Gig Review: The Drowns and Down and Outs, Salty Dog Northwich, 10 November 2022

The Salty Dog is a place gig goers must visit. Continually pumping out Class A lineups in a great pub. Well worth the journey to Northwich.Tonight we feast upon the Drowns and the Down and Outs. The Drowns are in the middle of a European tour.

The Down and Outs have been playing for a long time, and it shows in their musical tightness. They have an almost telepathic feel for where the song and their bandmates are heading. Their loud and brash punk can turn from full on roar in an instant to something more complicated and less in your face. The songs are catchy, brittle and played at 100 mph. There is brief banter with the audience. The Down and outs aren’t playing a popularity game though, they know they are good and they deliver an outstanding set with musicianship of the highest level to make sure we get the message.

The Drowns are punk but there is a lot of other sounds coming out of their mix. They manage to tick base with glam rock (of the UK 70s style) and throw in some straight forward rock n roll. It’s up tempo stuff, lots of singalong moments and in between the generally good natured and funny crowd chats they also deliver some potent political messages covering violence and metal health topics. Musically they are an experienced bunch and even with a borrowed (for the tour) guitarist they really are top class. An extended cover of an AC/DC track caused my eyebrows to raise, I don’t know why I was surprised at the time as looking back it seems obvious with this eclectic band. Their show is top class from beginning to end, great songs, well played and the audience is fully engaged.