A Bunch Of Marys with Bombchan at New City July 7th 2012

On Saturday night my buddy Hurl and went to New City Legion on Whyte Avenue here in Edmonton to checkout local bands Bombchan and A Bunch Of Marys. We missed the first band of the night The Switchmen.

We got there just in time to catch Bombchan. This was my first time seeing this band perform, and will not be my last time. These guys were absolutely incredible. The band is led by lead singer and slide guitar player Mike Park, with Ayla Brook also on guitar playing mostly rhythm, but holy shit when he did get his time in the spotlight, Ayla could fuckin' rip it up. Mike Park was wicked on slide guitar and the man can sing with a lot of heart, amazing stuff. Rounding out the band is bassist Karie Brown and on drums you have Grant Stovel.

Bombchan play a mean brand of the blues adding there own twist to blues covers , but not your usual middle of the road blues. They cover such artists as RL Burnside, Bukka White, Fred McDowell and Robert Petway. They remind me of some the atrists that the record label Fat Possum was releasing in the 90's.

Bombchan played about a 30-40 minute set that rocked through out. I sat there in awe, and totally digged what they were playing. A very impressive set. They have an EP out called 'Do Me Right', which is well worth searching out.

A band I will surely be following. Can't wait to see them play live again.

Bombchan.

Headliners for the evening was Mike McDonald's band A Bunch Of Marys. This was my third time seeing them play live and first time seeing them headline. They had a hard act to follow and I think Mike knew it as well. The first thing out of his mouth as they hit the stage was something along the lines of "ok, now that you have seen the good guitar players, we are A Bunch Of Marys".

A Bunch Of Marys opened with the song 'Wuthering Heights', and mixed up there set quite a lot from the last two times I have seen them which was nice to see. Playing a longer set this evening I found that they stretched some their songs out with some extended jams. Maybe it was just me, but I thought I heard a little bit of a Rush influence in a couple of songs. Mike and the band sounded good, be nice if they would release an EP or something, can't wait to hear some new songs in the future. I enjoyed their set, which was about an hour long, but have to say I truly do think Bombchan stole the show on this night. All and all a good time was had to a small but appreciative crowd. Good times!!!