KING LEO & THE GROWLING DOGS: Mad Love

By Simon Sweetman

King Leo & The Growling Dogs are a four-piece rocking, boogie-blues band from the Deep South – yes, I am talking about Dunedin. ‘Mad Love’ features two discs, the first is a set of 10 originals that take in guitar-driven shuffles, mixing the darkness of the blues with a rockabilly swing that recalls Brian Setzer’s approach. There are also slow-dance blues ballads like Honesty with its B.B. King-inspired guitar lines and the Peter Green-esque spit of I Can Taste The Love. The second disc has the band covering 10 standards and favourites, listing the version that inspired them. So there’s Muddy Waters’ Mad Love, which is where this set gets its name. There’s also tracks from B.B. King, Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland, Guitar Slim, Junior Parker and Freddie King. It’s a very cool double-dose of the blues. King Leo dominates with lead vocals, guitar, piano, organ and harmonica but his Double Trouble-meets-Stray Cats rhythm section of Paul Soundsworth (double bass), Robert Stirling Falconer (drums) and Anders Jensen (guitar) work well to keep things grooving. •

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NZ Musician

April/May 2009