HMV Institute, 9 December, £10
Taking their name from a Charles Bukowski poem, The Crazy Truth started up in 2005 when Steve Conte – of the New York Dolls among many, many others – bumped into old school-friend and bassist Lee “Leeko” Kostrinsky on the streets of New York. Joined by Phil Stewart – of Scarborough! – on drums, they played their first gig within a few months at a T-Rex memorial concert.
Their sound falls somewhere between garage rock and punk blues, described by Conte himself as “classic roots with a modern twist”. Lyrically, the songs draw their inspiration from two decades of life in NY, the highs and lows of excess and the distractions that fill the emptiness: dive bars, gambling, sex, drugs, but with a note of redemption rather than celebration.
If this sounds up your street you can catch them this Thursday at the HMV Institute, supported by garage punks the Black Bombers; escape the cold for a couple of hours in the company of one of the legends of rock.
Area Culture Guide 