Glen Iris

Atlanta trio Glen Iris plays its simple, rowdy garage-punk straight-up and straight-forward, all compact riffs, buzzy guitars, aggressive drumming and laconic vocals. But therein lies the appeal: Like a lo-fi Thin Lizzy, Glen Iris about nothing more than rock ‘n’ roll at its most primal and direct. - Free Times

Imagine your classic rock radio fried on bad drugs, blown through a busted speaker. Electric guitar is god here; its frayed melodies slither through muck-thick bass-drums low-end. It’s all resurrected proto-metal riff-rock — Deep Purple, Blue Öyster Cult, Black Sabbath — cut with grunge-era fuzz and squawk — Melvins, late Nirvana, late Black Flag. Like skuzzy rock ‘n’ roll purists like Royal Trux, Atlanta’s Glen Iris ramp up the static and the sneer to bring forth the hedonistic filth and the fury of rock ’n’ roll’s most brazen excesses. This ain’t pretty, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be captivating. With Mercy Mercy Me. B. Reed
The Whig: 11 p.m., free; 931-8852, thewhig.org.

- Free Times

"Brass Castle had been scheduled to play but one of the members, Christian, screwed up his back, so his partner from Brass Castle, Chris, brought his other band, Glen Iris, featuring Justin Hughes, formerly of Rock*A*Teens and other efforts. Glen Iris cranked out some seriously heavy guitar-driven rock backed by driving drums – good stuff."

Degenerate Press

- Degenerate Press

"Ever wondered what would happen if Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath combined forces with Brass Castle and Missile Command? Here's your chance. Glen Iris brings back big rock through punk-infused classic rock licks by two of Atlanta's hottest guitarists, Justin Hughes and Chris Strawn. Drummer and former Icecaps front man Jonathan Lueke rounds out what is already a formidable line-up."
Justin Sias
- Pine Magazine

Glen Iris is an Atlanta super group comprised of Chris Strawn (Brass Castle), Justin Hughes (Batata Doce, Elevado, Missile Command), and Jonathan Lueke (Ice Caps). They rock out hard, as you would expect from these gentlemen. - OhmPark.com

Former Rock*A*Teens guitarist Justin Hughes doesn’t have much to say about the two songs on Glen Iris’ debut 7-inch slated for release on July 17 via the group’s recently invented Dirty Slacks imprint. “I don’t really like talking about myself,” he offers humbly. “That’s the music journalist’s job. Songs just kind of come to me when I’m playing around with a guitar and whatever they mean to you is whatever they mean.”
That sort of open-to-interpretation attitude behooves the two-guitar and drums trio rounded out by Brass Castle guitarist and vocalist Chris Strawn, and drummer Jonathan Luecke. Both Strawn and Hughes bring songs to the band and the resulting tug-of-war between their distinct voices culminates in an eclectic mix of divergent numbers. Strawn’s low guitar sounds fill in for the bass while Luecke’s percussive sway works double-time to keep the rhythms moving.

The difference between the two songs on their first single illustrates their off-kilter dynamic. On the A-side, “Horseless,” penned by Strawn, is a lo-fi mess of groove-driven riffs. The drums sputter and pound with a visceral gnash that bares a genetic likeness to his songwriting in Brass Castle. But here the elements of deranged and drunken fury are tempered with earnest, pop-oriented hooks and a reactionary bellow.

The Hughes-penned B-side, “Big Hatchet,” is a subdued number where the soft sound of nylon strings strummed over melancholy melodies flitters with a dilapidated warble. The record draws strength from its sundry differences leaving the listener curious as to where Glen Iris will go next. “We’re still a new band and we’re actually looking for a bass player,” Hughes says. But Strawn adds that it has to be the right person. “We’ll take our time and let it happen on its own. I don’t know when that will be, but that’s the plan.”

- Chad Radford (7/09) - Creative Loafing

Glen Iris -- "Horseless / Big Hatchet" 7" [Dirty Slacks]

Guitarist Chris Strawn (Gizzard, Brass Castle) turns up again with a new gig, playing with members of the Rock*A*Teens and Ice Caps. I don't know anything about the latter two bands, but the sound here is straight-up garage rock, with fizzy, distorted guitars and simple but aggressive drumming. "Horseless" is the noisier and more chaotic track of the two, a bristling rave-up with a solo section boasting a scorched-earth sound; "Big Hatchet" is a bizarre ballad with strummed guitar and assorted extra audio seasoning from a nylon guitar and guitar synthesizer. In honored garage rock tradition, the sound is lo-fi but honest and engaging, and the package's thrift-store graphics just add to the punked-out flavor. Limited to 300 copies.

The One True Dead Angel
2009
- The One True Dead Angel

"Aimless, dirt-floor rock y roll from this Atlanta combo, featuring former or past members of the Rock*a*Teens and Brass Castle. Not a lot in the way of production, but “Horseless” has a nice break that busts up the white-guy-in-A-frame party, and shows these folks have a little dimension to their ways (and that they know when to aim for the ditch when overstaying their welcome seems possible). “Big Hatchet” jumps up and down on the back porch, blowing out a nylon-string jam with large muff and a serviceable beat. Dingy and doesn’t look like much – really, the front cover art looks like a prison tattoo of two chicks making out on the roof of a Chevy pickup – but there’s small joys inside, which hopefully will be revisited later on to greater effect. 300 copies." (http://www.myspace.com/glenirisaction)
Doug Mosurock - Dusted / Still Single