2019.12.13 White Cowbell Oklahoma, Aciidz, The Tall Boys - X-mess at Lee's Palace


White Cowbell Oklahoma, 16th Annual X-Mess Bash at Lee’s Palace, Friday December 13, 2019.

What can one say about these jokers… nobody’s trying to re-invent the wheel here. Least of all, a Wheel of Fire. Between the chaos of their live shows and their adherence to tried and true rock sounds from south London to the southern states, White Cowbell promises a loud, crunchy night out. Their annual X-mess bash always brings at least a couple of other bands to their stage.
The Tall Boys kicked off tonight’s yuletide fare with what sounded like dozens of DRI-length songs. “I Hate Unicorns,” “Racist on the Bus” and vamps of “Freebird” and “25 or 6 to 4” let the early crowd know this thrash band liked their classic rock, too. They had at least one discernable Santa song before set ended with a Bad Brains style run through of Bob Marley’s “Iron Lion Zion.”
Aciidz followed with a quick set of grungy sounds including a well-received cover of “I’ll Just Keep Dancing on My Own.”
Cowbell came with their crack team of go go dancers, vulgar Santa, an angry Smokey and the Bandit cop still on their tail after all these years, and other side shows and musical crude-ities. They even squeezed in a straight sounding country song between songs about walking around with erections and their chestnut “Put the South in Your Mouth.”
“Cencerro Blanco,” “Keepin Six” and other older Cowbell classics dominated the set.
Chainsaw Charlie bangs away at his beloved cowbell as he prepares himself emotionally for… one can smell the 2 cycle gas… for his chainsaw assault. The band chugs on behind him, and spaces out on guitars. White Cowbell Oklahoma is steeped in boozy English stoner rock with a dose of American southern rawk and a few hits of acid.

A string of guests came and went, including an all too brief appearance from one of their former guitar player who jumped in near the end to play a stack of guitars at once.
Folks come and go from this band, but mainstays Clem Clemson, Southpaw Jones, and Chainsaw Charlie keep the riff going. They played a grand version of “Earache My Eye” near the end of their set before concluding with a cover of Funkadelic’s “Hit It and Quit It.” Catch them live before the sheriff does.


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