| ..........I know what you're thinking out there. |
| |
| ..........You who, when faced with an ever-narrowing
range of music choices from disposable dance-pop, derivative hip-hop,
and rock bands whose
influences apparently run the gamut from Pearl Jam's "Ten" to
Alice In Chains' "Dirt", asks yourself, "Doesn't anybody
write songs anymore? Songs that sound just as good when you strum
them on a porch as when you hear them blasting from a car radio or
out of a PA system set to eleven?" |
| |
| ..........The
answer to your hypothetical question is, "Yes." There
are a few out there doing it right and struggling to be heard. One
of those bands is Shrug, whose bio you're holding in your hot little
hands. |
| |
| ..........Born in Dayton, Ohio, Shrug pulls off a combination of absorbing
the good stuff from all different styles coupled with a go-your-own-way-ness
that is unique to the midwest, where things tend to move slow and
safe and where you need to be an alpha cat to keep from getting sucked
into the routine. (Or you need to be deranged. Trust me - There is
no eccentric like midwest-eccentric.) But I digress. Let's get to
the heart of the matter, like I mentioned earlier: the songs. |
| |
| ..........Imagine the structure and attention to craft of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers
combined with the edge of Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers. Imagine
Counting Crows' party being crashed by Nirvana. Or Ziggy Stardust-era
Bowie refereeing a battle between Elvis Costello, The Who, REM, Steve
Earle, Jeff Buckley and the Jayhawks. That should give you an idea
of what Shrug is about. The signer/guitarist grew up on classic rock
radio. The drummer grew up on 80s pop. The bassist's a jazzer, and
the second guitarist's into psychedelia and other English weirdness.
Put these ingredients in the stew, and out comes Shrug, with both
a reverence for the past and a desire to take it somewhere new. |
| |
| ..........In a region where other outfits have withered and died, Shrug has
survived, playing energetic, heartfelt, literate rock 'n' roll to
a devoted following that knows a good thing when they hear it. Give
'em a try. I think you'll be glad you did. |
| |
| ..........The song lives! |
| |
| ....................- Fred Shank |
|
