Shrug's Latest Its Best CD in 11-Year Career
Whole Hog for the Macho Jesus, the stellar new album from local rockers Shrug, was recorded by Patrick Himes at Team Evil, a dingy studio beneath BHA Piano Center on South Patterson Boulevard. Despite the rustic setting, the group emerged with the best sounding release of its 11-year career.
"The cool thing is we did some overdubs here and there, but it was basically us four standing in a circle playing," said guitarist and vocalist Todd Weidner. "We didn't even put baffles up; we just played like we do at practice. I can't say enough about Patrick, he did a great job."
The eight-song CD, the follow-up to Shrug's self-titled disc from 2001, is definitely its strongest album yet. Rocking tracks like Wake Up, Sugarplum and She's a Ballad are overflowing with tasty twin-guitar interplay that never overshadows Weidner's clever wordplay.
"You always hear, 'Oh, I like your album,' but everyone that's heard it has been really pretty sincere about it," said drummer Dan Stahl. "That's encouraging, so we'll push this one for awhile, but by the end of the month we should be back in the studio laying down some basic tracks for the next album."
"We had 24 songs going into this," Weidner said. "We decided to make three eight-song CDs and get them out as quickly on the heels of each other as possible."
"I'm hoping the next one will be out in six months," Stahl said. "I'm saying that, knowing it will be at least a year, but we're going to shoot for six months."
"The next album is going to be really mellow or more acoustic, which are not really the same thing," Weidner said. "I'm hearing a really quiet, Sunday-morning kind of record, the kind you can put on and just relax and listen to instead of being bombarded by electric guitar."
After 11 years together, this talented crew clearly has no shortage of musical ideas.
"The songs just keep getting better," Stahl said. "If we thought we sucked, we would've ended it a long time ago. There are a lot of bands that stick around too long, and they're still playing the same songs they were playing 10 years ago. We're not the same band we were 10 years ago."
"The band has changed," said bassist Bryan Lakatos. "It's still Shrug, but you can see the growth. It's definitely different than Straight to Beta; that was a very different band."
Shrug will celebrate the release of Whole Hog for the Macho Jesus Saturday at Canal Street Tavern. For more information, visit www.shrug.com.
By Don Thrasher
Dayton Daily News