Poor Old Dogs - Beeses Tea Bar, Friday 7th June

Folk music can often be a bit on the dull side.  Earnest performers plugging along onstage backed by a polite violin in front of a placid crowd that offer little more than the odd nod or foot-tap.  Take a group of mates therefore who play for beer and a laugh with stomping songs about unscrupulous estate agents, nuisance neighbours and flasher milkmen and it’s hard not to taken in by their contagious enthusiasm for performing and mission to make audiences smile.

Bristol’s Poor Old Dogs arrive at Beeses fantastic riverside bar after a hectic gigging schedule in support of cracking second EP ‘Milkman’.  This mischievious band are led by charismatic frontman Jack Francis who appears on stage with flat-cap and dangling earring, a hint of Levellers ‘crusty’ and an unsettling/menacing Lydon-like stare.  Splitting their set into two, the first much less frantic, the quartet bring the crowd in from the garden with an upbeat cover of Richard Thompson’s masterpiece ‘Beeswing’.  ‘Betty Got My Coat Nicked’ has the locals grinning, she stole his Harris Tweed don’t you know? but now “she can bugger off, at least subconsciously.”  Jangling guitars meet a committed but off-key vocal to devastating effect. 

For the most part it’s wonderfully shambolic and perfect Friday night fare for those in search of high-octane hoe-downs.  The laugh-out-loud humour and quirky tales within the band’s growing catalogue shouldn’t distract from the fact that these guys are actually highly accomplished musicians.  Rory Smith effortlessly switches between bass and double-bass, driving the band on and keeping up well with the frantic pace.  Likewise, diminuitive Mandolin thrasher Laurie Cornwall is a dynamo throughout and a standout on punky ode to odd-bods ‘Designated Weirdo’.  Whenever they sail back into ‘conventional’ folk they show their versatility and knowledge of the genre’s chief protagonists with some well selected covers that keep the crowd transfixed.  A meaty ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ gets a hearty ovation, the band are pretty tight and clearly loving every minute.  Other highlights include ‘Immoral in Balmoral’ –a Dexy’s style amusing jaunt that asks “Can’t we just be friends, like the friends off Friends?”  Moving on and ‘Sick Of The Sight Of Your Face’ is furious fun as the enigmatic singer attacks his ex in good humour “your voice makes my skin crawl”. 

Saving the best until last, the band’s hilarious ‘Milkman’ is a massive hit that sees the audience deserting their pints for one final knees-up in what is surely the best ever song about the art of dairy delivery (sorry Ernie/Benny Hill).  In this instance however, we’re dealing with a man who likes to “feel the morning breeze blowing his bits about.”  With a keen beat, speedy strumming and a laddish chorus of “who’s the fucking milkman, he said I’m the fucking milkman” it’s not exactly profound but its undoubtedly entertaining stuff.  The Poor Old Dogs maybe completely barking but if you’re about in town and a big fan of folk with played with ferocity and fun then get over to see them.

Kindly published by Venue:
http://www.venue.co.uk/music-live-reviews-p/20753-poor-old-dogs

Best Track: Click on link below
Poor Old Dogs - 'Sick Of The Sight Of Your Face'

Available to buy:
http://poorolddogs.co.uk/music/