L.A. Beat

Monday, Sept. 14 was a night of harmony and balls to the wall rock and roll, like they played in the good old days.
Toronto rednecks White Cowbell Oklahoma were back in Lethbridge to tear the roof off the Slice, and while they’ve tempered their live show somewhat, they definitely haven’t tempered their music, which continues to tap the essence of the ’70s southern rock with a touch of Kiss and a whole lot of Aerosmith. But there was nary a chainsaw or stripper to be seen on stage this time, though cowbell player Charles Chainsaw brought out a grinder and made a shower of sparks on his cowbell. And then he set it on fire.
 Lead guitarist the Cousin Who Hath no Name wailed on his cherry Gibson SG ,  and did his best Pete Townshend impression, he locked in with  vocalist/guitarist Clem Clemsen and Hollis P Cartwright and played some gorgeous three part guitar solo harmonies and lots of massive, head crushing riffs. Most of the set came from their new CD “Bombardero” though some White Cowbell Oklahoma favourites like “Put the South in Your Mouth” and “Black Mountaintop (Whiskey Woman)” which ended the set, were also crowd favourites.
They blew out some electrical circuits right at the beginning of their set, which didn’t perturb them much, though their vocals were nowhere to be heard. But as soon as that got taken care of, they ripped into a wicked version of “Frankenstein” and didn’t look back. They baptized the crowd in Jägermeister and basically showed the small but enthusiastic crowd a good time on a Monday night.
Opening act, Ottawa’s  No Other Way”, a late addition to the bill brought back  the spirit of ’80s hair metal with some wicked dual fretboard tapping fueled guitar harmonies and party time lyrics with some modern riffs of the ilk of Fall Out Boy.
 The band  leaped around the stage like possessed kangaroos and warmed up the crowd nicely for White Cowbell Oklahoma after promising they’d be back.