“When this fuckin’ riff kicks in, I want to see everybody in this fuckin’ house jumpin’, ” shouts Dirty Honey singer Marc LaBelle right before the opening riff to “Won’t Take Me Alive” kicks in, therefore beginning the band’s first live album. The Los Angeles quartet’s third release, Mayhem & Revelry Live, is founded on riffs galore through the album’s 16 songs, culled from their 2021 self-titled debut and 2023’s Can’t Find The Brakes. This set shows just how well this band can pull off recreating the numbers in a live setting.
Huge batches of classic rock riffs (riffs, of course being key to their sound) hit you in the gut like a sledgehammer. Songs like “Dirty Mind” and “Scars,” as well the song that put them on the map, “When I’m Gone,” instantly identify guitarist John Notto and his fat Gibson Les Paul sound, which brings to mind his influences, such as Aerosmith guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, as well as vintage Jimmy Page and Slash. One can just visualize the amount of wannabe guitarists in the audience playing air guitar with every crunchy lick.
Just as important is Dirty Honey singer Marc LaBelle and his powerful, soaring vocals. Young and cocky, LaBelle has quite a range, and his high tenor never cracks during songs like “Scars” that tend to test his limits. The band’s pop sensibilities are evident with radio-friendly material like “California Dreamin’” and the funky “Tied Up” as well as “Satisfied,” which is anchored by the rhythm section of bassist Justin Smolian and drummer Jadon Bean.
Ballads are, a lot of times, hit and miss, but Dirty Honey hits “the feels” with the lovely, road-lonely opus “Coming Home” that gives Notto and Smolian a chance to play acoustically. Dirty Honey follow that ballad with the audience sing-along chorus of “Another Last Time” that eventually brings the band into the full-throttle delta blues of “Rolling 7’s.” This is a band that is born and bred to be in a live setting and prove it with every number.
Finishing the album with “You Make it All Right” was almost like the band thanking their fans for helping to make them such a success. Dirty Honey’s formula is nothing new and has been lacking from the mainstream for a number of years, as other styles of music have been getting the spotlight. But if you are like me and love some straight-ahead rock and roll with great songs and performance in a VERY listenable live recording, then this is definitely the record for you. As far as I am concerned, Mayhem & Revelry Live deserves to be in the same conversation as those older classic live recordings that have always occupied my record rack. It makes you wonder why it has taken so long for a band as talented as Dirty Honey to be the ones to bring the “classic” in classic rock and update it for a new generation of rockers.
~ Jordan West
Purchase
Mayhem & Revelry Live
