If you can imagine the hillbillies from Deliverance forming a band under the influence of The Sex Pistols and some illegal substances, you will have some idea of what Th' Legendary Shack Shakers are like.

Coming into the "psycho-billy" category, the emphasis being slightly more on "psycho" than "billy", the Kentucky foursome put on a show with a bigger scare factor than most death metal bands can muster.

With a distorted radio microphone, frontman Colonel JD Wilkes was barely legible but managed to entertain the first few rows of the crowd by pulling out his chest hair and throwing it at them, as well as firing sputum from his nose, which even reached the back rows of the audience.

To say the band flirted with depravity would be a major understatement - it won't be long before they cause a riot.

Musically, they were tight and full of energy, double bassist Mark Robinson maintaining perfect rhythm and Wilkes blowing the blues harp with ease.

Promoting their appropriately titled debut album, Believe, the band demanded attention, with Wilkes often venturing into the crowd to harass the men and caress the women.

When asked back for the first of two encores, he said: "You like me? You like me? I hate myself. Sometimes I wake up screaming!"

Fortunately, off-stage they gave the impression their manic performance is an effort to parody a deranged redneck existence as opposed to actually living one out.

Strange but marvellous.