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.

Read more »

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.

From the state that brought forth the slogan “Live Free or Die,” a mountain shaped like an old man’s face, Laconia Bike Week and Scissorfight come the burly grooves of Skrogg. They have some post-Clutch riff-led beard-fodder – think Omegalord, Sugar Daddie, Borracho – in common with the Granite State Destroyers, or maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Either way, the rock on Skrogg’s five-song Raw Heat EP (Drug Rug Records) is mean but fun and thoroughly boozed. At 29 minutes, it gives a firm showing of what will probably later seem like Skrogg’s rudimentary beginnings, but shows them as having the basics down when it comes to thick and heavy rock. The “These go to 11” This is Spinal Tap sample that precedes opening cut “Cajun Lady” acts as an immediate indicator that their hearts are in the right place, and the wah guitar of “Reverend” Jeff Maxfield (Tractorass) that kicks on to introduce the bouncing riff is steady confirmation. Mostly the material covers familiar ground thematically, with witches, space, motorcycles, etc., but Maxfield, who also handles vocals, seems well aware of the fact that these ideas have been presented before. For Skrogg on their first outing, it seems to be more about the riff and the nod than any kind of grandstanding.

And that suits Skrogg well on these five tracks, which are unpretentious enough to last longer than the half-hour listening to them requires. The “Cajun Lady” and “Anita Ride” follow similar structures and make the most of a catchy chorus, with bassist Jason “Jasper” Lawrence and drummer Felix Whitty filling out and nailing home the groove. “Anita Ride” cuts out after the solo section at about halfway through its 5:37 and moves back into its verse in a way that leaves the impression that Skrogg just weren’t sure how to make the transition, but the song’s strengths remain nonetheless, and Lawrence’s bass tone is definitely among them, adding wah funk to the central riff and veering into fills here and there while Whitty crashes behind. Maxfield’s vocals – he’s got a touch of the “stoner rock voice” going – are mixed high, and that holds true on Raw Heat’s bluesy title and centerpiece track, which takes a 12-bar structure and gives it a ride in Fu Manchu’s boogie van. At over seven minutes, it breaks following the third verse/chorus tradeoff into a long instrumental riff jam that culminates with a surprising smoothness (they could just as easily have let it fall apart and no one would think twice) that’s worthy of any next-gen stoner rock comparison you want to make of it. Maxfield takes a pronounced solo that cuts through the rough production surrounding, and comes back in time to meet Lawrence and Whitty for a single riff cycle that speaks to the precision and thought put into the arrangement of “Raw Heat,” no matter how jammed and loose it might otherwise feel.

Read more »