Truckstop Honeymoon was certainly not from here. Without so much an introduction (it followed their first song) they jumped on stage, sound checked, and then launched into their opening number. They were a slice of backtown America bursting earsplittingly on to the scene. Composed of Mike West on guitar and banjo and Katie Euliss on electric upright bass, they presented an unorthodoxly harmonic combination. When Mike gets singing and playing, his eyes rove the audience with a possessed look in his eye that makes you curious, perhaps he is tapping into some intangible spirit of country music. One song they did was essentially a country version of Hit the Road Jack which sounded great. Mike broke a guitar string and asks someone to change it. There are plenty of “college educated kids” around to do it, he says. Erin from [Delgirl] volunteered and changed the string. The 3rd song was a bit of bluegrass with a good solid backing of the electric bass. That was a peculiar quality that Truckstop Honeymoon possessed. As the banjo or guitar goes soaring, screaming out in the higher octaves, the bass sits there in the lower regions, plunking away happily. They provide a nice contrast.

The songs themselves are infused with a simple philosophy, much like [Delgirl]’s. Mike then went on to say with the help of Katie, that they left New Orleans because of a bit of “inclement weather” a few years ago and moved a few years ago to Kansas where they “just have these circular winds that only take out small towns.” Mike then threatened the audience with his banjo, which he used as an instrument of torture, or so he thought, was pleasing to my ears at least. The ease at which three fingers plucking those strings and the speed at which it is done is mind boggling. The songs they sing bring a smile to the face and are pleasing to the ear.

The whole of Truckstop Honeymoon’s set was punctuated between songs by small pieces of wisdom and philosophy from Mike endorsed by Katie. One piece was that they travel around “hollering to strangers”. Also “don’t drink to solve your problems, only drink to improve your social life.” They also talked of the differences in everyday things between here and their homeland, as most tourists do. One of Mike’s pieces was “a measure of colonial oppression that you drink cordial.” Apparently cordial is uncommon in America or something and since we have it here it must be an offshoot from the UK or something. The night was filled with such odd and yet amusing pieces of wisdom from the band. It did get political at one point when Mike remarked that the majority of Americans didn’t vote for Bush and a song titled “Tired of rednecks, white bred and blue jeans” which had political leanings. They amused the crowd by saying that a Truckstop CD and a Barry White CD equalled a night of perfect makeout music. Also they painted a strange musical vision of what their thoughts on the afterlife were: Johnny and June Carter Cash in heaven and Tammy Wynette and George Jones in purgatory.

Truckstop Honeymoon’s music was polished but still had that nice rough edge to it that got the audience’s feet tapping. The upright electric bass of Katie’s was brilliant in giving their music wholeness and Mike’s interesting lyrics and brilliant guitar and banjo work was amazing. But [Delgirl]’s own skill matched up to that from America. A brilliant night enjoyed by all and received very favourably by the crowd in attendance.



By Aaron Kearney


Posted by rob

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