Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs at the Salty Dog
Soft Lad Promotions presents Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs at the Salty Dog, Northwich. 30th October 2021
On a cold, dark Halloween’s eve, in the small, semi rural town of Northwich, a musical storm is brewing…..Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs have come to town…
Northwich is a picturesque little town, brimming with history and characterful architecture. A settlement since Roman times, it’s built on its rich salt deposits; a salt mining town – “wich” actually means “salt”. The streets are very quaint and pretty, the white walls with black timbers being reminiscent of film sets. A lot of the buildings were once ‘jackable’, actually capable of being jacked up onto stilts in case of flooding or subsidence caused by the salt mining. Sadly due to an incident in 1880 dubbed ‘the great subsidence’ a lot of the much older buildings were lost, thus leading to this newer ‘jackable’ style. It’s a great little town, with a good night time scene and relaxed vibe. A fair few pubs and bars are housed within the town centre, and it’s fairly busy with pub crawlers and music seekers tonight.
Shoulder The Sky_Salty Dog_Warren Millar
The Salty Dog pub is our venue for tonight. I’ve been previously on a few occasions and I like it a lot, it’s a great little pub and venue. Set in one of the timber fronted buildings, though small, it’s welcoming and has great outdoor spaces situated both at the back in its ‘tiki’ garden and out at the front on the street – out here it becomes somewhat of a hub betweens bands’ sets. Inside it’s very informal but cool; huge windows let you see what’s going on outside, and give passers by a sneak peek at the bands gracing the stage inside. Being such a small venue means any band performance is exceptional for the crowd experience as you’re really up close. The walls, painted in a regency dark green, are adorned with pop culture and music and drinks memorabilia.
It’s a particularly busy night in here tonight, and there’s a great atmosphere’ many people are in Halloween fancy dress and the vibe is a happy one of people here to enjoy great live music.
Support act- Shoulder the Sky.
Martin Clintworth-vocals/guitar,Stephen DeSilva-bass ,David Scott-drums.
Starting things off tonight (and, might I add, very well indeed) are Shoulder the Sky, a 3 piece, blues/psych rock band based in Skelmersdale. Formed in 2018, with David (Scott) joining on drums in 2020. There’s a real high vibrational feeling already. The drumming is strong and people are dancing already. You can certainly pick up on the blues influence. It comes through strongly, but with a contemporary twist to it. Good tempo, banging bass lines provided by Stephen (DeSilva, and really guitary as you’d expect, but you do feel the psych rock strongly throughout. Martin’s (Clintworth’s) vocals are exceptional: gravelly at times, then at times smooth, but very impactful and complement each song perfectly – very controlled. As a band they’re likable, relaxed, and totally at ease, interacting with the crowd in a genuine way at every opportunity. A lively and fun performance, which was well received. You can next catch Shoulder the Sky playing on Thurs 18th November in Liverpool at the Jacaranda Club (a venue they’ll be perfectly suited to). Using tonight’s set to perform some new material, songs like ‘Claudette’ and ‘Roses’ went down a storm.
Shoulder The Sky_Salty Dog_Warren Millar
Opening with ‘Gambling Man’, this was the crowd pleaser of choice it seemed. Martin (Clintworth) explains the theme of this song: “It’s basically about not letting people screw you over, no matter what excuses they may give you”. This was a really enthusiastic performance all round and has really got the crowd going. We’re all having a ball. On stage, the guys all come across as friendly and fun loving. It seems a pleasure for them to play – very comfortable whilst performing and charismatic. They were even gracious enough to play ‘Gambling Man’ again after ending the set after requests for more from the audience. The blues train well and truly arrived at the Salty Dog tonight, with its psych rock punctuations, and left its mark. This really was a set not to have missed.
Ending on a real high, this was the perfect set to open with tonight. I honestly can’t recommend seeing Shoulder the Sky enough. Everyone here certainly approved. Thanks, guys!
Setlist : Gambling man , Thief in the night,Claudette , Good thing going on , Roll the cascade,Roses , Gambling Man (again)
Chicken Man And The Bad Eggs_Salty Dog_Warren Millar
Ryan Morris-vocals ,Luke Hankinson-lead guitar ,Tasha Clough-rhythm guitar ,Liam Shrives-bass ,Liam Hudson-drums
And so, for our headliners tonight: the explosive Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs. I’ve heard good things about this band. of course, I’m familiar with the music and am a huge fan, but I must admit I’ve never managed to catch them live, although I have been meaning to for some time. NOT A DISAPPOINTMENT!! What can I say? I’m not sure my words can fully do justice to what this band actually gives you during a live performance!
This 5 piece, St Helens based, indie/punk band are doing big things, and not quietly either. With regular song plays on Dave Monks’ BBC Radio Merseyside show, and playing a host of venues all over the North West, I’ve been told they’re not to be missed. (I can now reiterate this fact!) Soon to be headlining in their home town of St Helens at the Emerge Festival on Friday 12th November at the Clock Face Social Club, I for one will certainly be in attendance.
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It’s like the ‘Carnival of the Magnificently Chaotic’ rolled into town, magnified tenfold. All five band members are in Halloween fare and have really gone to town with it, bringing with them a posse of equally fantastically-costumed followers. As soon as the first note is played, the place erupts: it’s off and bouncing. Opening with ‘Indian Pale Fale’, within seconds front man Ryan (Morris) has already sent a mic stand flying and it wasn’t long until he launched the other one too! This being their latest release, ‘Indian Pale Fale’ is ironic, punchy, loud, and banging from the get-go. It has that real punk stamp on it. Satirical lyrics, wittily written (as ever), it’s a comedy piece, poking fun at pretentious connoisseurs of craft ales and fancy drinks. “You’re so cool with your I.P.A, you’re so cool cos you need to be, you’re so cool with your Chardonnay, I’m drinking lager, lager, lager….”
They are cool, and it’s genius, bordering on madness in the best possible way, and comedic to boot, a theme which runs throughout Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs’ material and it works really well. Stylistically this band is out there, and certainly takes on the role of punk and plays it superbly well. These guys are ‘rocking’ cool, and are inclusive; no one’s left out of this raucous and wonderful punk rock circus parade. Elevating things to another level with tonight’s fancy dress, it feels vaguely gothic on top. Take a large helping of chaos, unbridled depravity, think an excess of caffeine, sugar, Red Bull, alcohol, adrenaline, serotonin, and wild abandon…and you still won’t be where this is at. As the guitars scream on, the beats pound, and the lyrics are belted out, the ante is upped. As each upbeat, fast tempo, wildly brilliant song is performed, we’re all drawn more and more into this bizarre and wonderful, jaw-dropping performance.
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People are pogoing, Ryan (Morris) is everywhere – leaping about, jumping offstage, singing from within the crowd, cavorting, and running around. The energy from this band has a force of its own. Liam (Shrives)t, Tasha (Clough), and Luke (Hankinson) are oscillating and bounding around, and Liam (Hudson) is smashing the hell out of that drum kit. We knew we were in for one hell of a show, but nothing had prepared us for this. The musical grenade of Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs is exploding before us, and then continuing on, triggering a field full of musical land mines all around. It’s inspired, it’s high octane, brilliantly bonkers, and completely encapsulating, we’re wrapped up in it, surrounded by it, a part of it. We’ve been vacuumed into an unapologetic but brilliantly cool and eccentric, ferocious, musical punk asylum, and we LOVE it.
The band aren’t still for a second, nor is anyone else, it’s fast, hard and loud. Ryan’s (Morris’s) voice suits this perfectly, ranging from growling, howling, screaming and shouting, to low and controlled tones which show off his vocal skills to perfection. The stage presence is off the scale: cool, edgy and unusual and ‘who cares’ attitude that you can’t and don’t want to ignore. It’s a commanding performance and totally captivating. In his top hat, Ryan (Morris) seems like some musically psychotic ringmaster from a Victorian gothic horror, the Halloween brief has been perfectly met.
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All too soon, the fantastical, frantic, house of fun comes to an end. We’ve been entertained to within an inch of our lives it seems! The floor is drenched, mic stands are strewn about mixed with broken drumsticks, bits of discarded costumes, and tattered setlists. The bonkers whirlwind that had us mesmerized for the last hour or so, has ceased. Wow, what actually just happened? We’re happy punters who definitely got more than we came to see. One satisfied crowd. This genuinely was one frantic, hectic, fantastic, show stopping, adrenaline-fuelled performance of the most epic and surreal proportions! The band said that “Energy is the epitome of this band, controlled chaos, for one and all.” It’s safe to say they meet their own brief in abundance.
Thank you Chicken Man and the Bad Eggs for the most random but brilliant and enjoyable gig I think I’ve ever been to. I shall definitely be back for more! and I can’t express enough how MUST SEE this band are! Go check them out – it’s a guaranteed gig to remember – end of.
Setlist
Indian Pale Fale, Take over, SOS, Sleazeball, Ode to a nuisance, On the run, Cheshire cat, Peter Piper, Incredible Edible, Fools game.
