Featured Band Review: Week of August 17, 2005 - from bandfreaks.com
Dayton is a strange, mid sized town on the verge of Ohio, and, like a
deeply irritated oyster, regularly produces such odd, eccentric,
didactic, and musically-gifted pearls as Poe, The Breeders, and now
SHRUG. Who's SHRUG you ask? Well... "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." (quote by Fred Shank) That's SHRUG. Their stuff is
diverse, original and fresh. The lead of this band of Mid-West misfits
is an excellent guitarist and avid vocalist by the name Tod Weidner who
hovers over the crowd; standing well over 13ft Tall. (Okay, so he's
really tall alright? Like 11'4" or something.) Either way, his presence
is rarely missed. Dan Stahl is the longtime drummer, and (fairly) new
additions Bryan Lakatos and Eric Cassidy -- the bassist and guitarist,
respectively, add a very strong ripple to the tone pool. SHRUG is also
known to give killer live performances. SHRUG has been around for a
while now, venturing past their hometown roots and expanding musically
over the last ten years. "They have evolved to a point where they are
unique and draw from a combination of folk, standard rock and a bit of
jazz thrown in for good measure. Other than the rich, flowing melodies
you are also treated to well crafted lyrics, which are admittedly at
times dark, but also very honest and fitting for the music." (A well
put quote by Grog of thechickenfishspeaks.com)
SHRUG is due to release a new album in the very near future, but for
now what I've been previewing is their self titled release, "shrug.".
It reminds me of something Tom Petty might put out because of its
acoustic-y vocals and rocking accompaniment. Something that bothers me
about this band is that they have such a great sound but are fairly
unknown. For the length of time that they have been around (one of the
BandFreaks head staff grew up in Dayton, Ohio and had the privilege of
seeing them play waaay back in 1995 or so -- and even this wasn't the
beginning of SHRUG). I would have thought by now they would be more
widespread. Also, Tod can get a little depressing but even that has a
rawness about it that lures me in.
Dayton, Ohio's SHRUGThere are many things that these guys have going
for them. They have an original sound which in an awesome rock-out sort
of way is a little 90's but works and put on a great show plus they
live in region in deep need of such artistry. So as I pull away from
this bizarre Dayton town (filled with rare genius yet rife with
anti-genius attitudes) I hope its not the last I see of SHRUG... but I
really don't feel the need to seriously worry about that one.
Underworld
I'm inspired by this piece.. The way the soft acoustic guitar swiftly
starts the song and how Tod's stark, pained melodic voice collides into
it's strum. It's sample of what is to come on the album. I love my job
because of stuff like this. With each review I find better music to add
to my personal collection.
The bass and drums hold back just enough to fully embrace the feeling
of song. It's a very similar feeling to that of Counting Crows "Mr
Jones" and Tom Petty's"Wildflowers". I think that the message of the
lyrics are powerful enough to warrant an interpretation seperate from
the music, as they're strong enough even to stand on their own. The
recording is crisp and clear. But if what you seek is a rocked out
jamming tune then you may prefer something more like "Little Trophy",)
the next song, for though this is in no way a "singer songwriter" piece
it is intentionally light on everything but Weidner's voice and guitar.
And oh yeah ... some Sitar-like instrument that chimes in during the
chorus.
While we all like pattering on about the singer and frontman, in this
case always more than noteworthy is the band. I mean, these guys are
one extremely tight outfit. The musicianship of these four is downright
phenomenal.
Here's a song that by all rights should be on the radio. I loved it.
Little Trophy
I would expect to hear this song at a big beach bash opening for the
Ramones with the sun setting over fiery sand dunes. Little Trophy kicks
ass! The thing that stands up here is the way the band rocks out for
the entire song, keeping up a high dynamic the whole way through. Tod's
voice shows a different side and sounds a bit punk here. This is a
track not to be missed live and I think that they did a great job
reproducing it on their self titled album "shrug."
This song bounces around like a Violent Femmes track and Tod's vocals
stay true to that Audio-imagery all the way. It's a got a wild,
energetic sound. Once again, Eric's subtle and well-placed guitar and
vocal harmonies compliment this tune nicely. Also, the rhythm section
(comprised of rock-solid drummer Dan Stahl and rock-steady bass player
Bryan Lakatos) is really what brings the stylistic "femme-like" aspects
to this song. As I stated earlier SHRUG is obviously a highly seasoned,
well rehearsed band and that shows. At little points in the song I do
get the feeling that its coming from a band in Dayton, Ohio. While at
points, the song seems to need a little more than it has. However, the
tune rounds off nicely with every chorus go-round.
Get lost in the steady beat of the drum and play this song a couple
times. It only gets better with every listen.
For fans of the good stuff, SHRUG is and always has been a sure bet,
and this wouldn't be the first time these guys were referred to as "the
real deal", and it definitely won't be the last. Take a listen and at
least be able to say that you were listening to these guys before the
became (do the quote-unquote thingie with your fingers here) "popular"
-- download some singles from their website and get the word out. I
mean, get these guys the heck on the radio and the Letterman Show and
the "3 doors down" type bands out there ... well ... off. ~bfreaks
Courtney Odom-Rai
BandFreaks(c) Staff Reviewer
courtney@bandfreaks.com