I don’t know what day it is so don’t ask me, but on Jan. 22, Wisconsin burl-rocking duo 20 Watt Tombstone — not to be confused with 40 Watt Sun, Sixty Watt Shaman and/or whoever might dare to shine so brightly as 80 or 100 watts — will release their new two-songer covers EP, Year of the Jackalope. Is a jackalope a totally ridiculous made-up hybrid rabbit/antelope creature the mere mention of which might cause one to roll eyes or think of Bob Saget on old episodes of America’s Funniest Home Videos in the early ’90s? Yes. But one might easily say the same of the beast that was 2020, when these tracks were recorded, so fair’s fair. “Such is life,” as someone once told me.

Now then. The two-piece’s two-songer finds guitarist/vocalist Tom Jordan and drummer Mitch Ostrowski aligning themselves swiftly with that which is whiskey-soaked and riff-driven, a Southern heavy touch typifying the seven-minute stretch of the outing’s two covers, one of ZZ Top‘s “Just Got Paid” and one of country artist Chris Stapleton‘s “Midnight Train to Memphis.” Not quite new ground for the pair, who offered heavy blues stylings on their 2016 split with Left Lane Cruiser and debuted in 2014 with Wisco Disco, which boasted no shortage of slide-fueled weighted twang in “Pa Shot Ma” and the toying-with-country-convention “Shitty Girlfriend.” But while they’re in familiar-enough-for-them stylistic territory, they nonetheless accomplish the task before them with a satisfying heft and a rawer vibe that makes “Just Got Paid” and “Midnight Train to Memphis” sound all the more like songs 20 Watt Tombstone enjoy jamming on together and decided to put to tape and roll out to let people already following them know they still exist in a world without shows and maybe win a few new ears in the process. Pretense need not apply.

Such intention brooks little argument and neither does Ostrowski and Jordan‘s delivery of the songs, which despite their Upper Midwest origins in Wausau, sells the roll well in the song by Stapleton, who apparently one time dared to say that Black lives matter — a seemingly bold move for a country artist. Admittedly, I don’t know how ZZ Top feel on the subject. I’d almost be afraid to ask. So it goes.

Whatever 20 Watt Tombstone‘s plans were for last year and whatever they might be going into this year, let’s assume they’ve been fairly well jackaloped, but the EP is seven minutes of listening to a band play songs they dig and whatever the circumstances that made it happen, that’s never something to complain about. You can hear “Midnight Train to Mmphis” from Year of the Jackalope below, followed by copious PR wire info on the band.

Please enjoy:

On the A-side of this record comes a feel-good rocker – the working man’s rock of ZZ Top with their underrated “Just Got Paid”. The effortless slide guitar licks carry the perfect level of twang – while everything has undoubtedly been recorded live as 20 Watt Tombstone’s previous releases, they’ve cleaned up their act and it all sounds much crisper. Mitch Ostrowski’s drumming is no slack either, as he bangs down hard on his kit in perfect synchronicity.

The flipside of the record, however, takes a darker turn; here has a thundering version of “Midnight Train to Memphis” by Chris Stapleton. The name may not mean much outside of Southern rock and Americana circles, but his influence as a songwriter reaches widely into pop, country, and rock n’ roll. As such it’s only fitting to pay tribute to a man who has done so much for music. And tribute is paid – there is a wonderful gritty tone from the voice of the tower that is Tom Jordan, as he stretches out the chorus lines detailing a prisoner’s life.

And that’s all, folks. A small teaser of 20 Watt Tombstone’s heaviness, more focused on the blues side than the death side this time. If it is indeed the Year of the Jackalope and its scary face, then it is with a mixture of trepidation and excitement that we await for further material to emerge. Long live Wisco Disco!

20 Watt Tombstone on Thee Facebooks

20 Watt Tombstone on Instagram

20 Watt Tombstone on Bandcamp

20 Watt Tombstone website

This past December, a mere two days after Xmas, I did an On the Radar post on Wisconsin trio Romero, who feature in their ranks former Naked Aggression drummer Jeffrey Mundt. Here we are not even three months later and Mundt checks in to report the band has a new single out and are taking to the road to support it. Good news, as far as I’m concerned, at least for the towns they’re hitting. If you’re in one of them, take note of the Orange-amplified goodness:

Romero’s “Solitaire” single released online by J. Randall from Agoraphobic Nosebleed‘s new label Grindcore Karaoke (website here)! Available for free download in multiple formats.

Romero on tour:
03/11 Winona, MN Canswer Haus
03/12 Fargo, ND Red Raven Espresso Bar
03/13 Rapid City, SD Skullets
03/14 Great Falls, MT 406 Club
03/16 Seattle, WA The Funhouse
03/17 Portland, OR Plan B
03/18 Portland, OR The Know
03/19 Boise, ID The Shredder
03/20 Salt Lake City, UT Bar Deluxe
03/21 Denver, CO Rockaway Tavern
03/23 Kansas City, MO Harling’s Upstairs Bar & Grill
03/25 Milwaukee, WI Ground Zero
03/26 Green Bay, WI The Crunchy Frog

Loud, riffy and full of the à la mode style of heavy found in bands like Torche, the Wausau, Wisconsin, trio Romero debut with a raucous self-released 7″ called Solitaire. Those who pay attention to such things will note guitarist/vocalist Jeffrey “Madman” Mundt (I don’t know if anyone actually calls him that, but as a fan of Barton Fink, one can hope) is a former drummer of Naked Aggression, but more pivotal to Romero‘s sound than anyone’s past is the grooving riffage, the heavy crashes of drummer/vocalist Ben Brooks and the rumble of Josh Stanchik, which turns an already engaging finale of the first and title-track into a moment of genuine asskickery. Romero will probably be familiar to those acquainted with modern stoner metal, but in both “Solitaire” and “El Sentido Morboso,” they prove they’re definitely worth a look at either their Facebook or Bandcamp pages.

Their intent and their experience is clear. Romero doesn’t come off like a “new” band, and I don’t mean that to say their sound is stale, just that they execute these tracks professionally and with a confidence that comes from years of playing. Mundt sticks to a semi-melodic shout vocally, and his riffs are obviously leading the charge, but he has a few flourishes in his playing on “El Sentido Morboso” that work well with the the intricate style of Stanchik, whose low end is a major source of Solitaire‘s appeal. They run the social networking gamut, with the aforementioned sites as well as a MySpace page, YouTube channel and Twitter feed, so the expectation is that one way or another, we’ll be hearing from them again soon. For now, the vinyl is available at any of the links above, and for those who’d stream it first, the Bandcamp player below allows for just that. There’s even a bonus track to go along with the full 7″.