RHINO BUCKET – The Hardest Town

The crude Bluesy Hard Rockers, Rhino Bucket, are back with new material in hand. Like most of their career since the early 1990s, their music and themes derive from the ultimate Aussie band AC/DC (more from their Bon Scott 70s era).

Throughout the years, one could point out that these guys could have been a great Bon Scott-era tribute band. Nevertheless, the Rhinos decided otherwise and tried to make their own thing under the breath of AC/DC. The Hardest Town comes forth with a new Rhino Bucket lineup which more involved the ex-AC/DC drum man, Simon Wright, and made him a permanent member of the group. This addition made Rhino Bucket even more AC/DC related. With the coming of Mr. Wright, the band also recruited the ex-Kix guitarist, Brian Forsythe, to join the duo with the lead singer / guitarist, George Dolivo.

The best thing about Rhino Bucket is their sound production and their willingness on making it vintage and classic. The Hardest Town and their earlier material are like a refined presentation of albums such as T.N.T, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock and the famous Highway To Hell. Aside from the great old crunchy and trebly sound, the material is almost 90% similar to that special era. That fact made Rhino Bucket’s albums and The Hardest Town, in particular, a kind of a reprise to the old songs, yet with different lyrics and newfound cracking solos. In order to emphasize it, check out the riffs of the lyrical verses, several riffs of the choruses and the drum beats, that however every beat was made with love, it still sounds the same (well Simon Wright was there wasn’t he?).

Maybe the single thing that differs the Rhinos from AC/DC is the Blues factor. Rhino Bucket tend to use the Blues aura in their material more than AC/DC did and that special feature is what makes songs like “You’re Gone”, “To Be Mine” and “No One Here” sound so emotionally touching. As mentioned before, while reviewing the band’s themes, they are practically the same as the Aussies.

With all their similarities to AC/DC, Rhino Bucket are no copy band, the reason that they’ve existed over 15 years (including their 10 year recess without new material) is because they know how to make a good brand of Rock N’ Roll / Hard Rock bash. Great rockers such as “The Hardest Town”, “Justified” – a pure old Hard Rock killer filled with the spirit of the 70’s, “Dog Won’t Bite” – a classic similar to vintage times when Bon Scott held the reins of AC/DC, “Street To Street” and the final bonus Blues filled “Slip Away”. These songs prove that behind the AC/DC image, Rhino Bucket are a creative group with a craze to the old nostalgic tunes of before when this genre came up to be Heavy Metal.

Rhino Bucket and The Hardest Town can be also seen on MTV, VH-1 Classic and in the OST of the high profile film The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke. Check out the Classic Hard Rock character of Rhino Bucket and you will be amazed at the sound that bested almost everything 40 years ago.