The Headcrash, dark and trashy room off the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. The bartender serves a couple. We are four in the hall. The stage is almost in the dark, the drums and the guitars are already there. It takes about one hour that a handful of people appear and another half hour before the show starts. We are about 30 now and the band is climbing the stage, while the lamps are getting a bit brighter like somebody lights a match.
The Reverend on guitars, his wife Breezy on washboard and his brother Jayme on drums start playing like hellfire. Jayme is hammering like he wants to nail the drums to the floor in a very fast rhythm and the Breezy is scrubbing the washboard in the same way. The Rev hits the strings hard and shouts out the lyrics in his deep voice. His fingers are running extremely fast over the strings and he shows us some of his brilliant guitar technique.
Almost every song is like that, the Rev changes to national steel guitar and plays even harder and faster and the rhythm section is making the pace like they've never done anything else in their life. Between the changes of the guitars the Rev tells funny stories about Indiana and life in general and the longer they play the wilder they get.
The crowd is enthusiastic and follows with joy the Rev's invitation to sing along. This is more than fun and we all have a good laugh.
At the end of the show Breezy sets the washboard on fire, holds it high above her head, jumps on stage, while the Rev is playing the shit out of his guitar and Jayme hits the drums even harder.
This was heavy gospel punk at its best! Thank you Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. What a great show!