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This review by Xavier Russell (and the accompanying photo) appeared in Classic Rock, January 2001, in England. It is reproduced in its entirety, with no comment!
LA2, London
21st November 2000
Set list: 'Whiskey Man'/'Bounty Hunter'/'Gator Country'/'Heart Of The USA'/'Fall Of The Peacemakers'/'Saddle Tramp'/Drum Solo/'Beatin' The Odds'/'Down From The Mountain'/'Dreams I'll Never See'/'The Journey'
Encore: 'White Lightning'/'Flirtin' With Disaster'
"From Jacksonville, Florida, will you please welcome CMC recording artists Molly Hatchet."
The south came to London, well Molly Hatchet Mk IV to be more precise and, surprisingly, delivered a near flawless display of chicken scratch inspired confederate boogie.
Lead vocalist Phil McCormack should seriously consider auditioning for a place on `Stars In Their Eyes', as he does a near perfect note-for-note impression of original Hatchet growler Danny Joe Brown. The evidence of this could be found right from the start on the evening's opener `Whiskey Man', following which other old faves such as 'Gator Country' which were even more impressive. The band was also keen to promote their new album 'Kingdom Of XII', with the catchy `Heart Of The USA' a particular highlight.
Perhaps the sole dip in the set came with the Vietnam vet special `Fall Of The Peacemakers': Having teased the confederate faithful with slowly building guitars, the song suddenly and mysteriously ground to a halt. Absolutely criminal, talk about killing a tune stone dead! However, things picked up with the Jimmy Farrar-period classic `Beatin' The Odds', and from hereon in, things just got better and better. Especially with the utterly compelling 'Dreams I'll never See' offering an Allman Brothers feel thanks to the duelling guitars of Bobby Ingram and Bryan Bassett, layering beautifully beneath the soothing keyboards of John Galvin.
For encores we got `Moonshine Whiskey', from the new album, and a very upbeat rendition of `Flirtin' With Disaster', but sadly there was no `Boogie No More', which Hatchet haven't played for ten years - I've no idea why.
"Molly Hatchet: the Two Fat Ladies had really let themselves go"
Despite this not being the original line-up, Hatchet certainly didn't come across as a covers band, as some people have claimed them to be. They more than impressed with their own particular brand of southern rock, now, where's that bottle of `Rebel Yell'?!
Xavier Russell
