This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Every two-bit rock band thinks they can play the blues. And usually, they can — badly. That’s because most rock bands don’t understand there’s more to the blues than 12 bars, a I-IV-V chord sequence and some lyrics about how your baby done left you.
The Perpetrators, I are happy to report, are not one of those misguided outfits. This superlative trio reminiscent of North Mississippi All-Stars have obviously spent mucho quality time listening, learning, soaking, practising, playing and living the blues in all its many varieties and permutations. In other words, they get it. And they deliver it in spades on their stunning, self-titled debut disc. With drumbeats that shuck ’n’ jive like a juke joint on Saturday night, basslines as thick as a handful of Mississippi mud and guitars that growl and howl like a junkyard dog, these dozen tracks find the boys equally adept at choogling boogie-rockers (12,000 Miles), funky hip-swivellers (One More Day), electrified Delta stompers (Crappy Job, Look at You), acoustic folk-blues ballads (Stay Strong), Texas gutbucket rockers (Garmonbozia) and hypnotic John Lee Hooker-infused grooves (Six Pack). Put it all together and you’ve got 44 minutes of music that’s rougher, tougher and stronger than any major-label blues release you’ll hear this year. And a disc that can show all those two-bit rock bands a thing or two about playing the blues.
