TYLA, The Gypsy Pistoleros @Wolverhampton Slade Rooms 14/7/12

No doubt the Gypsy Pistoleros would tell you they were all about harking back to a time when music was “fun” and how they want to make people forget their troubles. You know, the same thing that all these modern bands that play sleaze rock say.

The sad fact is, though, to be brutally honest this band of Gypsies are not very good. They look the sleazy part, the singer is stick thin, the bassist has tousled his hair and the guitarist looks like Iggy Pop, but the songs are anything but. “Everybody Hates You (When You Love Rock N Roll) is bad, but things reach a truly awful low point with an execrable cover of Ricky Martin’s “Livin La Vida Loca”.  Here is fact for them, even back in the 1980s Sunset Strip heyday, for every Motley Crue there was a Tuff. And The Gypsy Pisterleros are definitely more like the latter than the former.

The artist – literally given his successful painting career – born as Timothy Taylor is here to play a hometown show. Rather annoyingly Tyla is doing so minus his Dogs D’amour and sitting on a stool. For you see, tonight is an acoustic gig.

According to the ticket he is to perform the “Graveyard of Empty Bottles” mini album (which from memory was, back in 1989, probably the first ever acoustic album RTM ever heard) but that doesn’t mean we are in for one of those formulaic Album recital shows that have become bafflingly popular, rather the album will be played during the course of the evening.

So he kicks off with “Last Bandit” and plays a set that takes in other Dogs classics like “Billy Two Rivers,” “Heroin” “Sometimes” and so on.

And its…..ok. The problem is the format, acoustic shows – and for this one Tyla has donned his suit and is joined by a another chap on guitar called Gary – are by their very nature somewhat restrictive. In fairness to Tyla, such is the lyrical content of most of them it all works as an acoustic evening better than most rock would, but you can’t help wishing for some lead guitar or drums.

“Graveyard…” is played more or less in full towards the end, as well as perhaps the highlight of the evening “Just An English Outlaw, “ before Tyla – who had been strangely quiet -  announces “I think you’ve been waiting for this one” and launches into set-closer  “Errol Flynn.” He is soon back, playing “Satellite Kid” and “Drunk Like Me” and the evening comes to a sing-a-long close.

Not going to be gig of the year by any means, acoustic shows are hard to enthuse about. That said, Tyla just about pulled off making this one entertaining.