Up to right about now, my official position™ on Austin’s Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol has been ‘they’re probably a live band.’ All the videos of there’s that I’ve seen, all the photos on their socials, and so on, would seem to back this up, but Fall 2022’s Doom Wop (review here) had charm in its songwriting beyond the ‘this would be cool on stage’ impression it made — though it certainly also made one.

The forthcoming Big Dumb Riffs, which is out March 22 through the band’s own Permanent Teeth Records, hones that sense of craft to an even finer point, their low-end-celebrant ethic spreading across 11 heavy-in-momentum-and-tone tracks that are varied, consistent in quality, cheeky in its self-awareness, but with more intelligence behind it than the somewhat-ironic title or the accordingly willfully dopey nü-metal play in “Whip it Around” might imply, though when you’ve got a track like “1800EATSHIT” — so catchy it’s pop, heavy enough to turn off squares, and goofy enough to be the good time that the ultra-Claypool bounce of the subsequent “Papa Pop It” reinforces despite a somewhat grim lyric — the band kind of becomes undeniable.

As the PR wire notes, Primus is a big factor, and hey, I dig that a lot, and from Floor to Hum to Rob Crow‘s Goblin Cock in “Clowntown” and the fuck-yes nod of “Peanut Butter Snack Sticks,” the Austin trio sound like the real deal here, and fair enough for the work they’ve done to this point in their tenure. Some punk, some metal, mosh riffs, headbang riffs, nod riffs, slow riffs, fast riffs, up riffs, down riffs, one riff, two riffs, red riffs, blue riffs, a whole lot of tone and a twist ending; there’s a lot more to dig into than it might at first seem, and as I make my way through again, my second impression of Big Dumb Riffs is bolstered by the songs’ already-familiar feel, so yeah, they’re not making it a challenge to get on board.

Fair enough. First single is “Body Bag,” which should give you an idea, and if they’re new to you, Doom Wop will work to get you further introduced and it’s at the bottom of this post as well. A video or two and plenty more tour dates than even the West Coast run you see below don’t seem like unreasonable expectations to have here, so I’ll hope to have more to come before Big Dumb Riffs is out, but so far, it moves in a way that brings you with it really well. They’ve crisscrossed the US a few times at this point (and also founded their own festival, the Big Dumb Fest). My question is whether this will be the record that takes them to Europe, as that would seem a logical next step.

Until then, the PR wire has this:

“Our catalog has never been short on big dumb riffs, but the idea on this record was to really turn the screw,” says RBBP bassist Aaron Metzdorf. On Big Dumb Riffs, that screw is cranked incredibly tight.

“We just wanted ‘the part’: The opening of Pantera’s ‘Primal Concrete Sledge’, the breakdown in Primus’ ‘Pudding Time’ — the shit that makes you move and lose your mind. Just that part the whole time.”

Across 11 concise, taut songs — most clocking in around 2 minutes or less — Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol demonstrates their skillful ability to blend the merciless low end of Leo Lydon’s 8-string guitar, Aaron Metzdorf’s masterful chordwork on the bass, and Sean St.Germain’s driving drumming.

Hot on the heels of their breakout 5th studio release Doom Wop (2023), Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol returns with Big Dumb Riffs: A whole new variant of the fuzzed out, overdriven, melodic, groovy music they have been making since 2016. While Big Dumb Riffs is decidedly more aggressive and rhythmic, it still retains the overtly melodic feel of Doom Wop. But Leo Lydon’s vocals are considerably more angry and negative (song titles like “1-800-EAT-SHIT” and “Body Bag” should be a clue.)

“The whole writing process was, ‘what if we just played two notes the whole song’,” Metzdorf says. “‘What if we tuned down to almost unusable string tension?’, ‘what if we write a record that will make everyone say ‘wow that is dumb’? Leo and I really move around on stage a lot. Being a dingus is crucial to the groove. All these riffs were designed to allow us to act bigger and dumber on stage.”

Big Dumb Riffs will be available for streaming and download on March 22, 2024. LP to follow in late Spring.

RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL LIVE 2024:
02/03 Austin, TX – Sagebrush
03/09 Houston, TX – Moontower Sudworks
03/22 Austin, TX – St Elmo Brew – album release show
03/23 Dallas, TX – Double Wide
03/27 Phoenix, AZ – Linger Longer
03/28 Los Angeles, CA – Resident
03/29 San Francisco, CA – Kilowatt
03/30 Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial
04/02 Seattle, WA – The Funhouse
04/03 Portland, OR – Mano Oculta
04/05 Salt Lake City, UT – Quarters DLC
04/06 Denver, CO – Hi-Dive

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https://rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.bandcamp.com/
http://www.rickshawbilliesburgerpatrol.com/
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Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Big Dumb Riffs (2024)

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Doom Wop (2022)

Tags: Austin, Big Dumb Riffs, Permanent Teeth Records, Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol, Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol Big Dumb Riffs, Texas

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 9th, 2024 at 8:21 am and is filed under Whathaveyou. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.