Dust Bowl Jokies: Cockaigne Vaudeville

It’s the way they tell ‘em.

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The questionably-named Dust Bowl Jokies’ debut showcases the self-proclaimed “trashy glam stallion” Swedes’ blatant obsession with hair metal – frontman Alexx’s vocals echo Vince Neil’s, while the songtitles include the glammed-up likes of Blood, Sweat And Perfume and Boots On Rocks Off, topped off with bucketloads of cock-of-the-walk attitude.

Alongside the odes to glam, there is the odd southern twang, like in The Wicked, although it’s more Kid Rock than classic country.

But glam metal is a tricky, arguably impossible, era to revisit without a fresh take – there’s a reason only Steel Panther have hit the big time in that regard – and while Dust Bowl Jokie’s songs are fun (albeit cheesy), catchy in places and certainly accessible enough to get any part-time rock fan grooving after a few jars, they’re unlikely to make much of a dent – more Rock Of Ages than I Wanna Rock.

Hannah May Kilroy

Hannah May Kilroy has been writing about music professionally for over a decade, covering everything from extreme metal to country. She was deputy editor at Prog magazine for over five years, and previously worked on the editorial teams at Terrorizer and Kerrang!. She currently works as the production editor for The Art Newspaper, and also writes for the Guardian, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer.