American Gun is a rock and roll band, albeit one that can’t let a song sit still. You won’t find these five guys from Columbia, SC taking the back seat and spinning their wheels on any song in their catalog, but particularly not on their third full length, Devil Showed Me His Hand. Following on the heels of last year’s elegant, Chris Stamey mixed The Means and the Machine, Devil Showed Me His Hand finds the band unleashing another excellent set of ragged rockers, alt. country weepers, and folk fueled debauchery. From the opening blast of fiddle to the gospel chorus closer, the band pushes, pulls, scraps, scrambles, and rocks their way through the album with each song diving off into some musical area hitherto unexplored. The aforementioned fiddle isn’t the gentle loping kind found on country radio; it’s gritty, searing and uncompromising. Have you ever heard a fiddle on a brit-rock song? Check out “My Friendsâ€. Ever heard a banjo mixed with searing slide guitar leads on a song that race forward with punk rock intensity? Listen to “Make You Happyâ€.
Devil is perhaps the darkest record that American Gun has yet produced, and it wasn’t like their first two records were that cheery anyway with titles like the aforementioned TMATM and their debut Dark Southern Hearts. The opening “13 Women†seems reassuring with lines like “I leave my heart at home with you†(ok, maybe not that reassuring), but its followed by a song about being a stalker (“Girl In Texasâ€) and the tale of bad breakup (“Mexican Restaurantâ€). The brutally devastating “Make You Happy†follows with its screams along chorus of “what will it take to make you happy†and lines like “nothing lasts forever like it should/ nothing lasts forever, nothing good.†“My Friends†is at least semi-hopeful with its chorus of “don’t give up/ don’t give up on meâ€, which is belied by proclamations like “all my friends are liars, liars just like me/….all my friend have left me, all my friends are gone/ and I wish them well- I’ll see you all one day when the fires burn below.â€
After those cheery numbers is the band’s first true ballad entitled “Killing Me†and the banjo-inflected pop song (possibly a first for anyone) “How Not to Fall in Loveâ€. The rest of side two finds the band finding a little bit of salvation, whether it’s in music with the straight up punk rock of “The Underground†(a tribute to the Velvet one) or the hopeful, searching “Find Some Goodâ€. The penultimate title track is a classic Gun number that begins as a dark folk song before allowing the electric guitars to run wild. The album closes in appropriate fashion with the Carter Family styled gospel tune “Are You Ready†featuring B-3 organ and a full gospel choir.
American Gun has been one of my favorite bands for going on three years now, and they do not disappoint with this one. You can find the Devil Showed Me His Hand on iTunes or on the band’s website here.
Here is the band ripping through “Mexican Restaurant” at the Handlebar in Greenville, SC.
RIYL: Johnny Cash fronting the Dropkick Murphy’s, Uncle Tupelo influenced Big Star, the lost love child of Ben Nichols and Jeff Tweedy
Disclaimer: American Gun co-frontman Todd Mathis is a contributor and editor of Twangville.
About the author: Specializes in Dead, Drunk, and Nakedness..... Former College Radio DJ and Current Craft Beer Nerd