If you’ve been reading Twangville for more than a couple of weeks, chances are you have your favorite roots/southern/alt-country rock band. It might be Drive By Truckers, The Hold Steady, Gaslight Anthem, whatever. Regardless of who your favorite is, you’re going to hear some of them in the latest release from 6 Day Bender, E’ville Fuzz. Me, I’m old-school, and felt the Lynyrd Skynyrd influences a lot. But the funny thing is, even with the southern and roots leanings, the other sound that just pops out of the record is Keith and Ronnie.
Take, for example, Disgrace. The interplay of Luke Nutting’s and Clayton Avent’s guitar is right out of the Stones playbook. And when they sing that the girl “can only disgrace my name”, it’s just the kind of lyrics you’d expect from a Stones song. Same thing with Deliverance, where the searing guitar lead just cuts through the wall of sound from the rest of the band.
What keeps the album interesting is the group’s ability to stretch into other genres without loosing the continuity of the record. Good Girl Blues adds a wailing slide part and minor chords to deliver some dissonance that really textures the song. Factory Man is a tongue-in-cheek, middle finger salute to the boss that’s a little Chuck Berry meets Johnny Paycheck. And Clover is a ballad to the heart-wrenching decision to leave it all behind.
If you were a fan of 6 Day Bender’s debut album, prepare yourself for something different with E’ville Fuzz. Miss Linda has the banjo and Applachia influences that were prevalent on the first release, but otherwise the boys from Charlottesville have forsaken the mountain music carriage and hopped aboard the rock and roll train. This is Friday night party music and sounds best played loud.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.