Hard Times

LAUGHING HYENAS: “Hard Times” (Touch & Go)/ROYAL TRUX: “Thank You” (Hut)

LAUGHING HYENAS are a real bar-room rock’n’roll band. There’s a smell of booze off their music, a feeling of broken glasses and broken romances. It’s all very straight-up and functional and on a certain level it functions quite fine. John Brannon sings with angst and sawdust and behind him the drums thud steadily and the guitars plot a traditional well-trod path.

‘Hard Time Blues’, ‘Home Of The Blues’, ‘Just Can’t Win’, ‘You’re So Cruel’. Do the song titles get the message across? They should, because the music sounds exactly like you would expect. It’s no-nonsense, good to drink to and have a decent night out on, but on album it is largely forgettable.

Royal Trux have a reputation of being wild and extreme. However, while their voices are hoarse and dirty, Thank You is not remotely wild or extreme. It is as traditional rock’n’roll as you will get. It’s a bit like the Black Crowes only not as good. The songs are bits and pieces of a million other songs, done reasonably well.

Royal Trux may have a reputation but Thank You has very little of anything at all.

• Gerry McGovern