November's Groove had an introduction to Brandi and Reno of Brandi and the Badcats, who have just recently taken up residence in our area (Queensland), and are busy gigging around the SEQ area. "Mama Rock" is their debut album, and it's great rockabilly party material with more than a hint of blue...

I particularly like "I Need A Little Lovin", which has nice clean guitar and tremolo work from Remo, some very sweet vocals from Brandi and nice crisp drumming from Johnny Clarke. This is followed by the refreshingly light "Talk to Me" (by Phil Haley) with some very smooth saxophone from Steve Williams. The Janis Martin number "Drugstore Rock 'n' Roll" has more great vocals by Brandi who plays a very cool bass riff throughout.
"Let's Go Downtown" is a snappy Harold Frith number, and Harold features on the drums (as he does on six of the tracks on the disk) with some cool keys from Andrew King. You have to wait until track 9 to hear Brandi and Reno's first original on the CD "He's a Leader", with Steve Perrett on guitar (who also plays keyboards on this CD) 0 this works on an A sharp but feels like there might be a nice laid back minor key somewhere. The smouldery rendering of the A. Neville song "How Can I Help But Love You" has just a touch of high country drama to it. "Dance Teacher" and "Chattin" are two more from the Cerreto pen, and will have you on your toes as you play out the CD. I wanted more.

Brandi and Reno have a new stable of musicians here in SEQ and are playing in their alter ego Suzy Q Tribute mode at Redcliffe Leagues on the 6th January, Pine Rivers Bowls Club on the 13th, the Italian Club, newmarket on the 14th, and Hervey Bay Sports Club on the 20th. As Brandi and the Badcats they are playing Satchmo's Rockabilly on the 9th December with DJ Lori Lee. Sounds like a heap of fun on the way. Rock on Badcats.

You can sample the album at the music page and sample or buy it from Mustang Records.

This article appeared in the December edition of The Groove, the magazine of the Blues Association of South East Queensland. Some parts of it were edited - updating the gig dates, etc.