Rusty Shackle formed in early 2010 and their infectious pulse, style and musical genre, whilst potently contemporary, is difficult to pigeon hole and has been described by Plugged In magazine as the “Bombay Badboy of Folk” a reference to the hottest Pot Noodle on the market (folkmaster – What’s your favourite Pot Noddle? was actually one of our interview questions back in 2000!) . This said, elements of folk, rock, bluegrass, Celtic rhythms and Delta blues are clearly discernible. Either way, feet tap to whatever the specific nuance.
Stunning, high-energy live performances and boundless enthusiasm make sure you’ll leave exhausted, with their tunes swimming around your head for days after. They are well on the way to ensuring they are everywhere this coming summer.
“…the perfectly named, violin-toting Welsh quintet Rusty Shackle created a proper hootenanny hoedown” The Independent
Rusty Shackle’s debut album WASH AWAY THESE NIGHTS has now hit the streets and has already reached number 22 in the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart, the singles reaching as high as number 2 after its digital release. As Neil King from Fatea Showcases said, “Genre prostitution is a major feature of “Wash Away These Nights”, rock, pop, gospel, blues, rockabilly, skiffle, are all thrown into the melting pot to produce an album that celebrates the art of having a good time.”
The album thrives on musical diversity, whilst maintaining a cohesive sound to keep it all together. Inspired by artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Seth Lakeman, Johnny Cash and traditional Celtic and bluegrass music the twelve original tracks on WASH AWAY THESE NIGHT are a joy to listen to, or indeed dance to. From the album opener 3AM, described as an ode to insomnia, to the final track Sunrise the listener will hear that all tracks are killer cuts, no fillers here.
Other standout tracks on the album include Cold Hearted Town, one of the first tracks the band ever composed, deals with being stuck in a sleepy town with nothing to do and nowhere to go, an anthem for the 21st century. Factory is about working in a soul destroying workplace but on the other side of the coin Beating Heart of a Kingdom is a positive song about the choices we make in our lives and how it’s never too late to change. When it comes to the songwriting most of the lyrics were composed by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Liam Collins and guitarist James McKeon, the music was composed by the band as a whole who comprise Scott McKeon (fiddle, banjo and vocals), Baz Barwick (bass, mandola, vocals),Owen Emmanuel (drums and percussion) along with the above mentioned Liam and James.
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