The Damn Truth + Crobot  2nd September 2026

Live from the Cavern, Exeter

© Andy Balcam, Balcshootsbands

It’s nights like this that restore your faith in the almighty power of live music.

Openers Crobot gleefully cram their tour-honed, festival-ready stage antics into Exeter’s tiny Cavern Club with incredible zeal and scant regard for their own personal safety.

Maniacal frontman Brandon Yeagley charges, headbangs and leaps around the miniature stage like a madman before leap-frogging onto towering guitarist Chris Bishop’s shoulders barely avoiding crowning himself on the low Cavern ceiling.

It’s exhilarating stuff and the music is just as thrilling. Battle Cry, Foot Off and Cold Blooded have ripped the roof off the place before you’ve even caught your breath.

Bishop’s guitar slashes and wails, Yeagley screams and hollers whilst the explosive Jansen brothers – tub-thumper Nico and Willie on low end – provide a bedrock you can feel in your guts.

Bishop is the first guitar slinger I’ve seen attempt the swinging-the-axe-around-your-neck thing whilst using a lead rather than wireless. The result is delightful devastation as mic stands and beer cans fly in all directions leaving drummer Nico howling with laughter. 

Having galloped through their planned 8-song set the guys realise they still have some of their allotted slot remaining and reward the noisy crowd with the killer send-off of Let It Kill Me and Nowhere To Hide.

Follow that The Damn Truth!

Not only do The Damn Truth follow that – they take it to even greater levels of power and energy.

Be Somebody, new single Killer Whale and Love Outta Luck launch their set into the stratosphere taking the ecstatic crowd right with them.

The Damn Truth have 3 things that set them apart from their peers. The first is a canon of extraordinarily great songs. Every number tonight is a stone cold classic in the making.

The second is their mastery of dynamics. Every loud/quiet bit, false ending and breakdown lifts the energy and passion of the crowd ever higher and makes for an 85-minute set that flies by in an instant.

Their 3rd superpower is singer Lee Baum. I’ve read opinions that compare her voice to Janice and Aretha and I get that. For me though it’s the attitude that comes with the voice. That is all Janice. This isn’t a performance for an audience this is a heart-rending confessional to a roomful of care givers. Breathtaking stuff.

It’s not just about Lee though. PY Letellier and Dave Traina are a magnificent engine room and the man-in-red Tom Shemer glides around the stage throwing shapes as elegant as his guitar playing is scorching.

The set reaches it’s tumultuous climax with Get With You, Tomorrow and encore Devilish Folk. The Exeter faithful file out into the night buzzing from a truly uplifting night of live rock music!