Backsliders, The - Starvation Box (Album)
The silver foxes from acoustic blues band, The Backsliders are celebrating their silver anniversary. Over 25 years the group have developed their trademark, delta-blues wall of sound; won numerous awards; and offered the soundtracks to “Sea Change” and Tim Winton’s “Dirt Music”. They have even been dubbed the “Best acoustic blues band” by one Doug Mulray and with the power and volume at play on their material it’s easy to understand why.
“Starvation Box” is the latest album by Dom Turner and Rob Hirst (Midnight Oil). It was named so because blues legend, Lead Belly’s father called the guitar this very thing because quote: “You ain’t gonna make money outta that!” But as we all know, it ain’t always about the dollars, often it’s about the music pure and simple. On “Starvation Box” The Backsliders doth their caps to the past heroes of the genre including the aforementioned plus the infamous Robert Johnson with a series of affectionate covers and tracks inspired by the legends.
The eleven tracks clock in at 41 minutes and sound like they’re being made by some hungry youths from the Deep South with empty bellies save for the fires burning bright inside of them. The music is the kind of thing that Keith Richards would love as it conjures up a time long before his band were singing about a “Little Red Rooster” and The Beatles hadn’t yet said “She Loves You”. It’s all about rolling under a blue moon, meeting Maggie May and Susie Q at the crossroads where they get raunchy and put a spell on you.
Turner is known for his bottle-neck, slide guitar playing, executing this well on both six and 12 strings because from the opening, “Emmett Til” through to “Failed Preacher” it is heard in some form or another. Added to this is some dynamic harmonica playing and you’ve got something that should be cranked up loud on vinyl or on a battered, old car radio for a road trip.
“Flannelette Border” may have preceded the flanny-wearing members of camp grunge but musically it shares a few things in common with the proud wearer and Godfather of the genre, Messer Neil Young. Although less gritty than Young’s work, the message is loud and clear- that the media can be absolute scum taking pleasure in other people’s pain, chasing ambulances and door-stopping poor, grieving families.
“Angels Lie” sees some brass combined with a sea shanty and shuffle. “Preaching Blues” is a Robert Johnson cover featuring some of the album’s best guitar-playing. It’s the kind of thing that John Butler wished he’d written even though he hasn’t. Then again, one might argue that you’d have to make a pact with the devil to write something as good as that. Oh wait…
The Backsliders’ “Starvation Box” offers 11 blues acoustic tracks pure and simple. At times the blues and melancholy-soaked music can get a little repetitive but at its best it is hypnotically so. These two old masters prove they can recapture the young man blues and it is something that certainly can’t be faked. This record proves you have to be hungry like a howlin’ wolf to make the old starvation box sing.
