You can’t take the blues out of the bluesman, even when he starts singing R and B and pop music.
 Former Perpetrators’ drummer Scotty Hills showed his blues roots to an intimate audience of about a dozen people at the Slice, Jan. 30.

 He began his first set slowly on his own, including a bluesy cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and an excellent song  called “Isabel.” He went country for “She’s Gone.”

He had a pleasant, appealing voice  reminiscent of Danny Michel or Paul Simon and a sweet guitar sound.

 He welcomed drummer/ keyboardist/ analog synth player Jason Cook to the stage a things got a whole lot louder.

 Cook’s synth bass shook my bar stool almost to pieces and reminded me of the scene from Bob and Doug McKenzie’s movie “Strange Brew” where the ultra low frequency synth bass makes the mental institution hockey players start fighting.

Yet somehow you could still hear every note Hills sang and played. He played several songs from his most recent CD “Year of Septembers.” He wound the first set down on a slightly slower, more R and B/ jazz influenced note and ended with an outstanding song called “The Beach” about Gimli, Manitoba.