Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band – Ollie Cook – Mountaintop Junkshop – The Tin – Coventry – 25th August 2025
With an acclaimed new album just released Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse band arrived in Coventry last Monday night and commanded a pretty decent crowd especially on a school night. Fighting Boredom’s scribbler is alone tonight as the snapper couldn’t make it so it’s just words for you. Have a read below.
I arrive as Mountainshop Junkshop are finishing their first song, the room is fairly full and I stand by the entrance and watch. They play gentle country folk with slow drums and acoustic guitar with a low gentle bassline. The vocals are harmonies and it’s a soothing sound. There are five of them on stage and the song has a gospel feel to it now, very spiritual and a violin just adds to the sound. The guitarist tells a story about his dad and Coventry City FC and how the move to Leicester was a bad thing. Then they start another song which has a major Everly Brothers feel, the guitars shimmer and the harmonies are beautiful. But the overriding factor are the drums, played as if they were behind Buddy Holly or the Everlys, they are swinging with the music and making it move, giving it a beating heart.
They carry on with another huge drum beat which the violin and bass keep up with but the drums make this band more than good. The harmonies, rockabilly country bleeding heart songs are driven forward by the wonderful percussion. The lonely ballad they play is slow and melancholy, perfectly crafted and the shuffling rockabilly groove they end with has a big countryfied twang to it, a love song too. They are a decent first band on, made noticeable by the tiny brilliant drummer.
I sit outside and chat briefly with Ryan Davis until the daughter and friends arrive. Then we head back in and wait for Ollie Cook. He turns out to be very young, in fact the whole band look very young. The sound is very loud and country rock, think Neil Young and Crazy Horse. It’s slow and intense with a lazy languid vocal. They play a honky tonk groove which is still slow, measured and loud with great big harmonies. A more alternative rock worms its way into our ears, heavy and slow with a country tinge, the band quiets for the vocal interludes and they are obviously playing for the voice, which works. There is a slow hard song that is loose enough to be cool and then an upbeat big sound with big sparkly guitars rocking out. They finish with an immense fuzzed out Dinosaur Jr feeling mess of guitar howling with a high vocal oozing out of the grunge. Great stuff and a great set.
The place fills up and I say hello to a few faces, I grab a seat by the left hand corner of the stage and wait. Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band are tuning, setting up and making sure it’s all good. The guitar starts to strum and he sings with a massive country twang, it’s immediately emotional and engaging, it’s a quiet unassuming start and it takes a moment to realise that the band have joined in, gently and slowly. It’s story telling and slices of life, a keyboard flute appears and is strangely effective in the music, a sad countryfied rock song. The slide guitar is making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, wonderful.
This sounds effortless, just like they aren’t even trying, except Ryan who feels every single note, every single word, every nuance and groove. He is living this music and should really be on a huge stage in front of thousands. This feels like a treat for us. He looks angry and focused for a lot of the performance. There’s a wave of synth sounds before the next song, then a whistle and more country rock, all fingerpicking and high pitched vocals. The band play wavering, getting stronger between the vocals and harmonies, the lyrics are deep and soul searching. I really like this, music to listen to and lose yourself in, music to move you and to dance to, just to have on while you live your life.
The bonkers keyboard/synth/bongo/weird cowbell percussion thing player at the back of the stage is going bananas, he’s long lost his red wooly hat to headbanging and is currently attacking the weird cowbell sounding things under the bongos while dancing his heart out.
They carry on and I’ve now got the daughter sitting next to me dancing along, it’s a really good gig. There’s another weird synth intro with a beatbox ticking, strummed guitar joins in and it turns into a slow slice of life song. The drums come in and unsurprisingly as the alternative country rock starts I’m reminded of Beck’s finer moments. A lazy comparison but it’s there. The thing is, this is better than most everything he’s done. There’s an emotionally charged lovely twangy guitar and a feeling of regret. THere’s a psych introduction and a shimmering layered sound that turns into wah wah nasty guitars, grungy country anyone? The vocal starts low and then grows as the band shines and echo. The cowbell sounding percussion is back, over and over until the guitars force themselves over it. They howl as the vocals make us feel. They finish with a weird post punk with electronics and crooning as they play into the sound they make most. Then they’re gone and the lights come up.
But then suddenly as people start to leave they come back out, Ryan in his vest and dedicate a song to all the Joes, the main Joe being the promoter. They play a straightforward alt country rock song but it’s still brilliant. Then they leave again and that’s it.
A great gig that exceeded my expectations, the daughter and all her friends were in agreement but told me straight out that it wasn’t country. I disagree, but then, what do I know?
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Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band’s website is ryandavisandtheroadhouseband.com they are also on Bandcamp.
Ollie Cook is on Facebook, Instagram and Bandcamp.
Mountaintop Junkshop are on Instagram, Facebook and Bandcamp.
All words by Adrian Bloxham.
