Atlanta Supergroup Diamond Rugs have released video footage of their epic track “Gimme A Beer” this week. For those of you stoked on this musical project that sees various members of Black Lips, Dead Confederate, Deer Tick, Six Finger Satellite and Los Lobos get together for a country/garage party, check out this footage of their debut show and hope they are making plans to visit the UK.
A full album has been recorded, so look out for release dates soon but for now, pop over to our free download feature to pick up this tune for nish.
2012 is shaping up to be a pretty vintage year for decent albums so let us introduce you to yet another contender that should stoke you out if you like your garage rock and country.
Firstly, it’s best to mention that Diamond Rugs is a project that was conceived back in August last year. John McCauly and Robbie Crowell from Deer Tick, Ian St Pe from Black Lips, Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite, Steve Berlin from Los Lobos and Hardy Morris from Dead Confederate went down to Nashville, Tennessee together to lay down some tracks and miracles happened. Speaking to Morris back then, he mentioned to us on a telegram that: “We were planning on recording 5 songs, and we did 14, so I guess you could say we had fun! It’s got a couple of Ian’s songs, 4 of mine, and the rest are John’s and other folks. Should come out early next year, I’ll keep you in the loop.”
Fast forward to January 18th and Diamond Rugs has surfaced online with a taster of what’s to come in a tune called ‘Gimme a Beer‘. The result, a mighty fine slab of catchy, slide guitar and horn assisted, country-rock’n’roll with a dirty Southern edge that makes you want to shake your shit over and over. I quote the words, “Damn it feels good to be a gangster!”
Check it out for yourself, download this tune for free and look out for an album announcement for the UK pretty soon.
First up tonight are Kettering quintet Blacklight Pioneer, who deal in an angular art-rock sound with a certain melodic sheen. They’ve been compared to 90s alt-rock mavericks Mansun, and whilst the two bands do share some common ground, BP’s more radio-friendly sound calls to mind more current reference points – a good or bad thing, depending on how you see it.
Dead Confederate, on the other hand, prefer to serve up their tunes with lashings of all-out sonic warfare; kicking off their set with a steadily building, hypnotic wall of distortion that would surely get the Kevin Shields seal of approval. Whilst their sound owes plenty to the leading lights of the late 80s/early 90s grunge scene, the addition of John Watkins’ swirling organ provides a great foil to the fuzzed-up guitar action that has proved a trademark of the DC sound.
The band themselves don’t move too much thorughout their live set, with singer/guitarist Hardy Morris pretty much anchored to the microphone for the duration of their set. He’s clearly happy to hide behind the mop of hair that’s plastered to his face, and when the feedback briefly subsides for the surprisingly catchy ‘Run From The Gun’, he cuts a confident yet reticent figure – not unlike that of a certain alt-rock hero from the early 90s.
Still, with an album as good as last year’s ‘Sugar’ under their belts, they’re more than welcome to invoke the old ‘let the music do the talking’ cliché. Their set doesn’t really end in the traditional sense; rather it gradually dissolves amidst torrents of wailing feedback and strobe lights, and frankly, it’s hard to imagine a finer way to be blasted out of a post-work daze. Keep an ear out for these guys.
Two rock contemporaries from Athens, Georgia, Dead Confederate and The Whigs have announced that they will be embarking upon a co-headline tour of the UK in late February.
Read our review of Dead Confederate’s latest album, Sugar, here and be sure to catch both bands at the following dates in February…
22nd – Oxford Jericho
23rd – London Dingwalls
24th – Sheffield The Plug
25th – Birmingham Academy 3
26th – Manchester Night & Day
27th – Nottingham The Bodega
28th – Bristol Thekla