Lucky Bones @ The Sugar Club, Dublin - 24 Feb 2011

This new Dublin band were using this date to launch the album Together We Are All Alone. The album was recorded in Barstop,Texas by singer/songwriter Eamonn O'Connor and some session players. O'Connor then put together this band on his return to do full justice to the songs which show O'Connor to be an interesting and intelligent writer. The music covers several bases and influences, including country and roots rock, celtic soul and '60s based melodic pop. In the live context these disparate elements are drawn together by the versatile band. With a solid rhythm section of Leon Kennedy and Ben Clark powering the songs over which keyboard/banjo player Conor Miley and guitarist Billy Morley added texture and grit to the songs. This made the live band renditions of the songs rougher edged and punchier than the recorded versions. Songs like their debut single Longshot, Toward The Setting Sun, Stand So Tall, Unbelieving Eyes, Frank Sinatra and the extended, intense closer Commercial Presentation are all memorable and melodic. Eamonn O'Connor is convivial frontman who leads the band from the front and is a captivating singer. This is early days for Lucky Bones who have only played a handful of gigs to date, which included opening for Marty Stuart as an acoustic trio, and sound issues with monitors and small tuning problems should soon be eliminated with experience and confidence. That two of the stand-out songs, including the song of infatuation bordering on stalking - , are new songs shows that this band can only get better. These are tough times for any new band, especially one making its own way in the world but the signs are that these guys, if they hold their nerve, will be lucky.