After attending Saturday’s show from Guernsey’s own not-quite-bluegrass rock ‘n’ roll band Clameur De Haro, I can’t help but feel a little guilty for spoiling their ongoing joke about the lack of coverage the band have received over the last year or so — that said, even if it’s been more than a year since I’ve properly caught one of their gigs, they remain one of the most outright fun bands on the Guernsey scene.

Starting off with a couple of their sort-of-bluegrass and country takes on classic heavy metal tracks they had people on the dance floor from the start before more joined as they played some of their own older songs too.

The intimate surroundings of venues like The Vault are perfect for a band like the Clams who like to bounce off their audience as much as possible and they were certainly doing that here. In fact frontman Rich was chatting with the crowd so much that he left his own bandmates befuddled with what he was talking about more than once, but it was all highly entertaining.

As the set went, and mention was made of the band’s long awaited album being nearer completion than ever, we were treated to a few newer songs.

The first, a murder ballad (according to Rich because if you’re a folk band you need one) called Blood Red Moon mixed a classic folk sound with some local references and, sticking with their idiosyncratic style, something approaching a rock breakdown.

Later in the set another newer one, My Heart Is In Your Hand, provided another musical highlight along with old favourite Happy Little Mr Sunshine before the first set was rounded off with their tribute to a certain local politician, Dear John.

The second set seemed more heavily based on covers, but still sprinkled with their songs, and while a new cover of The Doors’ People Are Strange was a crowd pleaser, if a little rough around the edges, Dire Straits’ Walk Of Life maybe took one step too far away from the original… though given the discussion around who actually likes the song that took place on stage, maybe that was the point, but this was swiftly redeemed with a fun take on Buzzcocks’ Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).

As the night went on I think its fair to say things did get a little more erratic, a poll of the room showed that only one person was attempting ‘Dry January’ and they weren’t in the band which may act as some way of an explanation, but it never over stepped the line and was great fun throughout.

Their own song Iron Pushang provided a late highlight and I really hope this one appears on the previously mentioned album as the combination of spaghetti western with Guernsey idioms is unbeatable while showing (along with the aforementioned originals) quite how good The Clams’ songwriting can be despite their self-deprecating approach.

Born To Be Wild left the crowd calling for more but as their next show fell only three days later, albeit in the slightly different surroundings of the Guille-Allès Library, they left the crowd wanting, rounding off a very fun evening — and hopefully it won’t be as long as last time until I see them again.