‘In Bed With Wolfsbane’ DVD Review by Matt Phelps for Decibel Shower Online!

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Back in the day no band known to man put a smile on my face like Wolfsbane did. The sheer exuberance of their all out live shows coupled with infectious, riotous anthems of booze and sleaze made being a metallic teenager in the late 80’s / early 90’s all the more enjoyable. Wolfsbane were a band for the people. A rag tag bunch of misfits from Tamworth that worked hard and played harder, that punk ethic that anyone could be a rock star was cemented at their core.

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You didn’t have to be a anorexic bottle blonde pin up from L.A. to get the girls, you could be a fat bastard that flipped through Fiesta and drank too much Newcastle Brown Ale! Hurray! And with ‘In Bed With Wolfsbane’ you can have a visual reminder of just how spectacularly fantastic they were!

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Originally released in 1991 the ‘In Bed With Wolfsbane’ video was a fan club only release that followed the day to day affairs of Blaze, Jeff, Danger and Jase through a selection of home video clips linked together to form a sort of visual diary that shows the guys recording the Kathy Wilson EP at Roundhouse Studios, rolling around the UK supporting Iron Maiden and generally lazing around the glorious surroundings of Howling Mad Mansions all inter spaced with unique pre-fame clips like their Tamworth Battle Of The Bands winning performance from 1987.

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‘Dance My Tune’ and ‘Hot Shoe’ rock out with a youthful, lithe, snake hipped Bayley fronting a glammed up Wolfsbane complete with a cod piece that would make Blackie Lawless blush. Priceless footage.

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With only 1000 copies ever printed it’s great that this long lost gem finally got a much needed re-release on DVD. It has been transferred straight from video to DVD so the images are a little less than perfect for the Blu-ray generation but still fully enjoyable and our ale laden heroes remind us just what made Wolfsbane so f*cking lovable.

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With a bundle of extras thrown onto the DVD that didn’t feature on the original VHS we get the added bonus of some old TV performances that most would have thought would have been lost in the mists of time. Footage from the old Raw Power show gives us exclusive live acoustic shots of ‘After Midnight’ and ‘Broken Doll’ before a few other rare TV appearances complete the set along with the official but rarely seen video for ‘Ezy’.

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Now….. as if giving us Howling Mad Shitheads ‘In Bed With Wolfsbane’ on DVD wasn’t enough this package ups the ante even more with a second “bootleg” disc. This is where the real magic is. The first disc reminds us just what crazy, off the wall lunatics Wolfsbane were with their high jinx and drunkeness off the stage, but this 19 track second disc bootleg captures the rabid ferocity of the Tamworth terrors at their creative and commercial peak.

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Filmed from the balcony of the old London Astoria on December 10th 1991 while on the road supporting the ‘Down Fall the Good Guys’ album this bootleg captures completely the essence of what Wolfsbane shows were all about.

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From the opening thrust of ‘Steel’ to the make it or break blitz of ‘All Or Nothing’ taking in the raucous unbridled energy of ‘Manhunt’ along the way, if this DVD doesn’t have you hurling beer cans around your living room and howling like a maniac then call a doctor as I suspect you may be dead from the neck down. Witness the raw musical savagery of ‘Temple Of Rock’ and ‘Smashed And Blind’ side by side with the tongue in cheek tenderness of ‘After Midnight’ all glued together by Bayley’s obscene, confrontational and hilarious inter-song rants.

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We even get the added bonus of seeing a Jagger swaggering Hateley taking charge of the mic for a Stones stomping run through of ‘Honky Tonk Woman’ complete with then tour support act The Wildhearts joining the Wolfies on stage.

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Dare I say it, but despite the fact that this is a bootleg it even betters the intensity of ‘Massive Noise Injection’ There’s no high definition, there’s no 5.1 surround sound, just raw, grainy in your face rock n roll laced with infectious humour and sleazy lust driven anthems of reckless abandon. It’s blood, sweat and filthy sex, pure and simple.

Some of the greatest memories I have from nearly thirty years of gigs are memories from the times I saw Wolfsbane. As time goes by you always think were those days and shows really as good as I remember or is it a case of looking back with rose tinted glasses. Well I’m glad to say that this is everything I remember and more.

Completing the package is a short but sweet booklet featuring input from all four members covering everything from band history, favourite gigs, meeting heroes and even the tale of their first gig with Blaze at a Reliant Owners Club rally. This double disc set really is a bargain and is well worth the money just for the bootleg show alone.