Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One – Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One Live

Despite Darkbuster’s nearly twenty-five year history, frontman Lenny Lashley has only started exploring his solo persona within the last five or so years.  Branded Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One, the project takes Darkbuster’s Oi! drenched, working class fundamentals and channels them through an acoustic folk-punk lens.  If it sounds like a familiar story to parings like Hot Water Music and Chuck Ragan, Lucero and Ben Nichols, and The Swingin’ Utters and Darius Koski, then you’re probably already a fan of late-career side-projects and are well acquainted with Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One.

After two strong full lengths, Illuminator and follow-up All Are Welcome, Lashley has opted to release a fully stripped down, live acoustic album. Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One Live takes a selection of songs from Darkbuster and Lashley’s solo output and scales them back to their bare essentials.  Complete with a few yelps from the crowd at the Button Factory Stage in Portsmouth, NH, this is Lenny Lashley at his most authentic.  The album opens with “Double Miner,” a track unique to the album that celebrates the backbreaking labour and legacy of soot faced, backwoods miners in the Carolinas.  It’s the type of narrative-heavy track that wraps listeners in an atmospheric blanket from the early 1900’s, but remains relatable to this day.  If this heartfelt, rough and ready track doesn’t hook you instantly, then just walk away, because this music clearly wasn’t intended for you.

The bulk of Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One Live draws the lion share from the Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One banner.  “Live Like Lions,” “Judy,” “Lonesome,” “Hooligans,” and “Happily” are all returning favourites, reworked with a rawness and honesty that will make them your go-to versions compared with the originals.  “Live Like Lions” achieves a sense of scale that many attempt and few succeed.  Lashley’s vocals erupt with precision, optimizing a sense of timing and anticipation with each strum and pause between lyrics.  “Hooligans” establishes an essence of nostalgia that is echoed by the sense of Lashley as an aging punk reminiscing of a time when soccer matches and brawls were king, while the personal message in “Happily” seems to add layers of honesty to an already earnest energy.

The remainder of songs are taken from Lashley’s deep roots, both in solo work and with his band.  “Try To Make It Right” and “Bomb” find their way from the Darkbuster catalogue, stripping down two crowd favourites and bringing them to life through a lively back and forth between strumming and harmonica.  The stripped down approach suits “Bomb” in particular, as the tragic story of cracking under the dual pressures of work and home land with a heavy heart.  “Bruiser” appears to be a previous rarity that was written about the passing of a beloved friend.   The track has been floating around with live-takes on YouTube for a few years, with the original having a limited release on 7” that seems to have long since gone out of print.  It wears the album’s crown as the most heartfelt song, which says a lot since Lashley wears his heart on his sleeve throughout the entirety of Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One Live.  

The most unexpected gem though, is the sole offering from Lashley’s now defunct country project, Lenny & The Piss Poor Boys.  Lashley offers up a folky rendition of “Two Robbers,” a twangy track that feels like a shoe in for a Chuck Ragan album.  The narrative-heavy style details the final encounter and last moments of two ill fated highway robbers.  The story slows time to a standstill, existing in that brief moment when the two find themselves gunned down in a blaze of glory, exchanging their final words and farewells.  These are the types of earthy folk moments that elevate the album to an immersive level.

Lenny Lashley’s Gang Of One Live is a fantastic celebration of Lashley’s career.  By drawing upon work from Darkbuster and his various solo projects, fans can think of this as an acoustic array of greatest hits.  These are songs that Lashley clearly has a deep emotional connection with, and it shows in each live rendition.  The folks present at the Button Factory Stage that night were clearly privy to something special, and it transfers well into the recording.