of the highlands since the Shakin’ Pyramids.
Get wild!
Get with it!
Get the Wild Devils!

A.D. Stranik