Review: BB & The Bullets – Wrong Side Of The River
New Zealand blues-rock trio BB & The Bullets deliver an energetic second album with powerful riffs, tight rhythms and plenty of musical variety
BB & The Bullets – Wrong Side Of The River
Format: LP / CD / Digital
Label: Nixon Street Recordings / Overton Music
Release date: October 2, 2026
Text: Thomas Maenhout
BB & The Bullets is a bluesrock trio from Whaganui, New Zealand, with Brian “BB” Baker on vocals and guitar, Stu Duncan on bass and Brad McMillan on drums, both of which also sing backing vocals.
After their debut album ‘High Tide’ in 2025, they’re now back with a follow-up, ‘Wrong Side of the River’. All songs (except Oh Well) were written , recorded and mixed by Brian Baker.
On the whole, this album is very energetic and powerful, with some great riffs and mixed very punchy, which I personally enjoy very much.
The album opens with Midnight Rider, A song that immediately gives you an idea of what’s to come. I think this song is about sort of a near death experience on the road, and I think it’s very nicely worded. The opening riff gets your immediate attention.
The pumping bass goes all the way through the song, and never forgets to give a little extra melody, which I love. The shuffle played by Brad McMillan on the snare is very detailed and correct, exactly what this song needs.
During the solo The drums go to half time with a different beat on toms, giving a lot more depth to the whole song. Although personally I would have gone to the first tempo sooner, It’s very hard to find anything wrong with this opening tune.
Second on the album is Wild Honey, a more comic song with a very nice, laid-back rhythm. On this song, you can really hear how tight the rhythm section plays together. This is the kind of song you expect to hear when you enter a blues bar in the middle of the day, giving us regular barflies the immediate “I’m home”-feeling. Perfect light blues song. Period.
Freak Show, the third song, opens with a very catchy guitar riff, panned and doubled with a nice delay. The pumping bass and steady rhythm give it ground as soon as they join. It’s a song about not recognizing yourself in the mirror.
The chorus is a bit weird, but it also very nicely emphasizes the theatrical side of the entire song. Others have considered this one of the highlights of the album, I don’t, but the album would feel incomplete without it.
Wrong Side of the River, the title track, has a very good intro. The listener thinks he’s gonna get a heavy track but it slows down to a mellow slow blues track. I love stuff like that. It’s a song about an unbridgeable gap (or river, if you will) between lovers, wanting to be together but there are too many differences and inconsistencies between them. It’s heavily guitar-based, but the track needs it in my opinion. This, to me, is one of the highlights of the album.
Get a Little Real. Style change! But a good one, I think. I know personally that songwriting is never about one style of music. You branch out, and sometimes one falls through the cracks onto your album. I enjoy these, because it gives more insight into the songwriters themselves. And in my experience, these style-breaking songs are almost always about relationships, just like this one.
This song is less packed with guitar overdubs and busy rhythm sections and leaves more room for vocals, making you listen to the lyrics more. The singer wants to be heard, and he gets it done. Not my kind of music, but I do really like it.
Next up is a cover of Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac. It’s very hard to get this one right, because this has been covered hundreds of times, but they absolutely did. There are modern versions and vintage versions of this song out there, and I thing BB & The Bullets managed to get the best of both worlds in their version. It hits, but it leaves long silences as well, like Peter Green did himself in the original version Very full and attention-grabbing drumming by Brad McMillan on this one! (And nice touch referring to God as She)
Sometimes You Lose Yourself starts very mysteriously, sound effects and all. The tempo the song starts in is very unexpected, but very enjoyable. This is another self reflecting song about losing control and yourself. The rhythm is very hypnotic in some way, and the chorus sticks with you.
The rhythmic breaks after the choruses are very tight, well thought out and very effective. The song is very open, leaving space for the heavily delayed guitar, which gives this song that special something. I enjoyed the guitar solo on this track very much.
The absolute first thing I have to say about Black Crow is the perfection of the bass groove by Stu Duncan on this one. The whole song gives of a very funky vibe, and that bass line is the thing holding everything together, especially by not doing too much. Impossible to sit still during this one. The lyrics are somewhat on the darker side but perfectly delivered. The song deviates nicely from the rest of the album, but having it belong with the rest as well.
The Buddha Song goes back to the heavy work, with I always look forward to. The lyrics, about loving each other and stopping the hate are a little lecturing to my taste, but it’s a very enjoyable song. They don’t all have to be about love and stuff, and this is a subject you don’t often hear is this music style, so in that sense it’s a very welcome change. Pumping rhythm with very nice fill work on the drums.
The prechorus is very melodic and “major” in comparison to the rest of the song. The lead guitar is very well executed on this song, just like the harmony vocals on the chorus.
She Knows comes in very strong, with nice and loud drums. Very rhythmic guitar and bass work. This is the kind of song you start nodding your head to before you even know what it is. Love the vocal work in the chorus, an love the fuzzy bass line half way through even more. The guitar solo fits perfectly into this song.
The shouted backing vocals in the last verse give it almost a Beastie Boys-feeling. Lyric-wise this song is completely in my wheel house : making light of really a dramatic situation. Love it! In. My opinion : arguably the best song on the album.
The more grungy chords on Crawl Right In are perfectly fitted into a twelve bar blues scheme. Very nice meeting of two worlds. The opening words “open up my window, honey, and crawl right in” are just perfect. The singer goes on to “open up my blanket” and “open up my heart”. These lyrics are so easy, but so perfect.
The song itself doesn’t let itself lose the energy you get from the beginning of the album. If nothing else, this song makes you want to start again from the first one, that kind of energy isn’t easy to produce
This album simply has it all. It never gives up on itself, and gives off the same energy beginning to end. The songs are wonderfully written and BB has the perfect band around him to execute them.
They sound as one, they sound full, they sound like they’re having fun. The mixing is perfectly executed and it makes you pay attention. If I spot BB & the Bullets playing anywhere near me I’ll be in the front row for sure.
Tracks:
01. Midnight Rider
02. Wild Honey
03. Freak Show
04. Wrong Side Of The River
05. Get A Little Real
06. Oh Well
07. Sometimes You Lose Yourself
08. Black Crow
09. The Buddha Song
10. She Knows
11. Crawl Right In
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bbandthebullets
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BB & The Bullets – Wrong Side Of The River
Our earlier release article introduces the New Zealand trio and the background to their second album.
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