Rough Justice

Rip It Up, Issue 6, 1 November 1977, Page 6

Rough Justice

Roy Colbert

Dunedin's European Hotel Burgundy Bar is hardly known for its. music. But as Rick Bryant says, when someone offers you work, you don’t turn it down.

Bryant recently put together a new Rough Justice. The last Rough Justice were really starting to get somehwere when they broke up. Rough Justice Mark I played pretty well down this way late last year, and Bryant reckons they got even better after that culminating in a particulary fine performance one night in Auckland. But then it was back to square one, and for the battle-hardened but thoroughly likeable Bryant, there have been a lot of square ones. Mammal, Blerta, Windy City Smugglers . . . even before Mammal I dimly recall a blues band maybe Gutbucket? A single even. And of course a period courtesy, as they say, of the government (rough justice). This Rough Justice has less Little Feat influence than the last, though this hasn’t been entirely intentional. The music Bryant has always liked, and always sung, is once

again very firmly rooted in the band's sound (label freaks can grapple with "tight -rhythmic -earthy-bluesy -R&B-rock" if they so desire) with their strong devotion tothe 60s including even a few Beatle tracks but mainly Atlantic-Tamla blacker things. James Brown even. "In the bus, the records that get played are Aretha, the first Hendrix, Stones, Howling Wolf ... we agree pretty well over the songs we do in the band too. I chose about the first 20, and then the other guys threw in a few. Pete's a Beatles freak. The other guys are much younger than me, but they like the same things. We ll start writing soon, and hopefully that will come out something like the stuff we re playing". Most singers tend to be a bit fussy over what they'll sing, and Bryant is probably fussier than most. He has very little time for a whole variety of very popular rock artists. Rod Stewart is Vera Lynn. He hears Lou Reed and he hears only "Get Off My Cloud" and "Satisfaction". Bowie? Bryan Ferry? No, no-one who sings with an affectation is allowed. New Zealand bands don't escape either, but it’s not negative criticism. Bryant tore into every song over those last two nights, and ended both nights

very tired man. Which is hardly surprising if you’ve seen the man perform. One of our premier no-bullshit rock singers of this past decade, Bryant seems to have a particular affinity with Streetwalkers' Roger Chapman not so much for the sound, but for the total committment to both a lyric and a rhythm within a song, and to rock n’ roll itself despite all hardship. Bryant clearly still has plenty to offer. He's really pleased with the way the band has turned out. The bass-drums (Nick Bollinger and Martin Highland) have come on really well he says, while the development of second guitarist and saxophonist Steven Jessup has been amazing. Guitarist Peter Kennedy is a longtime friend. Bryant knew his capabilities before the band got under way, and Kennedy hasn't let him down.

Rough Justice are really worth seeing. They don’t make too many compromises if they take you up onto a certain plateau they might just as well leave you alone where a metal band would endeavour to blast you into nowhere with an overkill of noise and trickery