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Dingwalls, London (UK)
![]() The cleaners couldn't believe the devastation that lay before them. Chandeliers had crashed, optics were smashed, chairs were embedded in the walls, tables lays in pieces around the Camden Dingwalls's perimeter and glass shards littered the floorspace. A drum kit, guitars, mandolins, accordions, violins, a double bass and banjos are stacked neatly in one corner. Cyclone Horsepower had just struck London. The sheer natural power emanated from the foursome is as destructive as it is creative. Promoting their live album Hoarse, 16 Horsepower play an entrancing and dirty mix of Southern swamp blues and Appalachian folk. In such an intimate environment, one could be forgiven for thinking that they could communicate with this band but no. Spitting with a deep rooted and furious torment, singer David Eugene Edwards rarely addresses the audience during the show but mutters and headbutts his mic like a man possessed. The crowd tumble around the venue's annoyingly-placed steps and stairs, as 16 Horsepower tear through a lengthy set, encompassing tracks from each of their albums. Exhausted and purified, the band exit the stage with a polite acknowledgement of the crowd's participation in this mass exorcism. Never before and never again will Dingwalls host such an anguish-laced performance played through such an array of instruments. by Nathan Hull
American Wheeze |