A ‘blind date’, a skateboard bass and a bag of weed – all you need for hillbilly punk-blues glory.
By rights, Left Lane Cruiser really shouldn’t be in this part of the mag. Formed over a decade ago, and seven albums old, they’re hardly cherubic newcomers. It’s just that, for various reasons, Britain has been slow to catch on to the Mideasterners’ dusty, punky take on blues rock – a rousing clatter that conjures up images of Billy Gibbons fronting the Stooges.
Part of that is down to work permit issues with the UK authorities. “We tried to play there about eight years ago,” explains splendidly named frontman Freddie ‘Joe’ Evans IV, “but your guys wouldn’t let us in. Took our fingerprints, put us in airport jail for six hours and put us on the first plane home.”