Featuring the vocal stylings of The Glasspack‘s “Dirty Dave” Johnson repurposed onto a brash, aggressive punk sound, Louisville, Kentucky’s The Decline Effect will reportedly have a debut full-length ready for release by the summer. Tentatively-titled The Land of -Isms, the record has been put to tape — yes, actually tape — by Kent O’Bryan and will be mastered by none other than Jack Endino. The Decline Effect is Johnson on vocals alongside guitarist Mark Abromavage (ex-Kinghorse), bassist Chris Abromavage and drummer Jae Brown.

More to come as they get closer to the release, but if you’ve got a minute — won’t take much more than that, they work quickly — the band put up a rough-mix trailer for the album a while back featuring the songs “Swine,” “Divide and Conquer” and “Superstructure,” which you can find below:

I think what I like best about this The Glasspack jam from their 2011 split 7″ with Trophy Wives is that it’s not what my mind immediately goes to when I think of the band; that being simple, dirty-as-hell rock and roll. This one’s a little more jammed out; a little less verse/chorus/verse/chorus and a little more “let’s ride this riff into space-rock oblivion.” Which I dig. Hope you do too.

Today, I was all set to post my interview with Dwellers guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano, also formerly of Iota, but after the vehement responses the Bill Ward thing got (which were awesome, thank you all for commenting), I thought maybe it was better to let that breathe for a little bit. At least until Monday. Waiting on images is also part of that, but either way, it should be worked out by the time the weekend is done.

Also in that category: There will be a new podcast up this weekend.

It’s The Patient Mrs.‘ birthday, but barring destructive earthquake, asteroid, tsunami or other catastrophe, that won’t stop me from having a new podcast posted, however much I may (and do) love and appreciate my wife. Next week, I’ll also have reviews of Pallbearer, Wino & Conny Ochs, Fire Faithful and the new issue of the Vincebus Eruptum zine, among others. Hopefully some audio too. I’m waiting on a couple emails back in that regard, so I don’t want to promise something and not be able to deliver (cough, cough), but the podcast should be enough noise in any case.

This was a crazy week. I was behind the whole time. When it came down to this afternoon, I pretty much decided to say “screw it” and go home, and it was the right choice. Next week I’ll debut Roadsaw bassist Tim Catz‘s new column, “70 RPMs,” so look forward to that, and if you’re paying attention to the forum, I’ll also be continuing on my own personal Star Trek. A cult interest I know, but at least fascinating to me. Hopefully to you too. Ha.

Alright, enough of this nonsense. We’ll pick back up tomorrow or Sunday when the new podcast is up. Until then, thanks for reading. I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here asap.

Nobody does dirt rock quite like The Glasspack. For over a decade, the Louisville, Kentucky, outfit — under the leadership of appropriately-monikered guitarist/vocalist “Dirty” Dave Johnson – have been inflicting eardrums with their pounding blues rock, and on their latest release, they pair up with fellow sluggers Trophy Wives for a split 7” on Noise Pollution Records that turns out to be a whole lot more than just that. Well, not in terms of the vinyl or anything, but if you buy the record, you get the download code for a boatload of bonus cuts that brings the release to over an hour in length, with 15 tracks instead of two. Basically, you can have two completely different listening experiences for the split, whether you just want to check in on new studio material from both bands, or explore deeper into live songs from The Glasspack and older recordings from Trophy Wives. Both certainly have their appeal, and though the bands sound different, their common locale and bullshit-free sensibility binds them, and the 7” winds up making an odd kind of sense.

Perhaps that best suits The Glasspack, who present no fewer than three different lineups on their nine contributions, leading off with the instrumental 7” track “If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…” and showing their penchant both for giving Johnson space to rip solos and drummer Brett Holsclaw’s rhythmic drive. Taken on its own, the song stands up to anything The Glasspack has released on their several killer albums, Bridgeburner or American Exhaust coming to mind, and for fans of no-frills motor rock, I don’t see how “If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…” could miss. They follow it in the download material with a cover of Bobby Rush’s “Mary Jane,” then move onto their live set from the 2008 Roadburn festival in The Netherlands, which easily could have been released on its own (as so many others have done). It’s hard to decide whether the weedy groove of “Mary Jane” tops the later extended, drawling live jams contained in “Jim Beam” or the shuffle boogie of “Louisiana Strawberry,” but I like not knowing for sure, and looking at it for the bonus material it is, I’m less inclined to expect an album flow as the Roadburn set gives way in turn to the more crudely recorded “Lot Lizard” from a 2009 Noise Pollution release party. Johnson’s vocals, throaty, Delta blues-styled, are suited to the rough treatment their given on the tape, and “Lot Lizard” proves to be just the last of several formidable grooves The Glasspack bring to the table on their 43 minutes of the split.

Read more »

…And true to form, they do so after 11 and a half years. The Glasspack, from Louisville, KY, have always been a band to revel in their ultra-dirty rock sound, so it’s only fitting with the theme of “wow, what a mess,” that they’d have a 10th anniversary show a year and a half late. Killer. You know that show’s gonna be a good time.

Vocalist/guitarist Dirty Dave gave this update to StonerRock.com:

We are having a party to celebrate 10 years of existence, though it has actually been 11.5. Everyone is invited and The Glasspack set will be nearly two hours long, guests will include Adam Neal (The Hookers, Brothers of Conquest), Peter Searcy (Solo, Squirrel Bait), and Mark Abromavage (Kinghorse, ARCH). Hope to see you there and buy our new orange 7” vinyl record split-side with the Trophy Wives that will be released at the show. It will come with a FREE download card with nearly 15 FREE tracks from The Glasspack and TrophyWives. It will also be available worldwide at LouisvilleNoise.com for $5 plus shipping. Thanks to everyone who has supported The Glasspack, we love you all.
Sincerely,
Dirty & The Glasspack

PS- We have new material we are working out for a new album.

…Because when you’re in the mood for some lowdown, dirty-ass rock and roll, the Louisville, Kentucky, band are second to none. Also hard to believe their most recent album, Dirty Women, came out three years ago this year. Here’s hoping we get a new one soon and Dirty Dave comes back to show everyone the true meaning of “whiskey-soaked.” For now, they’ve got a remastered version of their American Exhaust debut full-length for sale on the iTunes, and this nifty clip of “Mrs. Satan” from 2002′s Powderkeg: