Written by Eddie Ferranti

A funny thing happened in a good way at the usually singer/songwriter dominated McGonigel’s Mucky Duck recently.  An all female punk rock blues fused explosion hit the stage in the form of Austin’s The Bluebonnets!  Talk about a change of pace for this storied  venue and the ole girl if you will handled it with ease.  HMR has been on this joint forever and their sound quality is always top notch.  Kathy Valentine, formally of the GoGo’s fame, put this project back together in 2007 and it is steaming hot to behold live.  This ain’t no fluffy pop fizz stuff either kids.  Backed by Eve Monsees on blasting electric guitar,  killer front lady Dominique Davalos on bass, Kristy McInnis slammin’ the drums and of course KV on animated electric guitar make for a non-stop thrill ride that ya just can’t get off!   Their sound has been dubbed “glamorous garage rock” and I think it fits to a tee.

Backing their 2014 release, “Play It Loud”,  the night was minus of any ballads for sure. Davalos favors actress Faye Dunaway to me and her get up of hiking boots and mini-skirt kind of set the tone of the punk in your face style all night.  Girl has some talented pipes and she made sure everybody got their moments to shine and then some.  The harmonies were tight and tough  all evening with more rock star poses than you could count adding to the unreal energy spilling off the stage.  The ladies seemed impressed by the warm response from the crowd and said Houston has been very kind to them  Under The Volcano and the Continental Club have been recent stops for them in H-Town, but the sound quality this night blew those other joints away with crisp yet not too loud vibes.

Raucous and rowdy aren’t words usually fitting for all female bands, but the ferocious female slant they put out there is just plain old school rock ‘n roll to this chap.  They might not fall neatly into some sort of category, but judging by the standing ovation type response they got from the crowd said volumes.  Stellar stand out moments, which were too many to count, were “Can’t Stop the Honey”, “Losing My Man” and the encore roof raising cover of “Flatbush City”!!  The studley bookends of pure guitar fuzz wrapped around thumping bass and drums equals a massive fun time if ya really want to let your hair down type gig.   HMR sure knows it cures what ails you and left us yearning for the next time for sure………..Support music!