Posted in Whathaveyou on December 12th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Back out they go. In October, funkified classic heavy rockers El Perro — founded and led by guitarist/vocalist Parker Griggs of Radio Moscow, with a lineup that now features Dorian Sorriaux (Blues Pills) also on guitar and Mucho Drums (Great Electric Quest) on, you guessed it, drums, percussionist Jeremy Davy and bassist Joaquin Escudero, formerly of Prisma Circus — completed a tour of the Midwest that I’m pretty sure was the last region of the States they had to check off their list after East and West Coast tours supporting their 2022 debut album, Hair Of… (review here), and I guess with that done, they’re free to head back to Europe after stints there the last two summers.
I’m a little curious to see when El Perro, whose lineup around Griggs has completely changed since the record, will get back to the studio. They’ve toured hard to support the record and spread the name, all that stuff, but especially with the players they have on board now, it might be worth their time and characteristic of their ’70s-rooted ethic on the whole, to get the lightning of their current stage show in the bottle of a studio recording, but that’s probably just me being greedy. Seems silly to say for an act who have one LP, but I’d take a live album from this band anytime they wanted to throw one out there, thanks. The Freak Valley set (review here) was certainly worth preserving, and it was recorded by Rockpalast, so it’s not like it’s some half-assed recording job, though I’ll admit I’d be up for hearing some unmixed, off-the-board, classic-bootleg-style stuff from El Perro as well. That wouldn’t work for every band, and I don’t think they’d actually do it, but it would be fun from them.
More, I guess, is what I’m looking for from El Perro. And here they are, with more. The announcement of the tour (which still has a couple TBAs; fests?) came through socials:
Europe! Super psyched to announce we will be returning early 2024! Marking tons of new territory this run, can’t wait to see y’all out there soon! Thanks to @soundofliberation for making it happen and @_anna_dina_ for the tour poster 🙌🏾
Dates!!!
2/16 Fulda, DE @kreuz 2/17 Jena, DE @kuba_jena 2/18 Utrecht, NL @dbs_utrecht 2/19 TBA 2/20 TBA 2/21 Bielefeld, DE @forum_bielefeld 2/22 Sittard, NL @poppodium_volt 2/23 Munster, DE Rare Guitar 2/24 Hannover, DE Faust 2/25 Berlin, DE @urban_spree 2/26 TBA 2/27 Koln, DE @clubvolta_cologne 2/28 Stuttgart, DE @goldmarks_stuttgart 2/29 Innsbruck, AT @pmk_ibk 3/1 Munchen, DE @feierwerk_ 3/2 Bolzano, IT Pippo Stage 3/3 Bologna, IT @freakout_club 3/4 Zero Branco, IT @altroquandotreviso 3/5 Ilirska Bistrica, SI @mknz_ilirskabistrica 3/6 Belgrade, RS @anti_shop_elektropionir 3/7 Zagreb, HR @hardplace 3/8 TBA 3/9 Montreux, CH @nedmusicclub 3/10 Colmar, FR @legrillen
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 18th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Parker Griggs-fronted heavy rockers El Perro will tour next month — who won’t, amirite? — in the Midwest. All well and good, except as I recall from seeing them this past summer, a decent portion of what at least was then the current incarnation of the band was based in Europe, including guitarist Dorian Sorriaux of Blues Pills and Joaquin Escudero of Prisma Circus. Mucho Drums from Great Electric Quest was holding down that position, and so far as I know he’s US-based — his band is, anyhow — so he might still be on board and it wouldn’t be the craziest shit in the world if the Euro El Perro contingent flew over, but, well, it was a new lineup when the band went to abroad, so I guess maybe I’m a little bit expecting a domestic incarnation.
Will there be one? I have no god damned clue. Nobody tells me anything. But if there is, whoever is on board, it’s Griggs‘ band. And as El Perro seem to take priority over from his other outfit, the heavy blues mavens Radio Moscow, it seems likely that trend will continue. Not complaining. El Perro‘s debut album, Hair Of… (review here), was a funkified burner of the highest order. One of last year’s best debuts. And even though that version of the band didn’t last, Griggs is a reliable enough songwriter and player that I only look forward to what a follow-up might bring.
Dates were posted on socials thusly:
NEWS! OCTOBER USA TOUR DATES announced!!!
Stoked to be making our way east and hitting some rad new spots! Dates below! See y’all on the road! (#128021#)(#128062#)(#128588#)(#127998#)(#129304#)(#127998#)
Huge shout to @callahalia for the poster! Poster photo @jeremyjensen76! Thank y’all (#128588#)(#127998#)
10/6 Iowa Falls, IA @timbukbruiowafalls 10/7 Chicago, IL @reggieslive 10/8 Louisville, KY @portal_louisville 10/11 Columbus, OH @rumbacafeoh 10/12 Pittsburg, PA @brilloboxpgh 10/14 Greenville, SC Fall For Greenville Festival 10/17 Memphis, TN @hitonememphis 10/18 St. Louis, MO @sinkholestl 10/19 Burlington, IA @thewashingtonburlington 10/20 Davenport, IA @bootleghillhoneymeads 10/21 Oskaloosa, IA @rockislandtap
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 27th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Check out El Perro kind of becoming the ‘Parker Griggs All-Stars,’ and nothing against it. As a fan of headspinning guitar work generally, one can’t help but look at the prospect of Blues Pills‘ Dorian Sorriaux shredding alongside Griggs is plenty enticing, and that’s before you get to Mucho Drums from Great Electric Quest/Sabbath Buddy Sabbath in a rhythm section with Joaquin Escudero of Barcelona’s Prisma Circus while Jeremy Davy — whose pedigree I’ll admit I don’t know — holds down percussion.
If it wasn’t clear before — and it was — the reconstruction of El Perro, whose debut album, Hair Of… (review here), came out just last year, makes it plain that the band is Griggs‘ own. Fair enough. He’s been at this particular dance before, certainly with Radio Moscow if not with El Perro until now, and the volatility is part of the personality of the music. It almost has to be this way or it wouldn’t be what it is.
There are a bunch of fests on the European docket, but I’ll say specifically that I’m looking forward to seeing the band finally at Freak Valley in Germany. That date and all the others follow here, as posted on social media after being put in doubt by the dissolution of the prior lineup:
NEWS!!! Full European tour dates + poster! Plus new EU Lineup!
Europe is just a month away! Happy to announce the full dates and to debut the awesome poster designed by artist Paula Mosica. Thank you Paula! @paulamosica
I’m also very excited to announce the new team of musicians joining me for this tour : Dorian Sorriaux – Guitar (ex Blues Pills), Joaquin Escudero – Bass (ex Prisma circus), Jeremy Davy – Percussion, and Mucho Drums on Drums. They are some of the best jammers from all around the globe :) I have a lot of respect for these musicians and for their talent and I’m honored to have them be part of the El Perro journey! We are going to cook up some great jams!
I’d like to thank the former members for their time with El Perro. I wish them the best in their future endeavors, musically and otherwise.
Excited about this new tour and team of players and I can’t wait to see you all overseas very soon! Dates (#128071#)(#127998#)
Parker / El Perro
25/05 IT TREVISO – ALTROQUANDO 26/05 CH MARTIGNY – LE CAVES DU MANOIR 27/05 CH WINTERTHUR – GASWERK 29/05 HR ZAGREB – ZAGREB 30/05 RS NIS – AKC FUZZ 31/05 RS BELGRADE – KC GRAD 01/06 HR VIROVITICA – HORN PUB 02/06 AT EBENSEE – KINO 03/06 SI Å KOFJA LOKA – PRI RDEÄŒI OSTRIGI 05/06 CZ PRAGUE – CROSS CLUB 06/06 CZ LOUNY – HOTEL CARAMELL 07/06 CZ BILINA – KAFÃÄŒ 08/06 DE SIEGEN – FREAK VALLEY 09/06 FR PARIS – SUPERSONIC 10/06 FR BELLOCQ – CHÂTEAU DE BELLOCQ 11/06 ES VALLADOLID – SALA PORTA CAELI 13/06 ES BARCELONA – RAZZ 3 14/06 ES MADRID – WURLITZER BALLROOM 15/06 ES ZARAGOZA – ROCK & BLUES CAFE 16/06 FR BORDEAUX – DEUS EX MACHINA 17/06 FR SEIGNOSSE – THE BLACK FLAG 18/06 FR CHAMBERY – BRIN DE ZINC 20/06 FR NANTES – CRUMBLE FIGHT 22/06 NL SITTARD – POP PODIUM VOLT 23/06 DE SAARBRUCKEN – HORST 24/06 FR MANIGOD – NAMASS PAMOUSS FESTIVAL 25/06 IT PISA – PONTILE 102 29/06 IT CAGLIARI – CORTO MALTESE 01/07 IT CATANIA – ROCK REVOLUTION
(#127470#)(#127481#) (#127464#)(#127469#) (#127469#)(#127479#) (#127479#)(#127480#) (#127462#)(#127481#) (#127480#)(#127470#) (#127464#)(#127487#) (#127465#)(#127466#) (#127467#)(#127479#) (#127466#)(#127480#) (#127475#)(#127473#)
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 8th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Already a return trip to Europe for El Perro. The funk infused heavy rock troupe led by Parker Griggs of Radio Moscow are headed abroad for the second time, having gone last summer on the heels of their then-newly-released debut album, Hair Of… (review here). This is Spring into Summer, a pretty solid run. They got Heavy Psych Sounds Fest and Freak Valley, and it’s worth noting that this tour comes after they hit the East Coast (info here), so they’re about to make it a busy first half of the year, which it would seem to be how they like it. Par for the course, and so on.
Something tells me this band is an absolute blast on stage. I’ve yet to have the pleasure, but I’ll catch them in Freak Valley, and even just listening to the record again to write this, that’s a fun one. Anyway, here are the dates:
*** EL PERRO – European Tour***
– featuring PARGER GRIGGS of RADIO MOSCOW –
EL PERRO will smash Europe in May and June.
You just can’t miss them !!!
*** EL PERRO – EUROPEAN TOUR 2023 ***
TH 25/05/2023 IT TREVISO – ALTROQUANDO FR 26/05/2023 CH HPS FEST SA 27/05/2023 CH HPS FEST SU 28/05/2023 OPEN SLOT MO 29/05/2023 HR ZAGREB – ZAGREB TU 30/05/2023 RS NIS – AKC FUZZ WE 31/05/2023 RS BELGRADE – KC GRAD TH 01/06/2023 HR VIROVITICA – HORN PUB FR 02/06/2023 AT EBENSEE – KINO SA 03/06/2023 SI ŠKOFJA LOKA – PRI RDEČI OSTRIGI SU 04/06/2023 OPEN SLOT MO 05/06/2023 CZ PRAGUE – CROSS CLUB TU 06/06/2023 CZ LOUNY – HOTEL CARAMELL WE 07/06/2023 CZ BILINA – KAFÁČ TH 08/06/2023 DE SIEGEN – FREAK VALLEY FR 09/06/2023 FR PARIS – SUPERSONIC SA 10/06/2023 FR BELLOCQ – CHÂTEAU DE BELLOCQ SU 11/06/2023 ES VALLADOLID – SALA PORTA CAELI MO 12/06/2023 OPEN SLOT TU 13/06/2023 OPEN SLOT WE 14/06/2023 ES OPEN SLOT TH 15/06/2023 ES ZARAGOZA – ROCK & BLUES CAFE FR 16/06/2023 FR OPEN SLOT SA 17/06/2023 FR OPEN SLOT SU 18/06/2023 FR CHAMBERY – BRIN DE ZINC TU 20/06/2023 FR NANTES – CRUMBLE FIGHT WE 21/06/2023 FR OPEN SLOT TH 22/06/2023 OPEN SLOT FR 23/06/2023 DE SAARBRUCKEN – HORST SA 24/06/2023 FR MANIGOD – NAMASS PAMOUSS FESTIVAL SU 25/06/2023 IT PISA – PONTILE 102 TH 29/06/2023 IT CAGLIARI – POETTO FR 30/06/2023 IT OPEN SLOT
EL PERRO is a brand-new band led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter/producer Parker Griggs (Radio Moscow). The five piece psychedelic/funk/rock project features the talents of Jaron Yancey –second guitar, Shawn Davis –bass guitar, Lonnie Blanton –drums (ex Radio Moscow), and Tawny Harrington –percussion.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 5th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
El Perro will tour the East Coast for the first time in February and March supporting their debut album, Hair Of… (review here), released last year. The band led by Radio Moscow‘s Parker Griggs spent a decent amount of 2022 on the road, covering the West Coast before hitting Europe over the summer for SonicBlast, Down the Hill and others fests and shows, then returning to do a full run through the Midwest. As regards the US, that leaves pretty much the East Coast as the final territory to be hit, so the question becomes where do they go next? Australia/New Zealand? Back to Europe? Canada? Mexico? They have options, sure, but the question too is how long they actually want to spend on the road before starting/finishing their next record.
We’ll see for sure this year how that’s going to play out, and for now here are the (mostly) East Coast dates that start in Iowa on Feb. 17, as posted by the band. And I mean that “as posted.” I was going to go through and change all the Instagram tags to the proper venue names, but first of all, if you’re reading these words you know how to read someone’s social tag, and second, even if you don’t know what that is, you’re intelligent enough to figure it out and look at them on the poster that’s right there and/or find where a show is going to be, say, if you’re thinking about buying a ticket. So I’ll save myself a couple minutes there that I’ve already wasted trying to deal with the awkward phrasing of that last sentence. Alas.
Yes? What’s that you say? Oh the tour dates. Yes:
EL PERRO – East Coast Tour
Feb/March East Coast tour dates now announced! This will be our first time out in these parts! Tickets for sale now (#129304#)(#127998#)
2/17 @bootleghillhoneymeads Davenport, IA 2/18 @reggieslive Chicago, IL 2/19 @westsidebowl Youngstown, OH 2/20 @kungfunecktie_bar Philadelphia, PA 2/21 @saintvitusbar NYC, NY 2/22 @statehousenhv New Haven, CT 2/23 @alchemy_providence Providence, NH 2/24 @cafe611 Frederick, MD 2/25 @banditoslounge.rva Richmond, VA 2/26 The Odd, Asheville, NC 2/28 TBA Birmingham, AL 3/1 @901growlers Memphis, TN 3/2 @santosbarnola New Orleans, LA 3/3 @freetown_boomboomroom Lafayette, LA 3/4 @divisionbrewing Arlington, TX 3/7 @okcbluenote OKC, OK 3/8 @minibarkc Kansas City, KC 3/9 @sinkholestl St. Louis, MO 3/10 @iowacitygabes Iowa City, IA 3/11 @xbklive Des Moines, IA
A few more TBA soon. Huge thanks to our dude @alvaro_8034 for making the poster!
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Cali-based dirt boogie rockers El Perro have been out and about since even before the arrival of their 2022 debut album, Hair Of… (review here), and they’re set to take the show abroad for the first time starting next week, hitting SonicBlast in Portugal to begin a stretch of European tour dates that will carry them through the rest of August and into September as they support the record, win friends, influence people, and all that other self-actualized heavy rock and roll whatnot.
The inevitable sentence this post must contain is about Parker Griggs coming out of Radio Moscow — El Perro drummer Lonnie Blanton also played in that band for a time — but El Perro feels like more than just a step aside from a dude’s main project, and Hair Of… is a rocker’s rocker, so while I’ve seen Griggs play guitar on any number of occasions, I’d still be glad to show up given the opportunity, and if you’re somewhere they’re going to be, whether it’s SonicBlast, Down the Hill in Belgium or any of these other fests, or if you want to be a hero and book one of the open dates (someone call ElbSludge for a Dresden gig!), I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it’s worth your time to be there.
I’ve said my piece. Here’s the tour dates pulled from social media:
EL PERRO – Summer European Tour
AUGUST 2022 EUROPE SUMMER TOUR DATES!!! See ya across thee pond VERY soon!
Aug 10 Ancora, PT @ Sonic Blast (pre-party) Aug 12 Ancora, PT @ Sonic Blast Fest Aug 16 Coana, ES @ The Enjoy House Aug 20 Hugelshofen, CH @ Rock The Frog Fest Aug 21 Bodenmais, DE @ Rote Res Aug 22 OPEN SLOT Aug 23 Nijmegen, NL @ Onderbroek Aug 24 OPEN SLOT Aug 25 Paris, FR @ L’International Aug 26 Auvergne, FR @ Volcano Sessions Fest Aug 27 Aarschot, BE @ Down The Hill Fest Aug 28 Bree, BE @ Ragnarock Aug 29 OPEN SLOT Aug 30 Bilina, CZ @ Kafac Aug 31 Cologne, DE @ Sonic Ballroom Sep 1 OPEN SLOT Sep 2 OPEN SLOT Sep 3 Bad Sulza, DE @ Saalepartie Fest
Thanks to our buddy Andy Clarridge for the tour poster!
The roots of San Diego-based hard funk-informed classic heavy and psychedelic rockers El Perro go back at least to Fall 2019. At that point, Parker Griggs — who discussed starting the band here — had a handful of demos and was looking to play out and experiment beyond the sonic reaches of his main outfit, the power trio Radio Moscow. I won’t speculate as to the ultimate status of that blues-ripper trio (sleeping, maybe?), who released their last album in Sept. 2017 through Century Media and obviously were unable to tour the last couple years as they otherwise might have, but Hair Of… is the debut from El Perro that brings Griggs back to Radio Moscow‘s former label, Alive Records, and finds him fronting the four-piece alongside rhythm guitarist Holland Redd, bassist Shawn Davis and drummer Lonnie Blanton (the latter also a Radio Moscow alum), as well as producing with engineering and mixing by Mike Butler at Singing Serpent in San Diego.
Griggs (who also handles percussion throughout) wrote the music and lyrics and arranged the nine-included tracks — eight on the vinyl, as “O’ Grace” is a CD bonus — as the liner insert on the disc states in no uncertain terms, and from opener “The Mould” onward, Hair Of… bears many of the hallmarks of his craft, be it his bluesy vocal delivery or head-spinning guitar shred. The context in which those happen is somewhat changed, and though one is maybe most reminded of the 2007 self-titled Radio Moscow debut in terms of the overall sound in these tracks, El Perro bring a distinct enough vibe — not to mention different players and a rhythm guitar behind the spinning-in-a-circle-from-channel-to-channel solos of “The Mould,” “Take Me Away,” “Breaking Free,” and so on — to warrant being a new band.
Funk is the key, if El Perro is to be the vehicle through which Griggs explores the ’70s-era work of acts like Funkadelic circa Let’s Take it to the Stage or Cymande or Demon Fuzz, among a slew of others in and out of the psych-soul Norman Whitfield oeuvre, then he’s done well in bringing those sounds into the context of his songwriting. Most of the tracks under four minutes long save for the second, “No Harm” (5:49) and the LP-closing jam-out “Black Days” (12:01) — and yes, panned solos abound in both — and Hair Of… on the whole is a flood of energy in its delivery, with side B pieces like “Crazy Legs” and the subsequent, aptly-named-what-with-all-that-sitar “Sitar Song” seeming to push even the freneticism of the earlier, tambourine-inclusive “K. Mt” to another level of thrust.
Much of the album seems to deal with a kind of restlessness, between “The Mould” (about breaking it), “Take Me Away,” “Breaking Free,” “Crazy Legs” and maybe even “Black Days,” but the overall vibe of El Perro‘s first offering isn’t so much dark as blinding. That’s not to say there aren’t dynamics at work, as “Take Me Away” begins with a wispy, Eddie–Hazel-warming-up jam as it comes together around mid-tempo progression that’s a highlight both in swing, its rare layered vocals, and the mellower shove, not so much daring you to try to keep pace with it as Hair Of… might elsewhere as slowing down just a smidge to let you catch up.
Likewise, as the wah at the outset of “Breaking Free” seems to pull direct from the hard funk playbook (not a complaint), it sets up a groove of percussion-laced psychedelic funk that feels like it’s just waiting for the Echoplex to get back from the repair shop. For those familiar with Griggs‘ work at the head of Radio Moscow, the general vibe of “No Harm” should be recognizable, but it’s impossible to ignore the branching out from that happening as well, even in the guitar, which in the second half of the song takes on a kind of string-effect, bouncing from note to note as a violin might, hand-percussion layered behind it to keep the always-crucial sense of movement going behind the particularly-exploratory-feeling stretch-out. They bring it back around to the full-band jam, solos tripping from one channel to the other before consuming both, and find their way back to the central riff, leaving that mellower start to “Take Me Away” to handle the recovery.
If there was indeed a mould that it was the band’s intention to defy, their blend of funk and heavy rock will no doubt earn them some followers, and it’s easy to think both because of Griggs‘ years of notoriety and classic-heavy guitar heroism in Radio Moscow and because of the combination of breadth and shake-your-ass force that carries into “Crazy Legs” and the aforementioned CD-bonus “O’ Grace,” which is also shorter, thereby making a suitable epilogue to “Black Days,” that El Perro might find their way into an influential position, but at its core, it’s still very much a guitar-based release, however much percussion surrounds.
Boxes are ticked in terms of arrangement. The keys that (unless I’m hearing things) show up on “Crazy Legs” and seem to run alongside the guitar, for example, or the sitar in “Sitar Song” — which is a highlight both for its two minutes of dizzying fretwork and the subsequent 40-seconds-or-so of drift leading into “Black Days,” which, if you’ve been waiting the whole time to find out when El Perro were going to loosen up and really space out, it’s in the 12-minute LP capper, which blasts through the atmosphere with its initial verses before at 4:28 shifting into a percussion-led (for now), rainstick-yes jam that’s ultimately a drum highlight before twisting back into the psychedelic triumph that seems to stand not only for itself but for Hair Of… as a whole. Each song has something to stand it out from the others, which along with the casual inclusion of “O’ Grace” speaks to there being more material than was skillfully carved to present this full-length.
Thinking of Hair Of… as a debut, there are myriad ways the band might grow as they move forward, taking the arrangements here of hand drums, tambourine, various clacking items and so on and pushing them further, or adventuring into other instrumentation, but much of the identity in these songs comes from the guitar work, and considering who’s behind that, there’s no fodder for complaint. Whatever their future might bring, Hair Of… is a burner that stands out for engaging with funk as it does and winding up neither in a mire of cultural appropriation nor a retread of past ideas. It sounds fresh, and so it is. And one imagines that, taken to the stage, these songs are all the more powerful, swinging and swaggering.
Dirty Streets and the parable of the band in-between. In the widely splintered umbrellar existence that is rock and roll, it happens a lot that bands, styles, sounds, get put into groups. One sees this all the time in arguments of genre: “Is this heavy,” “does it doom,” and so on. The truth of the matter is who cares if it’s good, but given the chance to do so, humanity has proved time and again to be ready and willing to separate itself into tribes and microcultures, even when the thing uniting people in doing so is the need to splinter off from the larger subset.
These are generalizations — it’s easy to imagine a sociologist with rolled eyes — but when I think of Memphis three-piece the Dirty Streets, they seem to fit that bill of the outlier act who’ve perhaps suffered by not being so neatly cast as one thing or another. Fronted by guitarist Justin Toland, with Thomas Storz on an ever-righteous bass and Andrew Denham offering a classic swing on drums, they’ve been at it for well over a decade at this point, releasing their first album, Portrait of a Man, in 2009 before following it with 2011’s Movements (review here) and getting signed for 2013’s Blades of Grass (review here) by Alive Naturalsound Records, which has backed their offerings ever since.
Now, that’s not inconsiderable backing to have, but as 2018’s Distractions readily demonstrates, the Dirty Streets are a better band than people know, and they have been all along. What do you do with the fuzzy opener “Loving Man” except groove? What about the heavy blues of the “The Sound” or the later “Take a Walk” — with its subtly trippy vocals and rhythm so set to move you it feels like it inspired the name of the song — or the acoustic-led, semi-twang vibing “On the Way” ahead of the rousing funk-riffed “Trying to Remember?” There’s 10 songs on this record, it’s 34 minutes long, and from the slide guitar in “Dream” to the trucker-blues of “Death’s Creep,” there really isn’t a dud in the bunch.
This is what the Dirty Streets have always done. They’ve put together a killer collection of killer songs. Classic sound that’s not too much tipped toward vintage stylization, organic performances from all three players — and all three players of a caliber that would be a standout in another band; a multifaceted power in the power trio — quality material, quality sound. Distractions works from a high standard, and it’s a standard that the Dirty Streets have seemed to have set for themselves all along. And they’ve still managed to grow as a unit over time, only developing more chemistry and nuance of arrangement while making their songs sound almost humble for how unindulgent they are. Like “oh nothing too fancy just a hook that’s gonna be in your head for the next three weeks.” If this was another group, there’d be keyboards and strings all over “On the Way” and it’d be eight minutes long, or “Can’t Go Back” would have a 10-minute jam in the middle.
And maybe that’d be awesome, but that’s the thing about Dirty Streets — it’s not their bag. For all the accolades one might shower on their performances or production, they’re a songwriting band. “Can’t Go Back” is damn near perfect. So’s “The Sound.” I mean, really, what more would you want rock and roll to be? But that’s part of it too, because while Dirty Streets have been doing this thing and doing it so well for so long now, they’ve never really been willing to either jump up and down for attention in the pandering way of modern social media — “hey everybody what’s your favorite song of ours?” blah blah “you want us to tour?” blah blah — or to pigeonhole themselves into a niche within their niche. On the broadest level, they’re a heavy rock band, but that doesn’t account for the blues, the country, the soul, the classic heavy (well maybe that) or even the sometimes-there edge of psychedelia in their sound.
I don’t know if it’s that Distractions is doing anything so different from, say, 2015’s White Horse (review here), which preceded, but it shows the trio going full-on with who they are. They’ve never sounded more efficient or refined than they do in these tracks, and maybe even the sheer level of class in what they do is part of what’s kept them so consistently underrated. “Riding High” is a party and if you’ve got a fuzz quota, they fill it early with “Loving Man.” Why isn’t this band on tour with Clutch? Why am I not getting vague, largely-info-less press releases about their records six months in advance to start building the hype?
The obvious answer is maybe that’s not what the band wants. Maybe they don’t want to be on the road all the time, or to have all the inflated hoopla surrounding their outings. Maybe their endgame is that the records do the talking for them, and frankly, that’s fair enough, because often in the parable of the band in-between, that’s exactly what happens. The Dirty Streets are underrated now. Maybe in 20 years, divorced from the context of the various genre-tribes as they are now — of course there’ll be different ones then, no worries, and they’ll probably call themselves the same things — someone steps up and reissues their catalog and they’re heralded as lost classics. The kind of records that, in hindsight, leave listeners scratching their heads like, “Why wasn’t this band huge?” like so many Akarma-unearthed ’70s LPs or any number of Euro treasures from the original ’90s stoner rock era waiting to be re-pressed. Email me for a list.
Seriously, I don’t know that that’s ever going to happen or it’s not, but it’s certainly possible. What I’d say instead of waiting around for that is that you take the time today — not even that much time, damnit! 34 minutes! — to put on Distractions and try to listen without them for a while. Put your head in the right space and go where the record takes you. I think you’ll find the Dirty Streets are worth appreciating in the here and now, and that whatever comes however many decades down the line or doesn’t, you’ll not regret having already been on board.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
I could detail you any number of mundane miseries from the week or tell you about feeling disconnected and wrong in my own body, wanting not to eat, eating, not sleeping, but I’m gonna go play with my kid in the snow. Great and safe weekend. Have fun, hydrate, watch your head. All that stuff.
