Bass Drum of Death: not your Momma's power-garage - Oh My Rockness

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Bass Drum of Death: not your Momma's power-garage

October 21, 2013
The Sound and the Fury! Bass Drum of Death is the fuzzy power-garage project of John Barrett (live on stage there’s a crew of two or sometimes three - but we’ll get into that later - maybe - remind me).

Barrett comes straight outta Oxford, Mississippi. I gotta get me there someday. For the music, yeah. The food, yeah. But mostly to pay respects to the ghosts of writers William Faulkner, Larry Brown and Barry Hannah (to name but a few titans who have called Oxford home). And maybe I’ll throw some eggs at the door of John Grisham (oh, he’s alright - it’s not his fault he’s popular and rich).

Bass Drum of Death keeps it pretty simple - which is often quite hard to do. This band blasts quick and catchy distorted guitar pop goodness. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. And you’ll want to yelp right along with sweaty, unbridled joy. If you like fuzzy power-garage, that is.

I don’t know why you wouldn’t like something as happy as fuzzy power-garage, but then again, I didn’t know we weren’t sending men to the moon anymore until recently (i learned it’s actually been 40 years....while waiting at the dentist....reading some fine, back issue glossy...i also learned the five secrets to rock hard abs FAST...i’ll tell you later...remind me). So what do I know? A whole lotta nothin,’ I suppose. And knowin’ that is knowin’ somethin’, I reckon (Oxford speak).

Did I mention Bass Drum of Death's rapid-fire songs come at you at a good clip? Oh yeah, I did. I see that word “QUICK” up there in the previous paragraph (CAPS LOCK added for emphasis later). So yeah, this comes and goes pretty fast. I mean, we’re not talking Tony Molina territory or anything (that dude has a 45 second song). But don’t blink as this melodic crunch gets your glands cranking. You’ll miss half the song. OK. Maybe not half the song. I’ve been told a million times to stop exaggerating (and I swear I’ve used that line to no laughs 10,000 times).

If you like dudes like Jeff the Brotherhood or Iggy Pop or Wavves or Jay Reatard or labels like Fat Possum (their label) and In The Red (not their label), you might like Bass Drum of Death. And if you like William Faulkner or Larry Brown or Barry Hannah - I definitely might like you.

(John Grisham might be a stumbling block in our burgeoning relationship, but I’m confident we can get through it).



Bass Drum of Death play two shows this week - at The Glass House, on Thursday, October 24th, and at El Rey Theatre, on Friday, October 25th.

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