Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band at The Lexington

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band

Midding

Ollie Cook

The Lexington, 23 August 2025

There's been a buzz surrounding Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band since they released their acclaimed second album, New Threats From The Soul, last month, and I must confess I've been enjoying it too, so it seemed fate when I saw they were playing their first headline show in London at the rather lovely and intimate venue, The Lexington. 

This show though was part of an annual showcase of up and comers called "Summer Forecast" so there were two other bands on the bill tonight and the first made me feel especially old, as they looked like schoolboys (I assume they were older though as they were all drinking beer!). Ollie Cook, fair-haired with a wispy tache, came on looking tall and lanky and, along with his band, amusingly called The Hogwash, began playing slightly punky, country-fuelled music. My first thought (to these old ears) was Uncle Tupelo, but the thought of a bunch of teenagers from Birmingham digging Uncle Tupelo in 2025 is probably fanciful thinking on my part, but there was definitely a little Neil Young in there.

The band sounded tight and seemed to having a lot of fun and I really enjoyed their set. Cook did say that London audiences were "different" (although he later apologised!), so maybe they are used to a slightly more animated crowd, but I thought they went down well. It did make me smile though to hear their country-rock sounds and then hear their Birmingham accents, but I must say they pulled it off.

The next band, Midding (who are from Cardiff), was a complete contrast. looking more Velvet Underground and venturing more into a psychedelic rock sound, I, of course, was impressed by the fact that three fifths of the band were women, including the bassist, guitarist and the super cool drummer (who drummed standing up and looked like a young Debbie Harry in her beret).

They definitely had a 90s indie vibe and at times sort of reminded me of early Smashing Pumpkins, in that their music was often moody and jangly and then went into more noisy, atmospheric directions (and also, their male singer was probably the least cool member of the band). The last song in particular, ended with a cool distorted jam that allowed all the members to let loose a little. Again, I enjoyed their set and it will be interesting to see where they go from here.

I think Midding may have overrun a little because the headliners were quick to the stage to set up their instruments and it was cool to see The Roadhouse was a five-piece band that included the very cool Lou Turner on bass and I can't help it but I always get a thrill seeing a woman in the band.  Ryan Davis himself was on and off stage setting up, and he was notably wearing an Oasis sweatshirt from their recent reunion shows. The guys beside me were speculating, was he at the shows? It was a cool retro top for sure, even though I'm not really a fan of the Gallagher brothers, but the mystery was solved almost right away when Davis thanked someone in the audience for getting it for him, but now realised it may have been a bad idea to wear a sweatshirt on a hot August night, under all the lights, but he gamely sweated through the night in the name of fashion (or Britpop maybe).

With the band already on stage setting up, they just started to play, making a nice non-showy start with a song from their debut album Dancing On The Edge, the melancholy, slowing building Bluebirds Revisited, which ended with Davis playing melodica.  I know a lot of people have compared Davis to David Berman (who apparently was a fan of Davis and his lyrics), and I definitely hear nods to Silver Jews and Purple Mountains in his music as well as Bill Callahan too, but his voice also really reminds me of a little of Howe Gelb from Giant Sand, particularly his Band Of Blacky Ranchette project, but yet, he's still got his own unique style that goes in weird and wonderful directions.

That's definitely on show with the next few songs from the new record, New Threats From The Soul, with the title track sounding like pure country heartbreak, with a soulful refrain and ample use of the pedal steel (courtesy of a baby-faced but supremely talented curly-haired pedal steel player tonight - always a joy to hear live!). 

Monte Carlo/No Limits, surely one of the highlights from the new album, was met with cheers and it was great to hear how beautifully elaborate this seemingly simple country tune that goes off into new and strange places, elevating country into something unexpected and delightful. It was also great fun watching keyboard player Dan Davis (also known as DD Bongo apparently!), switching to bongos and going absolutely nuts.

On the record The Simple Joy has none other than Will Oldham singing back-up but tonight Davis' band do a more than worthy job, harmonising on this lovely lonesome long-form tune, which boasts amazing lyrics such as "I can barely tell the cattle roads from the chem trails of our past lives from this here cloudwhere I now stand". 

This was in complete contrast to the more punky sounding, Learn 2 Re-Luv, which definitely had hints of Neil Young & Crazy Horse to it, which of course will always completely endear me to any act, especially when they pull it off as well as this.  This was also apparent on the song Junk Drawer Heart, which had him trading guitar licks with guitarist Christian DeRoeck (who was also great to watch, I must say). There was a really nice moment during Flashes Of Orange where Davis moved over towards DeRoeck and the guitarist laid his head on Davis' shoulder (as seen in the main photo!) as they played an instrumental part of the song.

They ended (well briefly anyway), with the final emotional song from the new record, Crass Shadows (At Walden Pawn), which would have been great but thankfully, Dan Davis ran back on to the stage to tell us they had one more song for us, and it turned out to be the far more upbeat Free From The Guillotine, and as they harmonised on the uplifting chorus "Constantine didn't make Saturday night for dreaming the night away" it seemed especially appropriate on this Saturday night and sounded glorious, better still the perfect way to end the show and the fact that Davis had a little microphone malfunction, but still managed to rock on, just made it all even better. 

Davis told us earlier that this was the band's first London show, but he had almost played London years ago with his old band State Champion, but when they turned up at the venue, all the lights were off and the doors were locked. Realising the gig wasn't happening they left and went to see another artist play live instead (for the life of me I can't remember who he said they went to see!) and it turned out to be a great night. But this surely has to be a triumphant return tonight, as the show was completely sold out, they sounded absolutely fantastic and went down a storm with the audience.

After I went to buy the new album (on vinyl of course) but was met with a queue. Funnily enough a drunk lad started talking to me raving about MJ Lenderman, I suppose because Ryan Davis is not only friends with Lenderman and has toured with him, but also has been an influence on him as well, but it was nice to meet like-minded people, in fact at one point, Knockin' by Lenderman played over the speakers and a bunch of people started singing along, which put a big smile on my face.

The queue it turns out was due to the band only being able to accept either cash or PayPal as payment, and it was causing each person to have to try and figure out how to pay online. Luckily I had cash on me, but when I misheard how much the record was and asked him to repeat, I think Davis was a bit offended and probably a little stressed from the PayPal thing, and said, slightly annoyed "it's a double record!" I smiled and just said, "I know! I just wanted to give you the right amount" and told him what a great show it was, to which he softened and said thank you. Hopefully it was just the situation that was putting him on edge because it truly was a fantastic show and I was thrilled to get the new record on vinyl, as it's certainly one of the year's best. 

I also managed the rare feat, for me these days, of nabbing the setlist! Which was also a nice bonus to a really great night. What a treat to see a band this good in such a small venue. They feel like a cool secret right now but hopefully not for long!