scruffy and the janitors
Album review: Scruffy & the Janitors - Anglo
(Photos by Jaime Russell, Anthem Photography)
I am, at my very core, a pessimist. Always have been, most likely will always be; it is a deep-rooted personality flaw that I cannot seem to shake. Now, I’m not one of those “the world is a shithole, what does it all mean?” people—I don’t care about that. We are all going to die; it is a fact, so let’s have a good time, I say.
No, my pessimism comes from my love of music and the decline in quality of what is being released into the world the last few years. This “music,” its lack of drive, power and imagination only feeds my negativity. However, I have noticed a shift of late, a move that brightens me. I smell a return of rock n roll and St. Joseph’s Scruffy & the Janitors have fired off the latest shot with Anglo, their sophomore (and most cohesive) effort to date.
It has indeed been a good time for local music. Red Kate, The Bad Ideas, Radkey, The Sluts, Josh Berwanger Band, Black on Black, Muscle Worship, The Big Iron, and many others have released top-notch rock n roll over the last 14 months, and Anglo is no exception. Powered by “Shake It Off” and the most recent single, “Dirtleg,” Anglo is a slice of bar rock that has been knocking at the door, just waiting to join the party; S&tJ want to play with the cool kids and now they are.
Compared to their lo-fi/zero budget debut, Pino, a couple years ago, Anglo is a giant leap ahead in sonic quality and level of song. Time spent onstage (Scruffy had standout sets as part of MidCoast Takeover, had a prime spot at Middle of the Map Fest, opened for Gringo Star and J. Roddy Walston & the Business, and are opening for Kongos at The Midland on June 30. All of this—before heading to Toronto for NXNE (the Canadian SXSW) and a mini-tour—has brought out confidence that has been lying just below the surface, ready to rear its head to the world and stomp on its throat.
S&tJ have found their groove. “Nehemiah” is the funkiest track they have laid down to tape and features Teriq Newton’s most Hendrix-inspired guitar shots. A solid, flying high, blues jam from outer space. The track “Ms. Crucio” comes on like The Hives, Benjamin Booker, and Foo Fighters locked in a room with wild dogs for a minute and a half. Quick call-out to a triflin’ woman, it’s fierce, in-your-face, and fun. The bowel shaking bass from Steven Foster and pounding courtesy of Trevin Newton on drums don’t hurt the situation.
“Dirtleg” is the best song Cage the Elephant wishes it wrote. Aggressive, self-deprecating, longing to be gone but just can’t move on. You see a theme here? Stuck somewhere you don’t want to be with a woman that drives you nuts is a common theme in blues-based music; the story is as old as time: I really hate this woman but she won’t go away.
“Shake it Off,” the current gem getting heavy play on 96.5 The Buzz, is the middle finger song of a record packed with screw you songs. It is a quick shot to the face. “Shake it off / cause it ain’t only me / no we were never friends / I wasn’t letting you slide,” a chorus that stops just short of calling someone out by name, spitting in their face. There is venom wrapped in top-notch drumming, rock steady bass lines, and some of the best local guitar work around. That’s where some of the best music comes from, doesn’t it? Hate, dissatisfaction, displeasure with your situation, life screwing you? Art comes from pain, pain comes from living, living is better than the alternative.
Scruffy & the Janitors do not hide their influences on Anglo. They do not try to get cute by disguising who they admire under layers of production to sound “new.” This is blues garage rock plain and simple: Son House, Skip James, Cage the Elephant, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys and some punk touches are thrown in for good measure. Scruffy are one of those young bands that you know what you are getting when you put their record on: what you’ll get is rock n roll, no more no less. There is certainly nothing wrong with that.
--Danny R. Phillips
Danny has been reporting on music of all types and covering the St. Joseph music scene for well over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the nationally circulated BLURT Magazine and his work has appeared in The Pitch, The Omaha Reader, Missouri Life, The Regular Joe, Skyscraper Magazine, Popshifter, Hybrid Magazine, the websites Vocals on Top and Tuning Fork TV, Perfect Sound Forever, The Fader, and many others.
If you’re in St. Joe on Friday the 13th, you can catch Scruffy & the Janitors at the Anglo release party at First Ward House, with Cupcake and Rev Gusto. Facebook event page. They’ll be celebrating the release in Kansas City on Saturday, June 14 at recordBar with Heartfelt Anarchy, Domineko, and Rev Gusto. Facebook event page.
Best of Kansas City 2013 for Emerging Artists: Readers' Poll results
KC Deli Readers,
The Deli KC's Best of 2012 Readers and Fans' Poll for local emerging artists is over, thanks to all those who cast their vote in support of the emerging local bands and artists in our list of nominees.
Congrats to amazing roots rock quartet Me Like Bees (see post above this one) for being The Deli Readers' Best Emerging Kansas City Artist of 2013!
Kudos also to folk revivalists Madisen Ward and the Mama Bear and gritty Garage Bluesers Scruffy and the Janitors, who placed second and third.
Here's this poll's top 10 chart, full results can be found here.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stay tuned for the composite chart, to be released soon, which will include the point nominees accumulated from the jurors and Deli writers' votes, and will crown The Deli's Best Emerging KC Artist of 2012.
The Deli's Staff
Upcoming show: Stiff Middle Fingers/Scruffy and the Janitors/Black on Black at Bottleneck, 2.20.13
Two punk rock-leaning acts playing an all-ages show on a Wednesday night with a blues-driven garage rock band made up of teenagers. Weird? Perhaps. Worth $5? Yes sir.
On Wednesday February 20, three of the area’s best, most passionate bands will plant their flags on the stage at The Bottleneck: Black on Black and Scruffy and the Janitors will be laying out the lush red carpet as they support local hardcore punk aficionados Stiff Middle Fingers.
Black on Black, a punk three-piece, claims to play and live the music that drives them. One listen to the EPs Help Yourself and the upcoming Let’s Get Cynical and you will know this statement is not just more pseudo-punk posturing from some mall punk rockers, this band practices what it preaches. Influenced by luminaries of the hardcore scene like Fugazi, Gorilla Biscuits, Bad Religion, OFF!, and Bad Brains as well as the alternative leaning Dinosaur Jr., The Melvins, and Archers of Loaf, Black on Black embraces the ominous tones of garage rock, the all-out audial assault of massive volume legends like Swans and storytelling like that of Husker Dü. Make sure to show up early for some punk rock storytelling truth. If you dig Vampire Weekend, stay home.
Bands charging out of the fertile music scene of St. Joseph are all the rage. First was Dsoedean, the indie rock-leaning band with an affinity for Built to Spill and expertly crafted songs. Next—and the one to make the biggest boom thus far—was Radkey, the punkish trio of brothers that no one can seem to get enough of right now. Now it is Scruffy and the Janitors’ turn to test the waters, to bask in the light. Scruffy (Steven Foster, Teriq Newton, and Trevin Newton) takes its love of ‘90s alternative bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana, blends them with The Animals, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, and The Stones while embracing more recent garage acts such as The White Stripes and The Strokes. For good measure, Scruffy shakes some Skip James, Little Walter, and Son House in the mix for good measure. Driven by their debut release, last year’s Pino and an ever-solidifying live show, Scruffy is definitely a band to keep an eye in the future. The four will go all the way, if they don’t melt their amps first.
Stiff Middle Fingers, an action-packed local favorite, cover tunes from legendary bands from the world of punk like Stiff Little Fingers, Descendents, Black Flag, and Minor Threat as well as original tracks as skull rattling as “Common Cents,” “World Biggest Guillotine,” and “Psycho Bitch,” from last year’s million volt-charged debut Enemies with Benefits (see our review here). Frontman Travis Arey is a remarkable sight to witness as he runs around, microphone in hand, with the boundless energy of a hyperactive kid eating a 10-pound bag of sugar and doing lines with a pixie stick. Arey stands on tables, runs to the bar, having people sing along; he just wants you all to enter his world for an hour or so. He is the embodiment of Henry Rollins if Henry were ever in a good mood. The band behind him plays like there’s nothing left to lose. Cameron Hawk attacks his guitar, playing with the speed of a hummingbird, Barry Swenson’s bass work is as good as it is bowel shaking, and JP Redmon plays the drums like the bastard son of Bill Stevenson and the goddamned Energizer Bunny.
If you want to see where music is heading in the region, that there are indeed great bands out there willing to give all of themselves for the sake of the show and the crowd—be it five or five thousand strong, that care more about the music than their image, The Bottleneck is the place to be. If you like churned-out, radio-friendly “rock,” these probably are not the bands for you.
The Wednesday show will kick off at 8:00 pm with Black on Black, followed by Scruffy and the Janitors, and concluded by the explosive sounds of Stiff Middle Fingers. This is an all-ages show; cover is $5. Facebook event page here.
--Danny R. Phillips
| Danny R. Phillips has been reporting on music of all types and covering the St. Joseph, MO music scene for well over a decade. He is a regular contributor to the national circulated BLURT Magazine and his work has appeared in The Pitch, The Omaha Reader, Missouri Life, The Regular Joe, Skyscraper Magazine, Popshifter, Hybrid Magazine, the websites Vocals on Top and Tuning Fork TV, Perfect Sound Forever, The Fader and many others. |