Tim Marcus with photos from Sam Conquest Photography
We’re back at The Cavern Freehouse in Raynes Park this evening to see a debut performance there from South Coast based The Outlaw Orchestra (As frontman “Rocker” Dave Roux tells us, “We’re from the Deep South; the South of England”).
Already fans of the band’s music, we first saw The Outlaw Orchestra playing live around six years ago when they played in a support capacity to U.S. Country influenced rock n roller Warner E Hodges at the iconic Hope & Anchor venue in Islington, North London. So good were they that we made the decision to skip a couple of other very good bands in order to see them again when they opened proceedings on the Rising Stage at Kent’s Ramblin’ Man Fair later that same year.
Back then they had a slightly different line up and included in their number was a bass player, more often than not playing a bright white, stand up, double bass, which if nothing else, made them look very different to most other rock n roll bands. However it wasn’t just the look that made The Outlaw Orchestra stand out from the crowd, they had, and very much still do, a very different sound when compared to your stereotypical rock/classic rock band. Described on their website as the lovechild of Motorhead and Johnny Cash, The Outlaw Orchestra are purveyors of what I would call heavy bluegrass music, a kind of heavy country rock with a hillbilly twang!
This comes about through the combination of sounds produced; Dave Roux providing the heavy riffs, rock n roll chord progressions and gritty vocals, while drummer Ryan Smith keeps beat and holds things together. However what makes The Outlaw Orchestra very different is that this sound is all overlaid by the variety of steel strings played by “Banjo” Pete Briley who puts the twang into the music playing amongst other things, banjo, mandolin and lap steel.
They’re currently touring in support of their most recent album (their third in all), “La Familia” which was released towards the back end of last year. Tonight is their first show of 2025 and they kick proceedings off with the fast paced “Outlaw”, the closing track from said album. “Done My Time” from the previous album, “Makin’ Tracks” follows and then it’s back to “La Familia” for “Bag of Bones”, a trio of tracks which see Banjo Pete playing a more traditional six string guitar which for me really works as it seems to produce a much bigger sound and gives it an unexpected extra depth.
Pete then takes up his more familiar banjo for the next few tracks, which include “See You in Hell” from one of their early EPs, which contains within it, a short burst of “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” which coincidently we’d heard the night before as well when it was covered by The Brothers Osborne during their Hammersmith Apollo show!
We then see Pete’s Power Slide Lap Steel making its first appearance of the evening for “Blame the Horse” before returning to guitar for the final couple of tracks of the opening set, “SOS” and “Small Change”.
After a short break, the Orchestra are back with two more tracks from the latest album, “Born to be a Thief” and “Rotten Apples”. Two of my favourite tracks from the “Powercut” EP follow; “Back to Georgia” (first released on a 3 track EP back in 2018) and “Send Some Whiskey Home”. (Question: When does an EP become an album? This EP has 8 tracks on it!). We then return to “La Familia” for “Holy Ground” before we’re hit with a run of three of my favourite songs from the band’s debut album “Pantomime Villains”; “Whiskey Drinking Liar”, “Voodoo Queen”, and the set closer “Chicken Fried Snake”.
The band have gone down a storm on their Cavern debut and the enthusiastic crowd are keen for more. Much to everyone’s delight, Dave gets the thumbs up from the bar staff for one more song and the evening is duly rounded off with a fantastic cover of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way”: a wonderful way to end a wonderful evening in the company of Dave, Ryan and Pete, The Outlaw Orchestra.
If you’ve not seen this band before then I highly recommend that you do. In addition to various festival appearances this summer they still have one or two shows of their own as well as a supporting slot with Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons in Southampton and a full tour of the UK in the Spring with The Gypsy Pistoleros. Check them out: you won’t be disappointed.
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