The Bone Collectors have a great name – one that made me curious about them as soon as I heard it, plus, their next scheduled gig happened to be a band launch – doubly cool. Wolftown was the ‘new’ band being launched – I later discovered that they were the reincarnation of The Ragdolls, another band (with a cool name) who I never got around to seeing…

Mercury was pretty empty when we arrived, which made the promo girls in their elaborate costumes and the sheriff-types in chaps and spurs stand out even more. I felt underdressed, a feeling which gradually gave way to a sense of being under-tattooed as the venue started filling up.

The evening was officially opened by ‘the sheriff of Wolftown’ welcoming everyone and laying down the town rules about drinking in the saloon, hootin’ & hollerin’ and harassing the ladyfolk etc. etc…

The Bone Collectors’ stage decor and accessories had been fascinating me since we arrived – a large metal locker, open and facing a mic, a sink in the drumkit, a large open suitcase and several small white mice who were dotted around the stage, perched on amps and staring eyelessly out into the room.

The band was great – full of energy and fun to watch with great songs. Their two percussionists were particularly entertaining – one on the drums/sink and another beating on the locker (occasionally with a knife) and shaking a giant beer can every now and then.

Suburban Stalker is a particularly great track and a little darker than their others – I really hope they make more songs in that vein…

I can’t really say Wolftown’s breed of rock n roll is my favourite, still they did it well and the crowd certainly enjoyed them. I might be totally wrong, but I think their encore was one of the songs they performed earlier…other that or it just sounded very similar (I confess they all started swimming together to me after a while).

I think I’d probably quite like listening to their music, but I dunno if I’d go out of my way to watch them again…that said, I was really tired that night, so it’s probably not the fairest circumstances in which to be judging the band…

– – –

Check out the Bone Collectors on Facebook

Wolftown on Facebook and Myspace

Photos on Facebook over here