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Skrogg, Blooze: Bottling Mountain Rain

Posted in Reviews on October 29th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

What better to call the boozy blues? New Hampshire trio Skrogg make their full-length debut with the well-portmanteaued Blooze on Drug Rug Records, and follow up their engaging 2011 Raw Heat demo EP (review here) with like-minded backwoodsery and classically heavy rock push. Guitarist/vocalist Jeff Maxfield, bassist Jason Lawrence and drummer Felix Starr have taken on a bluesier sound than they had last time out — something their obviously aware of, given the title and shading of the artwork — and that sits well alongside the other elements in their approach, which is like heavy Southern rock gone North, and shows itself immediately on the bare intro of “Someone up there Must Like Me/Kentucky Bourbon (in 80 Grit),” with its off-mic vocal and foot-stomp percussion. Naturally, thicker tones kick in and Blooze shows more of its true course in the Sabbath-via-Goatsnake push of “Kentucky Bourbon (in 80 Grit),” but the context of that intro remains and continues to pepper the atmosphere throughout the rest of the album, whether it’s the bluegrass bounce of “Cool, Clean Mountain Rain” — which goes so far as to include a fiddle — or the twangy acoustics of the penultimate “A City Girl ain’t No Woman.” These latter two are instrumentals that act as complements to longer cuts like “Gran Torino” (12:05) and closer “One to Nothin'” (5:06), but even within the depths of those songs or the suitably inebriated second cut, “Born to Blooze” (8:27), that vibe isn’t lost, and Skrogg find their niche within that blend of thick grooves and countrified fuckall.

Maxfield‘s vocals are high in the mix and mostly dry — somewhat ironic, given the title — which holds to the sans-bullshit ethic of Raw Heat, but his and Lawrence‘s tones mesh well together over top of Starr‘s thudding toms, captured by Clay Neely (Black Pyramid) and Anthony Cimino at Mojo Studio in Franconia, about two hours south of the band’s home in Troy, in a sound that’s rough but satisfyingly heavy on low end and still able to convey the catchy push of the upbeat “Kentucky Bourbon (in 80 Grit)” and “Gran Torino.” Those two boast the strongest hooks on the album, but ultimately have different aims. Where the opener stands pretty clearly at the head in order to grab the listener and give a sense of what’s coming by switching off between its two parts, the brief “Someone up there Must Like Me” and the subsequent song itself, “Gran Torino” has more space to stretch out and finds Maxfield, Lawrence and Starr engaging a classic, Deep Purple, Made in Japan-style stoner jam, smooth and quiet but for sampled motorcycle revving until the nodding groove of the verse riff kicks in. That they’d couple that jam and one of Blooze‘s most effective choruses together speaks well of their songwriting and dedication to a natural feel, but ultimately it’s the semi-title-track “Born to Blooze” that provides the biggest surprise of the album, moving deftly from thick fuzz to a more open jangle. Lawrence‘s bass fills out the bottom — and of course Starr‘s drums lack nothing for push — but the guitars play it subtler, and Maxfield‘s woman-left-me lyrics get a richer feel for what proves to be something of a departure in terms of the record overall.

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Skrogg Get Bloozey with New Single “Kentucky Bourbon in 80 Grit”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on August 27th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Here’s one for your “Coming Soon” file. By the time it comes out on Sept. 20, Skrogg‘s full-length debut, Blooze, will follow almost two years to the day behind the band’s 2011 demo EP, Raw Heat. The demo (review here) was an awesome opening statement from the Troy, New Hampshire, beer rockers, and from its Roberta Pedon artwork to the beardo swagger of “Cajun Lady” and Sabbathian dirt of “Evil Eye,” it stood Skrogg out immediately from a pack of similarly minded bringers of burl. The trio of guitarist/vocalist Jeff “Reverend Goathead” Maxfield, bassist Jason “Jasper Gloom” Lawrence and drummer Felix “Killabrew” Starr seem to have kept the vibe heading into their first album.

So it would seem from the sound of “Kentucky Bourbon in 80 Grit,” anyway. Skrogg — who also killed at SHoD last year in Connecticut — posted the audio from the track on YouTube today and though in terms of production, it smooths out some of the rougher aspects of the demo, as you’d have to expect, you’ll find it’s got no lack of rolling groove and put-it-on-a-forklift tonal weight. It’s more than enough to make one look forward to the record’s release Sept. 20, which was likely the idea in putting it out ahead of time in the first place.

Enjoy:

Skrogg, “Kentucky Bourbon in 80 Grit” from Blooze

You can still check out Skrogg‘s Raw Heat EP at their Bandcamp page.

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