RICKS REBELS

The Green Room in Redruth played host to a stellar line-up of local talent on Friday night and continued to illustrate how many great venues this county actually has hidden away down backstreets. The pub itself is on two floors with an open staircase, that doubled as a viewing platform when the bands performed, dominating the large victorian ground floor, with two bars and some pool tables upstairs it made queueing for a drink redundant as the downstairs filled up.

But onto the music; for a very reasonable £3.50, an excellent night`s entertainment kicked off with the "youthful exuberance" (Harry, MEB) of Ricks Rebels. The name is a misnomer, don`t be fooled into thinking this is a rockabilly outfit or some dodgy C&W covers band - far from it in fact. Ricks Rebels are punked up to fuck! Musically leaning on The Ramones, (checkout the Joey Ramone look-a-like on the drums by the way, coincidencely called Joe Black!), The Clash and Metallica in their own material, they also camp it up with glam when hitting the disco covers. Leading the way, is frontman extraodinaire Jordan Doidge (Jordski), who`s performance was stunningly spell-binding. Pulling shapes and faces as he lept into the audience, Jordski is without doubt the Keith Moon of front men with a visual and vocal style that demand your attention. Like another Joe, (this time Strummer), Martin Skews manhandled his guitar with panache and powered the band throughout their all too brief set, aided and abetted by Ele Lucas on her pounding bass and vocals.

The conclusion came with the appearance of an `exotic dancer` on the staircase and goodybags being thrown to the excited crowd. As far as `opening act` goes, I`ve yet to see a better one and in any other circumstance you`d have to pity the band that had to follow Ricks Rebels - they were magnificent.

(Photos by Lord Itchfield)