Short on bullshit and long on charm, Portland’s Devil Riding Shotgun are the most straightforward band I’ve heard come out of Oregon in years. As a hotbed for the ambient and post-whathaveyou, the Pacific Northwest has thrived creatively, and this trio — guitars, bass/vocals and drums — are neither hyper-intellectualized nor aspiring to influence via avant garde pretense. Not that the cover of their self-released five-song self-titled EP would lead me to think otherwise, with its devil-horned-girl-on-car motif, I just didn’t think there was much traditional stoner rock being made out that way. I was a fool, apparently.

Devil Riding Shotgun is loaded with bass-heavy grooves, standout solos, blues-tinged vocals and quality flow. Neb Fixico, who originally formed the band in New Mexico before moving to Portland with himself on bass and vocals, is the driving force behind most of the material, his molasses-thick tone providing the heft that propels EP-closer “Fetish” from the “it’s alright” to the “fuck yeah” echelon of cool. There’s a crisp metallicism in the guitar work of Brian Hunter, and though he’s outmatched tonally by Fixico, the soul and fleetness of finger he shows soloing on second track “My Breath” — the longest cut on Devil Riding Shotgun at 5:54 — argues heavily in his favor. While we’re arguing, I’d push for more of Brad Lewellyn’s bass drum on that song and elsewhere. Though his cymbals are present enough and cut through, the kick is a barely-audible pulse throughout “Who Am I.” It’s an interesting choice on the part of the band, and it definitely adds to the laid back feel of Devil Riding Shotgun, but a little more oomph in there wouldn’t hurt either.

Still, I’d hardly say Devil Riding Shotgun are held back by it in terms of either the overall affect of these five tracks or the natural sound of the recording. Fixico’s vocals demand much of the attention when they’re present, and the interplay between he and Hunter on a song like “Here We Go,” the central riff of which, when placed in a different context, one might be able to call NWOBHM-inspired. The song structure on that track and throughout Devil Riding Shotgun is relatively simple, and from the start of opener “Lost,” which introduces the band with Fixico’s rumble first, the atmosphere is weighted but not showy about it. That is to say, I don’t think Fixico, Hunter and Lewellyn are trying to convey anything other than the music itself as the point for their having made it. It’s about the grooves, man. God damn.

And they are some sick grooves. In just 25 minutes, Devil Riding Shotgun establish themselves as a trio of players with marked chemistry between them able to pull off a driven stoner aesthetic without being either a desert cliché (album art aside) or an experimental mess. The lack of pretentiousness on the EP is one of its greatest strengths, and coupled with Fixico’s bass and vocals, Hunter’s leads and Lewellyn’s liberal crash, their attack is well conveyed. Fans of the style who want something familiar but not redundant would do themselves a favor in checking out these tracks, as not only do they rock in a style becoming increasingly rare in the shift of trend, but they bode incredibly well for the inevitable growth in songwriting to come. This is a welcome start.

Devil Riding Shotgun on MySpace

Devil Riding Shotgun on CDBaby

Tags: Devil Riding Shotgun, Oregon, Portland, Unsigned bands

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010 at 10:44 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.