Mike Stinson – McGonigels Mucky Duck – Houston, TX – Review July 21, 2017
Concert Reviews
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Written by Eddie Ferranti

058Rock solid.  Never mails it in. Leaves it all on the stage along with empty Silver Bullets. Best rollicking rock and roll show that is still too far under the Houston radar.  Well that about does it when describing the Mike Stinson Band!  We have had the pleasure of following Mike since he landed in H-Town some 8 years ago. Remember catching him at the Houston Train Museum!  These days Stinson will drag his assault team with him just about anywhere to burn the place down.  They have landed a nice monthly gig at the fine confines of McGonigels Mucky Duck where the sound is sharp as nails.

The style of this band is so cool in that they punish you in a good way with song after song only pausing for excellent tongue-in-cheek banter of Mr. Stinson.  His songwriting and stage comments always get your ear and tickle the funny bone, too. The band is John “Mofo” Hahn on skins, Mark “Rock Poser” Riddell thumping bass and vocals, Lance “Gummy Bear” Smith non-stop shredding on electric guitar and vocals, and of course Mike “Crumbsnatcher” Stinson on guitar and lead vocals. They hit the ground running with machine gun precision on “Highway 61”, stellar “Walking Home in the Rain”, “Broken Record”, and “Lost Side of Town”. After which MS cracked : “Its gonna take a lot of cold Silver Bullets to get thru this set. Just a warning!”  Classic Stinson.

036 Lance Smith just seems to get better every time we see him.  Been on his wagon also for years dating back to his days with the Sidehill Gougers. He revs up all the standards like “Died and Gone to Houston”, epic amp upped version of “Box I Take to Work” and off the charts “May Have to Do It” which Jesse Dayton has added to his gigs, too! The tightness of the chemistry amongst this foursome is awesome to see live.

The good times kept rolling down hill like an out of control steamroller with trashy good “Got a Thing for You”, ham and egg funny routine on “Let It Stop”, and killer version of “City of New Orleans”. They continued to smoke the reeling audience with Smith showing no mercy on “Fast and Loose”, steamy “Late for My Funeral”, “Little Darling” , knock your sox off “Married Me a Rocker”! This band plays no less than five new songs every time we catch them which keeps us hoping for a new album.  Word is a live album is being worked on with Jack Saunders help.  Now that would work because live is the way this hard touring outfit excels and JS knows his way around a studio. These guys just came back from Montana, Colorado and Missouri road house rockin’ there way down the road. They just celebrated their 8th year of playing first Wednesday of the month at Under the Volcano. Mark down August 26 when they revisit this hallowed stage to rock it down again……….It will stay with you believe me folks.
Eddie “Edge” Ferranti

Senior Editor

Houston Music Review