Birmingham band Fearless Scoundrels were excited to be invited to play at the 2025 Buxton Blues Festival, by Lynn Fearn of Rockers Reunited.
The band, which had originally been a three-piece blues-rock band, with lead guitarist & vocalist Bernie Wratten, bassist Phil Down and drummer Terry Boazman had written many of the original tracks in the bands set. In 2024 the band added rhythm guitarist & vocalist Dave Matthews to give both a fuller sound and additional songs for the band to explore.
The band were featuring songs from their recently released album ‘Too Damn Blue’ and kicked off with Ged Upton’s ‘Boogie Man’ with its dual harmonies and guitars and great rhythm & blues tempo. Then dropped straight into ‘Armed to the Teeth’ which is a raunchy number with great lead guitar breaks and a story about weapons of choice!
‘Kiss it Tonight’ was sung by Dave about his early days with the ladies and issues that arises, followed by one of Phil’s songs with ‘Real Fine Women’ with a great danceable R&B beat and dual harmonies.
Moving to a slower but heavier beat we had ‘Is That Thunder’ with great slide guitar from Bernie with heavy plaintive vocals, followed by another song with great dual harmonies with the driving beat of ‘Truck Through My Heart’ with its great blues guitar breaks from Bernie.
Then we had the title track from the new album ‘Too Damn Blue for the Blues’, written by Bernie with its slower tempo and passionately sung vocals from Bernie, with its solid rhythm section of drums and funky bass playing.
The next track had vocal harmonies from Bernie, Dave & Phil on ‘Wanna Tell Ya’ with its raunchy R&B tempo and more great guitar breaks.
Also on the new album were ‘Loading’ with its heavy rhythm & blues tempo and dual harmonies, ‘Temporary Man’ which was a rhythm & blues banger that was the first video put up on the bands YouTube channel.
A historical song from Dave was ‘Hildegard of Bingen’ about a German Abbess who invented lager, with its high tempo beat and great dual guitars and great drums & bass, which the band enjoyed playing an extended version to the enthusiastic crowds.
Then finished with ‘Train Train’ with its heavy beat, Dave on lead vocals, Bernie on alternative harmony, with a quick speed guitar break from Bernie, and ‘The House is Rockin’ by Stevie Ray Vaughan.