Jesus Murphy! I think I remember my mom spewing out those words every time I staggered through the door with a black eye and dog shit down one leg. I’m sure I heard those words when I got home ripped outta my head on mushrooms that night. And I KNOW I got Jesus Murphy’d every time I bitched their stereo far beyond it’s capabilities.

Ironic that on this holy Sunday night in Brantford, Ontario I got Jesus Murphy’d like I never had before and for totally different reasons. As the song suggests on their E.P. “Resurgence”, I got “Jesified”. Track these guys CD down and try it on for size, you won’t be disappointed.

I think some introductions are in order here. Fronting the band is the self proclaimed “major Gordie Johnson fan”, Matt “Jesus” Miller. Mr. Johnson (ex Big Sugar, current Grady front man) clearly plays an influential role in Matt’s overall look and sound. From the selection of guitars, most notably the red doubleneck SG, to the ever present slide bar to his calm, cool demeanour, Jesus Miller will be the first to tell you that Gordie Johnson is the shit. But it’s the music that really drives the point home. Jesus Murphy is a 3 piece unit that plays nothing but good ole hard rock with enough crunch to captain a cereal box and enough feeling n melody to raise the nipples on any nubile nymphette.

Keith Silver expertly commands the bottom end, coolly complimenting Jesus’ demeanour while wielding one of the sexiest bass guitars I’ve ever laid eyes on. A curvy, polished metal looking beauty with the words “Oneida” displayed along the top edge of the body. His Band? Or “made by”? I don’t know, but if Keith doesn’t take that little bitch to bed with him every night I’d be surprised…

Jesus Murphy is torqued by the old theory that blood is thicker than water and applies the old adage to the time keeper, Frank Miller, Jesus’ brother. It appears as though this pair gets along a lot better than your Oasis’s or the Chris n Rich Robinson’s out there. This became obvious when Frank’s double kick pedal broke about 2 songs into the set, and neither brother stormed off the stage or ended up in the back of a cop car over it. The seemingly intense Frank, calmly took an endless 5 minutes to tear off the second kicker and use parts from it to fix the main pedal.

A lotta guys woulda lost it right there and then. Me included. A couple hundred people standing there waiting around while you fix your kit woulda sent me straight into convulsions but here’s something I noticed that speaks volumes for not only the band, but the crowd gathered at Jackhammers that night. Everybody showed respect. Jesus n Keith stood back and relaxed, offering a couple words to the audience to lighten the scene but NOBODY from that crowd so much as heckled or jeered even once. That’s fuckin respect brother.

I truly believe if this happened to 99 other bands in 99 other venues the crowd woulda went nuts with this golden opportunity to at least poke fun or ridicule the guys. We all know that there’s an asshole in EVERY crowd but not this night. 2 songs is all it took. In those 2 songs, Jesus, on his Dad’s day of rest, laid down the law. With his black Les Paul cranked to 11 through a pair of old faithful JCM800 Marshall heads and a couple 4X12 Doyle cabs, he said unto thee…. “do you like rock music? Cuz I like rock music. I’m gonna play some rock guitar for ya now…” And it came to pass, Jesus’ brother fixed the kicker, Keith’s little beauty fired back up and Jesus himself led his flock through a metal, blues, rock storm straight to the blissful land of Grady. Amen..