Despite their reputation for sheer excellence as a live band, I’ve only managed to get to see two Constantines shows; more so on account of my being lazy as opposed to the band not being any good. While Bryan Webb’s gravelly howl and handsome mop of brown curls clearly mark him as the frontman, bass player Dallas Wehrle is far more amusing to keep track of. Welding the sound of Paul Simonon to the antics of Happy Mondays’ “dancer” Bez, Wehrle wields his Fender while hopping from foot to foot and making exaggerated funny faces each time a heavy chord hits home. He’s a squirrelly goofball to counter Webb’s ashen-faced, Canadian Springsteen, and the live show is better for it.

I mention this only because I can’t listen to “Million Star Hotel” without picturing Wehrle engaging in mock interpretative dance and throwing his bass into the air whenever the guitar heavy chorus comes crashing down. A leaked track from the forthcoming Kensington Heights, “Hotel” is a lumbering slab of Crazy Horse guitar churn that bests every track from Tournament of Hearts (2005) in the heaviness quotient, and should be welcomed by all young lions who pegged Hearts as a touch soft (which it was).

The verses, mostly cryptic Bry Webb mutterings about needing to “visit the country doctor,” are completely obliterated by a milkshake-thick chorus of feedback and Webb’s shouted desire to “just want to see [it] / in a natural light!” The bass player’s eyes will have already rolled back into his skull long before Webb gets around to asking “where’s my loving cup?” (Exile, dude) but the surplus of rock power is appreciated. “Million Star Hotel” foreshadows good things for the remainder of Kensington Heights, and ought to become a highlight of the live show, slotting in nicely between “On to You” and “Hotline Operator.”

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