LEFT LANE CRUISER "All You Can Eat!!" recent reviews

Following 2008’s Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table, All You Can Eat assimilates the Mississippi Delta blues laid down by guys like Big Joe Williams and Son House and cultivates it into a country punk ‘n’ blues speedball. “Hillgrass Bluebilly” is a frenetic juke-joint stomper that finds Freddy J IV hollerin’ out a reference to the Who’s “Squeeze Box”. “Ol’ Fashioned” is a country-picking blues flashback with washboard, while the primal trio of “Black Lung”, “Broke Ass Blues”, and “Putain!” finds the boys strutting through stoner-blues country with bravado. It doesn’t get a lot better than this. – Alan Brown / PopMatters

All You Can Eat!! is old fashioned music without the slick production that I, for one, have grown so used to — and quite bored with. It reminds me of live Cramps, RL Burnside, and even old Henry Rollins. If CBGBs was still open that would be the venue I could see Left Lane Cruiser playing. Amid the dirt, the history, and the gritty smoky fog. – Lynda Lippin / Blogcritics

First cut "Crackalacka" comes scootin’ out of the gate with some cool guitar noodle while "Ol’ Fashioned" adds some wiry slide guitar and gravelly vocals, and "Black Lung" is its younger, tougher, more tweaked kid brother. Later, on "Poopdeflex" (song title of the year?) the vocals get more guttural and desperate and at that point you realize one thing about Left Lane Cruiser: they mean it, man. – Tim Hinely / Blurt

Some boxers are like Roy Jones Jr. in his prime and are damned near impossible to hit, some are like Pacquiao and just overwhelm opponents with power & handspeed, while others are like a young Tyson and eschew all style points for pure power. Left Lane Cruiser are like Tyson, and with All You Can Eat, their second album with Alive Records, they’re throwing haymakers from the opening track “Crackalacka” and their power is showing no signs of waning some 9 tracks later as they close with “Waynedale”. - Nine Bullets

This is good, this is very good, certainly not the putting in of a twenty and the taking out of a forty here, the good is there in these Broke Ass Blues. There’s just two of ‘em, broken down old scratchy electric guitar, gravel throats and drum kit. There’s some great You Tube footage if you have the time to go look. They got bags of soul in there, they got it all nailed, real deal stripped back raw broken bottle stripped to the bone blues goodness. – Organ Magazine

This would be a great soundtrack for a cage fighting medley and is definitely not something for the faint hearted.
Left Lane Cruiser tick all the boxes from the relentlessly hard hitting sound to their cool names. This is not something for the faint hearted. Rest assured this is more than you can eat! – Will Bray / Blues In London

This is a CD that any Guitarist or Drummer can appreciate with such RAW emotion behind every track grabs your attention and holds you too it till the next…and that doesn’t happen to often. AWESOME isn’t a big enough word to describe this band. – Neus Subjex

Five New Songs We Love: September 23, 2009 – Blender

But for the most part this is big, bold, in your face, industrial blues with a country punk attitude. "Waynedale" pounds along at such a torrid pace, it seems like the perfect music for the next Grand Theft Auto.
Producer Jim Diamond, who worked on the first two White Stripes CDs, should be credited for the full, fuzzy sound. He provided lots of old amps and a bunch of microphones in front of each one to record each muffle and crackle. The result is Megadeth if they had grown up in Louisiana listening to Delta country and blues. - Al Kaufman / Atlanta Music Guide

It’s a rumbling tinnitus-inducing musical vertigo of swampy Mississippi-style ghetto electric blues that’s greasy, grimy, gritty, and basically un-fucking-real. It’s the kind of music that should be played in dark, sweaty, dive bars while yer pounding shots of Wild Turkey. What you really need to know is that All You Can Eat has been in steady rotation since it came across my desk about a month ago and ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon. – Can You See The Sunset?

If this Indiana duo’s debut album, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table, was merely an invitation to sample their bill of fare, then this follow-up certainly lives up to its title. All You Can Eat is another taut 35-minute blast of raw garage blues built upon the gigantic riffs of guitarist/shouter Freddy J IV, and the equally towering swagger of drummer Brenn "Sausage Paw" Beck. There’s a bit more of a streamlined quality this time through producer, and early White Stripes mentor, Jim Diamond, who obviously was enamoured with Freddy’s guitar playing. Its dominant place in the mix leaves everything else cowering in its shadow. That’s hardly a bad thing, as tracks like "Black Lung" and "Hard Luck" rock harder than any band with three times as many members could ever hope to. This is exactly the album LLC fans hoped for: another solid collection of material with just enough refinement of their sound to ensure that they have a vision for the future. – Jason Schneider / Exclaim

Left Lane Cruiser is the real deal. They are blues at its best, filth at its finest, with just two men who are evoking enough inner demons to populate an entire circle of hell. Raising a ruckus, punching throats, and blackening eyes all the way from Ft. Wayne Indiana, Left Lane Cruiser makes a bigger and louder racket than most five-man operations, never once sacrificing songwriting or musicianship for the sake of bombasity. – Andrew Bryant / Disc Exchange

Freddy J IV is actually quite the demon on the six-string – he plays like he’s visited a crossroads or two, with Kenny Brown by his side and a Lucifer bearing a strong resemblance to RL Burnside. He can do the grunged-out Zeppelin thing, too, when he’s of a mind (cf. Black Lung and Hard Luck), but he really comes alive getting his hands dirty. Frankly, Freddy’s not much of a singer, but when he digs into the frets it doesn’t matter. The songs are perfectly adequate for LLC’s purpose, which is to rock every room like it’s a deep South juke joint (despite the duo being from Fort Wayne, Indiana). – Michael Toland / Sleazegrinder

The band blends styles that wouldn’t normally be compatible, but when the two musicians come together — Evans with his slide guitar and vocals that sound as if his diet consists of swallowing sandpaper and chewing gravel, and Beck with his collection of hubcaps, trash cans, ladders and whatever garage accessory you can drum a beat on — the result is hard, rusty blues that Beck guarantees will get you moving. – Katie Saltz / Kentucky Kernel

BRIMSTONE HOWL - Journal Star

Nebraska group sticks to rock with new album

By L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:30 pm

Don't tell Brimstone Howl's John Ziegler that rock 'n' roll is dead, retro or needs to be replaced.

"I don't like it when people say, ‘It's rock 'n' roll, it's been done before. You should try to make a new type of music,'" Ziegler said. "I had an epiphany the other day. Rock 'n' roll is like snowflakes. You'll never get the same song twice. The possibilities are endless, and it should be perennial, like snow."

That's like the rock 'n' roll this band plays, which can be traced from Elvis Presley to the Rolling Stones, Velvet Underground, The Ramones and The Strokes.

The Nebraska band, which has been around in various incarnations since singer/guitarist Ziegler and drummer Calvin Retzlaff met in 1997, will celebrate the release of the vinyl version of "Big Deal. What's He Done Lately," its fourth album in as many years, tonight at O'Leaver's Pub in Omaha.

That disc moves a bit away from the driving, high-octane blues-based sound that has been Brimstone Howl's trademark since its 2005 debut, "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The loud, fuzzy, buzzing guitars of Ziegler and Nick Waggoner still drive the irresistibly propulsive music. But there are hooks galore across "Big Deal," and a handful of songs could easily be classified as power pop.

"The poppier element of rock 'n' roll comes out in the record - The Flamin' Groovies, stuff like that," Ziegler said. "I've always liked poppy music and so has Nicky. We're getting older. Maybe we're not afraid of not being tough rock 'n' roll dudes now."

Recorded to tape with no digital equipment used anywhere in the process by Costa Mesa, Calif., producer Mike McHugh, who's worked with the Black Lips and Jon Spencer, "Big Deal" is Brimstone Howl's third album for Alive! Records.

Even though it doesn't play the folky, indie rock most associated with the state, Brimstone Howl is a true Nebraska band. Ziegler lives in Omaha, Waggoner and bassist Scott Cline are in Grand Island, and Retzlaff lives in Lincoln.

"That makes it a long drive for someone for practice," Ziegler said. "We practice enough to make records and play shows. Maybe it's good we're far apart and practice infrequently. It keeps it lively and fresh."

As their decade-plus persistence has demonstrated, Ziegler, Waggoner and Retzlaff are in rock 'n' roll for the long haul.

"The thought of being in a band for six months or a year is a depressing prospect for me," Ziegler said. "I don't want to be in a hobby band. Some people may say this is a hobby band because we don't tour very much. But we're still together, still going."

Brimstone Howl rocks on even though the core trio haven't made much money playing in the band, have seen a number of bass players come and go and endured the disappointment of having 2007's "Guts of Steel," their most promising and promoted album, fail to generate national buzz.

"I'm a pretty stubborn, determined person; Nicky and Calvin must be, too," Ziegler said. "The original excitement and glamour of being just out of high school and starting a band has worn off. It's gotten more realistic. Now we're at a point in time where it's just about the music. I used to be jealous of bands like the Black Lips and Jay Reatard. I wanted to be on the road a lot. Now I'm happy to make the albums I do. I feel pretty privileged."

Rest assured, Brimstone Howl will keep making records, and those albums will be all killer, no filler rock 'n' roll.

"Like (legendary rock critic) Lester Bangs said, ‘Rock 'n' roll is a hamburger,'" Ziegler said. "It's for consumption. It should be fun, and it should be done."

Alive Update 11/19/09

November 19, 2009

LEFT LANE CRUISER "All You Can Eat!!"
out now on CD, LP, and digital



From the greasy slide-guitar-and-drum-pummeling intro to opener “Crackalacka”, you either jump in and let Left Lane Cruiser take you on a hell-raising hayride or plain get out of the way because Freddy J. Evans IV (guitar/vocals) and Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck (drummer/“trash”/vocals), a powerhouse duo out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, are roots-music revolutionaries who take no prisoners on their second outing for Alive Records. Following 2008’s Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table, All You Can Eat assimilates the Mississippi Delta blues laid down by guys like Big Joe Williams and Son House and cultivates it into a country punk ‘n’ blues speedball. “Hillgrass Bluebilly” is a frenetic juke-joint stomper that finds Freddy J IV hollerin’ out a reference to the Who’s “Squeeze Box”. “Ol’ Fashioned” is a country-picking blues flashback with washboard, while the primal trio of “Black Lung”, “Broke Ass Blues”, and “Putain!” finds the boys strutting through stoner-blues country with bravado. It doesn’t get a lot better than this. – Alan Brown / PopMatters

The BREAKAWAYS
"Walking Out On Love/The Lost Sessions"
with PETER CASE and PAUL COLLINS (Nerves/Plimsouls/Paul Collins' Beat)
out now on CD, LP, and digital
The NERVES
"Live at the Pirate's Cove, Cleveland OH, 1977"
out now on COLOR VINYL ONLY with INNER SLEEVE with rare photos, memorabilia and liner notes

Continuing on the same punked-up garage pop path of the Nerves, Case and Collins bang out a baker’s dozen power pop gems (“Everyday Things,” “Little Suzy,” “USA,” “Radio Station”) with sharp melody, tight skill and unabashed enthusiasm. Due to budgetary concerns and multiple locations, the fidelity is all over the place – it’s only by the grace of the songs and performances that tracks like “I Don’t Fit In” and “Will You Come Through?” are salvageable at all. But there’s not a duff tune in the bunch – Collins obviously agreed, as many of his tunes (including the popular “Walking Out On Love” and “Working Too Hard”) ended up in the Beat’s repertoire. Case’s songs, strangely, were never re-recorded, not even with the Plimsouls, whose catalog seems to be the natural repository for a song like “House On the Hill.” While that means Case diehards definitely need this, arguably any power pop fan, especially of the late 70s/early 80s variety, would love to add this to his or her library. – Michael Toland / The Big Takeover

LEFT LANE CRUISER - PopMatters

From the greasy slide-guitar-and-drum-pummeling intro to opener “Crackalacka”, you either jump in and let Left Lane Cruiser take you on a hell-raising hayride or plain get out of the way because Freddy J. Evans IV (guitar/vocals) and Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck (drummer/“trash”/vocals), a powerhouse duo out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, are roots-music revolutionaries who take no prisoners on their second outing for Alive Records. Following 2008’s Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table, All You Can Eat assimilates the Mississippi Delta blues laid down by guys like Big Joe Williams and Son House and cultivates it into a country punk ‘n’ blues speedball. “Hillgrass Bluebilly” is a frenetic juke-joint stomper that finds Freddy J IV hollerin’ out a reference to the Who’s “Squeeze Box”. “Ol’ Fashioned” is a country-picking blues flashback with washboard, while the primal trio of “Black Lung”, “Broke Ass Blues”, and “Putain!” finds the boys strutting through stoner-blues country with bravado. It doesn’t get a lot better than this. – Alan Brown / PopMatters

NATHANIEL MAYER - Shindig

HENRY'S FUNERAL SHOE - Blues In London

Cardiff isn’t necessarily the place that you would associate Alive Records’ usual source of ass-kicking punk blues but in this case, it is. The Welsh brothers, Aled and Brennig Clifford make up the duo that on this rare occasion has led Alive out of the United States.

There is absolutely no treading on egg shells with this record. Gritty, overdriven guitar riffs, gravely deep vocals and saw-off, pump action drumming in abundance. Simple, straight forward punk blues which draws on early Black Keys and a slight grunge undertone. The tracks are built on catchy guitar intros such as self-titled Henry’s Funeral Shoe, Down The Line and Coming On Through which are nailed home by Brennig’s terrifyingly punishing drumming style. A gentle hint of dynamics does lend itself to the album but it doesn’t stray far. Leading out, Second Hand Prayer takes on a dirty bite of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the final surprise of Mary’s Tune, a pretty acoustic ditty. After all the thunder that is Henry’s Funeral Shoe, they leave the record with a tuneful harmonica and something a little bit country.

Just because this record was recorded in just a few days doesn’t mean anything has been missed, infact the raw power of a punk blues duo, driven by passion has been captured in its entirety. Everything’s For Sale certainly carries the heavy punch that you would expect from any Alive release and of course Henry’s Funeral Shoe wear their influences on their sleeve. This is a band that proves the nu-blues movement in the U.K is very much awake and raising the bar. - Will Bray / Blues In London

Alive interview on the DEEP BLUES site

Alive Naturalsound interview on the DEEP BLUES site

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Jazz & Blues magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Exclaim

If this Indiana duo's debut album, Bring Yo' Ass To The Table, was merely an invitation to sample their bill of fare, then this follow-up certainly lives up to its title. All You Can Eat is another taut 35-minute blast of raw garage blues built upon the gigantic riffs of guitarist/shouter Freddy J IV, and the equally towering swagger of drummer Brenn "Sausage Paw" Beck. There's a bit more of a streamlined quality this time through producer, and early White Stripes mentor, Jim Diamond, who obviously was enamoured with Freddy's guitar playing. Its dominant place in the mix leaves everything else cowering in its shadow. That's hardly a bad thing, as tracks like "Black Lung" and "Hard Luck" rock harder than any band with three times as many members could ever hope to. This is exactly the album LLC fans hoped for: another solid collection of material with just enough refinement of their sound to ensure that they have a vision for the future. - Jason Schneider / Exclaim

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Performer magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Nine Bullets

Some boxers are like Roy Jones Jr. in his prime and are damned near impossible to hit, some are like Pacquiao and just overwhelm opponents with power & handspeed, while others are like a young Tyson and eschew all style points for pure power. Left Lane Cruiser are like Tyson, and with All You Can Eat, their second album with Alive Records, they’re throwing haymakers from the opening track “Crackalacka” and their power is showing no signs of waning some 9 tracks later as they close with “Waynedale”.

Those familiar with Left Lane Cruiser know exactly what I am talking about. Those that aren’t familiar with this duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana, I gotta ask…why not? Left Lane Cruiser is Freddy J. Evans IV on vocals and guitar assault, while Brenn Beck is responsible for drum abuse and an array of other sounds including washboards and mouth harps. Folks that come around ninebullets with any regularity know that I’ve been singing the praises of these guys since before they were signed to Alive Records, and I can assure you that I will not be stopping with All You Can Eat. Matter of fact, one could say that the band has actually gotten better thanks to the production talents of Jim Diamond. The recording quality of All You Can Eat is night and day better than the previous albums, leaving every instrument clear and audible at high volumes (and believe me, I’ve put it to the test).

So, next time you find yourself in the need of blues-fueled, rock-driven cd in the midst of a whiskey rage, then this, the newest entry to the 9b.net Essential Listening list, is exactly what the doctor requires. You like this site? You’ll love this disc…trust me. - NINE BULLETS

October tour dates

HACIENDA
DAN AUERBACH w/ The Fast 5
Oct 3 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 4 @ ACL Aftershow – Austin, TX
Oct 5 @ The Mohawk – Austin, TX
with ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO
and Los Lonely Boys
Oct 5 @ The Birchmire - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 6 @ The Birchmere - Alexandria, Virginia
Oct 7 @ Keswick Theater - Glenside, PA
Oct 9 @ Pollack Theatre Monmouth UW- Long Branch, NJ
Oct 10 @ Shea’s Performing Arts Center - Wayne, NJ
Oct 11 @ Highline Ballroom - New York, NY
Oct 14 @ Palace Theater - Manchester, New Hampshire
Oct 16 @ Merrill Audotorium City Hall - Portland, Maine
Oct 17 @ Zeiterion Theater - New Bedford, MA
Oct 19 @ McCarter Theater - Princeton, NJ
Oct 20 @ The Historic Avalon Theater - Easton, Maryland
Oct 22 @ The Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN
Oct 23 @ Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago, IL
Oct 24 @ Northern Lights Theater - Milwaukee, WI
Oct 25 @ Alltel Center - Mankato, Minnesota
Oct 27 @ Oneida Casino - Green Bay, Wisconsin

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Oct 10 @ Bohemian Cafe – Greenville, SC
w/Left Lane Cruiser
Oct 14 @ Lee’s Palace – Toronto, Ontario
Oct 15 @ Petit Campus – Montreal, Quebec
Oct 16 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Oct 17 @ V Club – Huntington, West Virginia
European dates
Nov 13 @ Nove Fonte Velha - Rio Maior, Portugal
Nov 14 @ Porto Rio - Oporto, Portugal
Nov 17 @ Oficina Munic de Teatro - Coimbra, Portugal
Nov 26 @ Libanim - Nimes, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason - Nantes, France
Nov 28 @ Blues S/ Seine Fest. - Mantes La Jolie, France
Nov 29 @ Le Galion - Lorient, France

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
Oct 1 @ Chabada - Angers, France
Oct 2 @ Astrolabe - Orleans, France
Oct 3 @ AB (with Tinariwen) Belgium
Oct 5 @ El Lokal - Zurich, Switzerland
Oct 6 @ Bad Bonn - Dundingen, Switzerland
Oct 7 @ The Trabendo – Paris, France
Oct 8 @ 106 - Rouen, France

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Oct 17 @Vice Scion Garage Festival - Portland, OR
OCT 23 @ Barley St. Tavern – Omaha, NE

BUFFALO KILLERS
Oct 2 @ Ravari Room – Columbus, OH
Oct 3 @ Dayton Music Festival – Dayton, OH
Oct 16 @ Peach’s – Yellow Springs, OH
Nov 6 @ The Southgate House – Newport, KY
Nov 7 @ Gerstle’s – Louisville, KY
Nov 13 @ 180 Main – Dubuque, IA

BRIAN OLIVE
Oct 23 @ Beachland - Cleveland, Ohio
Oct 30 @ The Comet - Cincinnnati, Ohio

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Oct 19 @ Bateau Ivre – Tours, France
Oct 20 @ BT59 – Bordeaux, France
Oct 22 @ El Camino – Caen, France
Oct 23 @ La Peniche/Ground Zero Fest – Lille, France
Oct 24 @ Le Kaluma – Cherbourg, , France
Oct 25 TBC – Rouen, France
Oct 26 @ Les Lucioles – Le Havre, France
Oct 27 @ La Nef – Angouleme, France
Oct 28 @ Trabendo – Paris, France

LEFT LANE CRUISER
Oct 5 @ The Northside Tavern – Cincinnati, OH
Oct 6 @ The Green Lantern – Lexington, KY
Oct 7 @ Hal and Al’s – Columbus, OH
Oct 8 @ The V Club – Huntington, WV
Oct 9 @ The Garage – Winston Salem, NC
Oct 10 @ The Bohemian – Greenville, S
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Oct 12 @ The End – Nashville, TN
Oct 13 @ JJ’s Bohemia – Chattanooga, TN
Oct 14 @ The Hideaway – Johnson City, TN
Oct 15 @ Visulite Theater – Charlotte, NC
Oct 16 @ The Star Bar – Atlanta, GA
Oct 17 @ Knoxville, TN
European dates
Oct 30 @ La Boule Noire – Paris, France
Oct 31 @ La Peniche – Chalon s/Saone, France
Nov 1 @ Le Galion – Lorient, France
Nov 4 @ Peniche Sonic – Lyon, France
Nov 5 @ Queen Kong Club – Neuhatel, Switzerland
Nov 6 @ Caves Du Manoir – Martigny, Switzerland
Nov 7 @ Le Transformateur – Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 8 @ El Lokal – Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 9 @ My Way – Freibourg, Germany
Nov 11 @ Cortinan Bob – Berlin, Germany
Nov 12 @ The Paradison – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 13 TBA – Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 15 @ Popdium – Sneek, The Netherlands
Nov 16 @ Little Devil – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Nov 18 @ Club Keller – Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 19 @ DB’s – Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nov 20 @ Grand Wazoo – Amiens, France
Nov 21 @ L’Appel D’air – St Brieuc, France
Nov 22 @ Le Chalan – Binik, France
Nov 24 @ St Eupery – Bordeaux, France
Nov 25 @ Sant Des Seins – Toulouse, France
Nov 26 @ Cafe De Paris – Perpignan, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason – Nants, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Nov 28 @ Festival Blues Hauts De Seine – Mantes La Jolie, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies

THOMAS FUNCTION
Oct 1 @ Webster Hall – New york, New York
Oct 2 @ Bruar Falls – Brooklyn, New York
Oct 3 @ Garfield Artworks – Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 4 @ The Summit – Columbus, OH
Oct 5 @ Lager House – Detroit, MI
Oct 6 @ Brass Rail – Fort Wayne, IN
Oct 7 @ Ronny’s – Chicago, IL
Oct 8 @ Club Garibaldi’s – Milwaukee, WI
Oct 9 @ Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Oct 10 @ Replay Lounge – Lawrence, Kansas
Oct 11 @ Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
Oct 12 @ House Concert – Provo, UT
Oct 14 @ Funhouse – Seattle, WA
Oct 15 @ The Den – Tacoma, WA
Oct 17 @ Vice Scion Garage Festival – Portland, OR
Oct 19 @ Stork Club – Oakland, CA
Oct 20 @ Hemlock Tavern – San francisco, CA
Oct 21 @ Blue Lamp – Sacramento, CA
Oct 23 @ 5 Star Bar – Los Angeles, CA
Oct 25 @ Pink Elephant – San Diego, CA
Oct 26 @ Modified – Phoenix, AZ
Oct 27 @ Train Yard – Las Cruces, NM
Oct 30 @ Lounge On Elm Street – Dallas, TX
Oct 31 @ Beerland – Austin, TX
Nov 3 @ Saturn Bar - New Orleans, LA
Nov 4 @ Alabama Music Box - Mobile, AL

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Blender : Five New Songs We Love

Five New Songs We Love: September 23, 2009

BRIAN OLIVE - Five Tunes

If you ever heard anything by the now defunct Soledad Brothers, you’d understand why it’s exciting that former member Brian Olive has an album out. The Soledads were masters of taking a Southern rock angle to soul music, garage punk, and the blues. On his self-titled debut, Brian hones that sound down to a couple of definitive influences, staying more rootsy than garage-oriented.

His record has a nice mix of Memphis soul, ’70s Dylan, relaxing acoustic music, and, of course, a tinge of that country fried sound. But what’s most impressive about Brian’s debut is that while you can draw lines to influences and ponder on what else he sounds like, this record isn’t a ’70s Dylan clone album by a long shot. This is a well put together, well written, and well executed debut from an extremely talented dude. - 5 Tunes

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Plastic Milk

San Francisco’s favorite rock ‘n roll country (“cowpunk”) boys, Trainwreck Riders, provide a breath of front porch, hyperactive country air into an often indie-rock/electro/hip-hop dominated city. Based on their sound (often compared to Meat Puppets and Uncle Tupelo), you might assume that the TR lads are not from around here. Au contraire! Singer Pete Frauenfelder grew up in Bernal Heights while brothers Steve (drums) and Andrew Kerwin (guitar) grew up in the Richmond district. Together as teenagers in a San Francisco basement almost ten years ago, a band was born.

Putting their own twist on traditional country, the boys stray from the subdued honky-tonk, and opt for a more energetic, dynamic approach. While there are rockabilly fiddles and lap-steel riffs , their songs are also full of hard-playing drums and guitar. Citing Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr. and CCR as some of their influences, the band also credits the Kerwin brothers’ dad for their sound. It was his collection of “old timey music” and fiddle playing that brought the country to these city boys.

Having just released The Perch (Alive Records), the follow-up to their 2006 debut Lonely Road Revival, Trainwreck Riders have been on tour since summer. Never known to not disappoint when it comes to live shows, they’re touring warriors… good news for their cult following. Personal favorites off The Perch include “Chug Along,” which sounds like a hybrid of Modest Mouse and Band of Horses. “Safety of a Back” (listen below) is a great example of the band’s ability to ebb and flow their sound from fast and slow energy. Reflective of the TR boys’ backgrounds, their songs are a perfect blend of laidback alt-country and fast-paced city. - JM / Plastic Milk

BRIAN OLIVE - PopMatters

Drawing inspiration from ‘60s psych-pop, after-hours jazz, and ‘70s glam stomp, Brian Olive, the onetime Greenhornes guitarist and Soledad Brothers multi-instrumentalist, steps out of the shadows cast by the Midwest garage-blues scene and into the light on his self-titled debut. Although it meant moving to Cincinnati and helping to build a recording studio in the vault of a pawn shop, the artist formerly known as Oliver Henry definitely proves being your own man can pay dividends. Helped out by ex-bandmates Jared McKinney and Craig Fox from the Greenhornes and with spectral backing supplied by Donna Jay Rubin and sisters Holly and Tori Kadish on the majority of songs, Olive drifts through an array of styles and imaginative arrangements during the album’s 33 minutes with “King of the Road” aplomb. There’s a gentle nod to both the Kinks and the Beatles in the marshmallow melody of “The Day is Coming (Sainte-Marie’s Dream)”; a gritty, down-in-the gutter piece of Detroit R&B called “Stealin’”; and a feral sax punch plus a cellar full of Beat-cool jazz on “High Low”. Meanwhile, the girls are most noticeable oozing through on the muddied country-blues raunch of opener “Ida Red” and the ghostly, fluttering psych swirl of “See Me Mariona”, a song reminiscent of contemporaries Pink Mountaintops. The highlight, however, has to be the tambourine-shakin’, sax-laden slice of glam-ourized R&B, “Jubilee Line”, which yields Olive’s most confident vocal outing and a kick-ass trip on the Tube through London to boot. - Alan Brown / PopMatters

LEFT LANE CRUISER - Organ Magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER – All You Can Eat!! (Alive Natural Sound) – Some right there in the zone, raw, blistered, no messing, slide-guitar freight-train riding blues. Oh yes, Hillgrass bluebilly hard working good honest black-lunged blues music delivered with a nail on the head righteous punk-fried attitude. They’re from Fort Wayne, Indiana, they sound like Seasick Steve for Rose Tattoo heads in need of an Ol’ fashion lo-fi five dollar shoe-shine... This is good, this is very good, certainly not the putting in of a twenty and the taking out of a forty here, the good is there in these Broke Ass Blues. There’s just two of ‘em, broken down old scratchy electric guitar, gravel throats and drum kit. There’s some great You Tube footage if you have the time to go look. They got bags of soul in there, they got it all nailed, real deal stripped back raw broken bottle stripped to the bone blues goodness - www.alivenergy.com or www.myspace.com/leftlanecruiser Some YouTube: Left Lane Cruiser perform at Wooden Nickel Music in Fort Wayne, Indiana back in 2006. - Organ Magazine

LEFT LANE CRUISER new album "All You Can Eat!!" out now

US TOUR DATES
Oct 5 @ The Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Oct 6 @ The Green Lantern - Lexington, KY
Oct 7 @ Hal and Al's - Columbus, OH
Oct 8 @ The V Club - Huntington, WV
Oct 9 @ The Garage - Winston Salem, NC
Oct 10 @ The Bohemian - Greenville, SC w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Oct 12 @ The End - Nashville, TN
Oct 13 @ JJ's Bohemia - Chattanooga, TN
Oct 14 @ The Hideaway - Johnson City, TN
Oct 15 @ Visulite Theater - Charlotte, NC
Oct 16 @ The Star Bar - Atlanta, GA
Oct 17 @ Knoxville, TN
EUROPEAN TOUR DATES
Oct 30 @ La Boule Noire - Paris, France
Oct 31 @ La Peniche - Chalon s/Saone, France
Nov 1 @ Le Galion - Lorient, France
Nov 4 @ Peniche Sonic - Lyon, France
Nov 5 @ Queen Kong Club - Neuhatel, Switzerland
Nov 6 @ Caves Du Manoir - Martigny, Switzerland
Nov 7 @ Le Transformateur - Fribourg, Switzerland
Nov 8 @ El Lokal - Zurich, Switzerland
Nov 9 @ My Way - Freibourg, Germany
Nov 11 @ Cortinan Bob - Berlin, Germany
Nov 12 @ The Paradison - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Nov 13 TBA - Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 15 @ Popdium - Sneek, The Netherlands
Nov 16 @ Little Devil - Tilburg, The Netherlands
Nov 18 @ Club Keller - Frankfurt, Germany
Nov 19 @ DB's - Utrecht, The Netherlands
Nov 20 @ Grand Wazoo - Amiens, France
Nov 21 @ L'Appel D'air - St Brieuc, France
Nov 22 @ Le Chalan - Binik, France
Nov 24 @ St Eupery - Bordeaux, France
Nov 25 @ Sant Des Seins - Toulouse, France
Nov 26 @ Cafe De Paris - Perpignan, France
Nov 27 @ Barakason - Nants, France w/ Black Diamond Heavies
Nov 28 @ Festival Blues Hauts De Seine - Mantes La Jolie, France
w/ Black Diamond Heavies
more European dates coming soon

Bar brawling blues.

Scampering out of Fort Wayne, Indiana comes a seriously hard punching, punk blues duo. Freddie J Evans IV and Brenn 'Sausage Paw' Beck make up the engine and driver of Left Lane Cruiser with their third release.

The record hits the ground running opening with Crackalacka. Jumping straight into a crisp, fast electric slide guitar and firecracker drumming makes up a perfect intro to this album. Heavily overdriven boot stamping riffs, growling hoarse vocals and leaving nothing to the imagination is exactly how LLC lead on. Each track brings its own edginess to the table. Hillgrass Bluebilly, a bottom lip biting stomp, Ol’ Fashioned, a classic, gritty, finger picking guitar which has inherited a fantastically authentic buzz and Hard Workin Man is a big kick of dirty, power blues which makes you drive your car fast. The whole record is just as it should be. High velocity, vicious, thumping, ass-kicking punk blues delivered with passion and depth. This is an out of control locomotive which is about to run off its rails.

Freddie J's vocals are frighteningly raw, mixed with his rampant guitar playing style puts him at the top of the pile of charismatic front men and with Beck’s machine gun drumming makes this an awesome pairing. An image of a smoky, whiskey stained basement and a bunch of stolen equipment is undoubtedly the setting for the recording of this album. A good full on record, no messing, in your face head splitting punk blues. This would be a great soundtrack for a cage fighting medley and is definitely not something for the faint hearted.

Left Lane Cruiser tick all the boxes from the relentlessly hard hitting sound to their cool names. This is not something for the faint hearted. Rest assured this is more than you can eat! - Will Bray / Blues In London

September tour dates

BLACK DIAMOND HEAVIES
Lebowskifest - Speed of Sound Tour
Sep 8 @ Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
Sep 9 @ Blue Cactus - Lead, SD
Sep 11 @ First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
Sep 12 @ Crunchy Fog - Greenbay, WI
Sep 13 @ Portage Theatre - Chicago, IL
Sep 15 @ North Side Tavern - Cincinnati, OH
Sep 16 @ Majestic Cafe - Detroit, MI
Sep 17 @ Velvet Underground - Toronto, Ontario
Sep 18 @ La Sala Rossa - Montreal, Quebec
Sep 19 @ House of Blues - Boston, MA
Sep 20 @ IM Automata Chino - Jersey City, NJ
Sep 22 @ Terminal 5 - New York, NY
Sep 24 @ Court Tavern - New Brunswick, NJ
Sep 25 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
Sep 28 @ 9:30 Club - Washington DC, Washington DC
LIVE album out November 24th on Alive records

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY
Sept 9 @ Bay area fun time - Oakland, CA w/ Devon Williams
Sept 10 @ Spaceland, L.A. w/ Devon Williams
Sept 11 @ Che - San Diego CA, w/ Devon Williams
more dates coming soon

BRIMSTONE HOWL
Sept 9 @ Cafe Bourbon - Columbus, OH
Sept 10 @ Bruar Falls - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 11 @ The Cakeshop - NYC
Sept 12 @ Sailor Jerry - Philly, PA
Sept 14 @ The Oasis - New London, CT
Sept 15 @ The Triple - Richmond, VA
Sept 17 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 18 @ Now Thats Class - Cleveland, OH
Sept 19 @ Louie‚s Trophy House - Kalamazoo MI
NEW album out November 24th

RADIO MOSCOW
Sep 8 @ Bali Satay - Ames, Iowa w/ Mondo Drag
Sep 9 @ Ribco - Davenport, Iowa
Sep 18 @ Capones - Ames, Iowa
Sep 25 @ DG's Taphouse - Ames, Iowa
more dates coming soon

BRIAN OLIVE
Sep 29 @ Northside Tavern - Cincinnati, OH w/Drummer
more dates coming soon

T-MODEL FORD w/Gravelroad
European tour :
Sep 8 @ Thelka - Bristol, UK
Sep 9 The Old Market - Brighton, UK
Sep 11 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 12 @ Luminaire - London, UK
Sep 13 @ End Of The Road Festival ˆ Salisbury, UK
Sep 15 @ Arlington Arts Centre - Newbury, UK
Sep 16 @ Norwich Arts Centre - Norwich, UK
Sep 17 @ The Musician - Leicester, UK
Sep 19 @ The Boardwalk - Sheffield, UK
Sep 20 @ Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, UK
Sep 21 @ The Duchess - York, UK
Sep 22 @ The Live Theatre - Newcastle, UK
Sep 23 @ Tolbooth - Stirling, UK
Sep 24 @ King Tut's Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow, UK
Sep 26 Open House Fest. @ Black Box - Belfast, Ireland
Sep 27 @ Sandino's Cafe Bar - Derry, Ireland
Sep 28 @ Whelan's - Dublin, Ireland
Sep 29 @ Crane Lane Theatre - Cork, Ireland
NEW album out this winter on Alive records

BUFFALO KILLERS
Sept 9 @ The Bear's Place - Cambridge, MA
Sept 10 @ Nectar's - Burlington, VT
Sept 11 @ Dover Brick House - Dover, NH
Sept 12 @ Union Hall - Brooklyn, NY
Sept 25 @ The Union - Athens, OH
Sept 26 @ Southgate House - Cincinnati, OH
more dates coming soon

MONDO DRAG
Sep 8 @ The Bali Satay - Aimes, Iowa w/ Radio Moscow
Sep 9 @ Racers Edge - East Moline, IL
Sep 10 @ The Darkroom bar - Chicago, IL
Sep 11 @ Carabar - Columbus, OH
Sep 12 @ W.O. Wrights - Fairborn, OH
Sep 13 House show - Bloomington, IN
Sep 29 @ The Picador - Iowa city, Iowa
DEBUT album for Alive records out this winter

OUTRAGEOUS CHERRY - The Stranger

Detroit's Outrageous Cherry are one of those groups that have never deviated from their original sound—reverent, obsessive-record-collector's interpretations of their favorite Vietnam War—era rock records. Because frontman Matthew Smith has impeccable musical taste and keen songwriting skills, Outrageous Cherry sound like simulacra of canonical psych-pop and garage-rock bands, as well as Nuggets-worthy no-hit wonders. Their latest album, Universal Malcontents, emits yet more sonic sunshine: Earnestness trumps irony, and sweet melodies embroidered with tasteful effects revivify paisley-shaped nostalgia. -- Dave Segal / The Stranger

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Prefix Mag

The members of Trainwreck Riders have been spreading their punk-tinged country rock like barbecue fire through the back yards, train stations, parks and warehouses of San Francisco since they became a band in the early aughts. In The Perch, the follow-up to their 2006 debut, Lonely Road Revival, these city boys may avoid the straightforward twang and honky-tonk of traditional country, but that doesn’t make them shy about raiding its barn.
The rootsy spirit of the album derives from its bluegrass influences: the banjo-like guitar picking in “Chug Along,” the saw’s Vaudevillian warble in “Livin Daylight.” Steel lap guitar, dobro, accordion and cowbell nudge the sound deeper into backwoods, as does the fiddle — played by the father of drummer Steve Kerwin and guitarist Andrew Kerwin.
They adopted another country-music trick, as well: the use of truism to create themes and choruses. The emotional arcs of these songs come when Peter Frauenfelder sings words like “memories don’t live like people do” and “nothing’s more pleasant with the past.” – Jenna Humphrey / Prefix Mag

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Shindig

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - AMG review

While Uncle Tupelo created the template for much of what would follow in the alt country sweepstakes, too many bands latched onto the wistful high-lonesome sound of March 16-20, 1992 and Anodyne while overlooking the coffee-and-beer-fueled overdrive that dominated No Depression and Still Feel Gone. San Francisco’s Trainwreck Riders don’t appear to have been spending much time listening to the Uncle Tupelo back catalog, but they’ve unwittingly learned a lesson best gleaned from examining their full body of work — the twangy and resonant stuff works best when it’s faced off against something that rocks with a solid head of energy. Trainwreck Riders’ third album, The Perch, sways back and forth between introverted midtempo numbers and more abandoned and energetic rockers that suggest a three-way jam session between Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr., and the Meat Puppets. Vocalist Pete Frauenfelder’s reedy but expressive voice communicates a powerful sincerity on the more measured stuff, but he makes himself heard with unexpected force when the band cranks it up, and he and Andrew Kerwin’s guitars weave together well. Drummer Steve Kerwin knows how to make this band cruise at any speed, and Forrest Lawrence’s bass work is subtle and in the pocket. These tales of city boys with the 21st century country blues don’t tell us much that’s likely to seem new to anyone, but the tone is always sincere and effective, like journal entries from a life whose ups and downs are clearly recognizable, and the rough, sweet tone of the music rhymes with their messages. If anything, The Perch is so straightforward it wouldn’t have hurt if the Trainwreck Riders had gussied up their music a bit more in the studio, but there’s a lot to be said for a band that errs on the side of modesty in an era of ProTools overload, and their virtues are on clear display on this album. – Mark Deming / All Music Guide

NATHANIEL MAYER - Steady Bloggin'

Nathaniel Mayer - Why Won't You Let Me Be Black?

This is a sadly posthumous follow up to Mayer's excellent Why Don't You Give It To Me (I posted that one a little while ago here). It collects more tracks from the same sessions, juxtaposing Mayer's gruff warbling baritone with a psychedelic soul-rock backing. Its in fact a bit more consistent in sound than the predecessor, there are no detours into funk or reggae. The album is nothing but dark bluesy echoey distorted laments on love, money (mostly lack of it), and drugs. And that's pretty much all I want from it, because it does those things so damn well. So far I think I'm ranking this as the second best soul album of the year, right behind Lee Fields.

There is a nice bit about the title that came with the press description: "It has to do with the food he kept being served while on tour in Europe. When Nate finally became frustrated with the countless plates of cheese and French bread that awaited him backstage at every gig, he shouted "Why Won't You Let Me Be Black?". He agreed that it sounded like a good title for his next album. "

TRAINWRECK RIDERS - Captain Obvious

New Wax

On their new album The Perch, San Francisco's Trainwreck Riders, who have been labeled "cowpunk", meld a wide variety of genres and sounds. A track like "Three To The Clouds" seems like it could easily serve as a backtrack to Jay Farrar's vocals, which is understandable considering the band is often compared to Uncle Tupelo. There is certainly a familiarity about Trainwreck Riders' sound, who have cited the Meat Puppets and Dinosaur Jr. as influences, but it's a good familiarity comparable to the smell of your childhood home or the feel of your favorite t-shirt. Rather than being blatantly derivative, the band draws from the past to create their own brand of country-tinged indie-rock. The guitars and airy vocals on "Don't You Know" are reminiscent of Band Of Horses. "Chug Along" could easily be a Modest Mouse b-side. While the band may navigate familiar soundscapes, they infuse their own sense of originality on The Perch. This is an impressive sophomore release from an evolving young band. -- Capt. Obvious

BRIAN OLIVE - Goldmine

Brian Olive
Brian Olive
Alive Records (0095-2)
Grade:

Brian Olive’s a name unfamiliar to most everyone. Oliver Henry, though, will be instantly identifiable to garage fans, as he was a member of both the Soledad Brothers and the Greenhornes. Now working under the pseudonym Brian Olive, Henry’s put together a new project and delved into other sides of the ’60s entirely. Foregoing garage’s frenzy, his band instead frolic in strawberry fields of psychedelia, albeit fields planted across the deltas and studios of the deep south.

Sure, “Ida Red” and “Calling All Around,” the tracks that bookend Brian Olive, rock and roll in best R&B style, but the Stax-y brass and wisps of psychedelia give the tracks an unusual twist. Retro in style, but thoroughly original in sound, Brian Olive doesn’t so much resurrect Sixties R&B as totally reinvent it. His influences are numerous and diverse – The Beatles, The Stones (Rolling and Roses), Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Stax soul, glamrock, and dreampop. “There Is Love,” for example, is blues filtered through the latter genre, “Jubilee Line” wafts psychedelia through the Stax studio, while “High Low” floods the delta with jazzy brass and big band beats.

Of course, Brian Olive isn’t the first to stitch genres together, they are, however, one of the few to sew them together seamlessly. Their music sounds so totally natural you can walk away from Brian Olive believing that psychedelia, blues, R&B and soul were always intertwined and natural bed-fellows. Reshaping the past, the album presents an alternate musical history where linear evolution is replaced by spontaneous genesis, and what a wonderful creation it is. - Jo-Ann Greene / Goldmine

RADIO MOSCOW - I-94 Bar

If the opening squall of Parker Griggs’ paint-stripper lead guitar on opening cut "I Just Don’t Know" doesn’t tell you something significant about the shit that passes for high-rotation-programmed-within-a-centimetre-of-its-sad-existence commercial radio these days, go to the back of the class. You were off playing ABBA records in the home economics kitchen when the teacher broke out the sacrament and gave the rest of the class the lesson in Hendrix 101. Major Fail. To be accurate, Griggs doesn’t slavishly replicate Jimi’s distinctive overdriven tone and wah-wah wonderment across these 10 bluesy tunes, but he’s batting in the same ballpark and hitting home run after home run for the six string team regardless. Except for the "Voodo Chile" rip in "Hold On Me", it’s actually his vocal that sounds most like Hendrix (cock an ear to "No Jane" for a dose of "Electric Loudland") but who’s going to split (Afro) hairs about which guitar lick, lead-run and trill most resembles the output of which ’70s guitar hero when it all sounds this excessively good? It’s like "461 Ocean Boulevard" never existed. This is not the music (term used under advisement) that you’ll hear leaking out of ill-fitting iPod earbuds on the peak-hour train. Take that as a recommendation. Sanity can only stand so much tinny breaks or arrant rap crap on the 7.42am to Dull City. The eight-minute-plus "No Good Woman" even dares to trade in that most outdated of currencies, The Drum Solo. Far from being The Death Of Us All, the indulgence slots right in. It’s a statement of the obvious that Griggs’ quicksilver fretwork and frenetic, stuttering drums are all over "Brain Cycles." Bassist Zach Anderson goes along for the ride and pours hot asphalt into all the right potholes. Two people haven’t made this much noise together since Pamela and Tommy made their home movie. At least you can play this in front of the kids. The thunderous, acid-drenched blare of the title track might be a bigger downer than an early start on a Tuesday morning after a massive long weekend of partying, but it tastes much better than antacid and Red Bull for breakfast. Only "Black Boot" manages to interrupt the barrage of raw and righteous ’70s rawk – and that’s to dip the toe in the water of bluegrass – but the follow-up of "City Lights" gets us back on track. Sure beats "That ’70s Show" for rear vision entertainment. One of the best trips I’ve taken in 1969, sorry, 2009. – The Barman / I-94 Bar