Rube Waddell

"Q:What do you get when you combine 4 parts evil genius, 1 part Delta Blues, 1 part Irish
Folk, 1 part Zydeco, 1 part Johnny Cash, 1 part Leon Redbone, and 1 part Sabado Gigante Internacional in a rusty bucket all topped off with a wicked sense of humor and a bit of self-deprecation?

A:You get Rube Waddell and bucket load of musical madness and pure entertainment!
Cap..n Feedback, Reverend Wupass, Mahatma Boom Boom, and Max A. Million are the 4 musical geniuses whom serve as the base to this delightful musical concoction. Their style is best described as a rich array of earthy folk styles with whacky lyrics based on bizarre topics (Spongiform Encephalopathy).

I can..t help but think Rube Waddell..s music is some of the best damn ..beer and a shot.. music I..ve ever heard. While listening I can think of nothing better that I would like to do than get stinkin.. drunk, puke on my shoes, and start all over. Unfortunately, I am no longer physically capable of performing such feats (at least frequently). The suffering that follows endures longer than any pleasure received from afore mentioned acts (if you..d like to help me overcome this affliction, please send cash).

I..m sure as soon as I..m able, I..ll crank this eclectic collection at my next party. It will fit in well with any party mix on my iPod. I..m sure it will go great with ..m sure as soon as I..m able, I..ll crank this eclectic collection at my next party. It will fit in well with any party mix on my iPod. I..m sure it will go great with some Jimmy Buffet, a couple Van Morrison tunes and a couple of crazy techno tunes (to get the chicas to dance).

Frankly, not everyone is going to appreciate Rube Waddell. They are to music what Monty Python is comedy; only the brightest and the best will get it. That..s why I refer to them as evil geniuses. They are base yet sophisticated. They appeal to the lowest common denominator in an Encyclopaedia Brittanica sort of way." - Big Beef & Beer (http://www.bigbeefandbeer.com/blog/item/29)

"With an arsenal of both traditional and completely bizarre instruments, Rube Waddell stomps out music that faitfully pays tribute to the sounds of Appalachia while maintaining a wicked, urban sense of humor. Stinkbait is Rube Waddell's version of Bill Monroe dueting with Fred Sanford at the Filmore if you can imagine that. Talk about a party record!!
-Cheryl Botchick, CMJ New Music Report - CMJ Music Report

This is different. Rube Waddell is three guys from San Francisco who play some rather unconventional music with a rough edge. The band is named after a real man who had his hands in some rather unconventional pasttimes. So...the name fits the band. The only other artist that comes to mind listening to this is Captain Beefheart...although this isn't as far out as the ol' Captain's music was. There's an odd hillbilly/country sound to some of these tunes...yet this is far from sounding like traditional country music. These fellows play a mindblowing slew of instruments (including tabla, penny whistle, kzaoo, ukulele, banjo, washboard, jaw harp). Interestingly, the band plays on the streets regularly around San Francisco. Sure makes a lot more sense than trying to land some highly prized slot at some "hip" (fart) rock club. These guys are doing it right on their own terms...and creating some mighty heady, offbeat music in the process. This one comes in a nifty steel tin box, courtesy of those increasingly inventive folks at Vaccination... (Rating: 4) - Babysue.com Music Reviewers

San Francisco eclectic, low-fi DIY trio Rube Waddell (Larry, aka Reverend Wupass; Kirk, aka Captain Feedback; and Freddie, aka Mahatma Boom Boom) inhabit a mental & musical space several klicks outside of any mainstream you can imagine—commercial, college, whatever. In November they released their second album, Bound For The Gates Of Hell, on Oakland, California indie Vaccination Records. The 14 song, 56 minute set careens among raw electric blues, oom-pah music, Kurt-Weill theatricality, string-band thump, rockabilly, warped Americana, and Residents-esque surrealism—all spawned into zombie life on a mix of store-issue and handmade instruments. As you listen, don’t bother wondering if they’re f#@&ing with your head because they most certainly are. - Rockbites Alternative Daily

You want entertainment-on-a-stick, you’d be hard pressed to find a better deal than the warp and woof, the vamp and voomph, the scat and scoot, the bump and groin of the mighty Rube Waddell. Junkyard blues, a tuba held together by electrical tape, hotplate guitar, rockin’ ocarina, deep fried harmonica, it’s all here. They’ve got songs about bottom-feeders and other high saints of the low life. At times they’re belting out numbers so bellicosely it hurts *my* throat. You know it’s a KFJC-style band when the hit sing-a-long is titled “Spongiform Encephalopathy.” “Here’s To You” has a nice slap-your-cheek, clip-clop waltziness over a singing saw with bonnie handsome lad vocals; a frenzied interlude erupts, “drinking alone” has never been more festive!!! I like it when the Rube serves up a spitball like that, or when they dish out some chin music as they do on the ire-fired “Random People” which as an anthem for the anonymous even swipes a riff from Chief Knock-a-homa!! England had skiffle music, but Frisco has got scuffle music, courtesy the refined ruffians of Rube Waddell! - Thurston Hunger (KFJC Radio Reviews)

(Excerpt)
"Rube Waddell takes the stage at Bottom of The Hill looking like gentleman hobos-big grins, old clothes, crazy banter...
After some greetings and jokes they start into a strange blues-rock ditty about the end of the world. Woodblocks and coffee cans chop out a quick tempo, the guitar rings and the sousaphone burps, the accordion chuckles in the background. Smiles start to break out in the audience. In a few seconds people are nodding their heads and bouncing a little. Before long they seize someone next to them and start twirling, or launch into a jig where they stand. They can't seem to help themselves.
There is a delirious quality to this band of San Francisco oddballs. During a typical performance the members of Rube Waddell will play harmonica, ukulele, banjo, trumpet, accordion, flute, washboard, sousaphone, a personalized drum set that resembles a work bench and electric two string instrument that might be a bastard child of a pedal steel guitar. Partial to sleeveless shirts, houndstooth coats, funny ties and narrow brimmed hats the conjure an era of train cars and speakeasies- a Tom Waitsian effect..."
- Don Frances for the San Francisco Chronicle

(Excerpt)
"Composing music for harmonium, mandolin, trumpet, old buckets, Casio organs, and almost anything culled from the abandoned streets and alleyways and capable of producing sound, RUBE WADDELL, have beligerently claimed the old school folkways tradtion as their own. More to the point, they've stretched and expanded the genre to a breadth that positions them not simply as revivalists but as innovators rising up out of the streets of the Mission District amid a clutter of 40 ouncers and flickering street lamps to give new voice to Appalachian ballads, old union songs, Javanese street music,and the occasional sea chantey.
The band band have been performing their now infamous "Live at Leeds" shows in front of Leed's Shoes store in San Francisco's Mission District for almost two years now. For an evening's worth of shit-kicking, foot-stomping, belly whooping ballads, jigs, and hip shuddering backwoods-trash-fire breakdowns, no corner can ever compare to 22nd and Mission when the Rubes are holding court." - Bay Area Guardian-John Paczkowski

"These guys have been working really hard at what they do since 1996. Thus, they now have the well-earned respect of a large number of folks in the San Francisco area and beyond. Rube Waddell is Captain Feedback, Reverend Wupass, Mahatma Boom Boom, and Max A. Million...four guys who play accidental music that is created using a variety of instruments...and presented with wonderfully honest style and integrity. Greatest Hits features a whopping seventeen new tracks...all played with an appropriate disregard for the rules of music. In a world so full of phony music...you have to admire the folks who do it their own way, no matter what the consequences. The guys in Rube Waddell succeed in their main objective...to provide good, solid entertainment. Nifty tracks include "Tamale Lady," "Random People," "Yolanda," and "Redemption." (Rating: 5) - Babysue.com On Line Publication

"Turn of the century vaudville extravaganza complete with backwoods recipes, survival skills, and news clips about their namesake: the hard drinking, hard fishing strike-out-the-side-with-nine-pitches ballplayer Rube Waddell. Even without the goodies, the lo-fi junkyard blues kicks butt." - Great God

"When the hardest-working rabble-rousing, sousaphone-toting junkyard band in San Francisco announced the release of their first new album in five years, you'd better believe I was first in line to snap one up. A cursory glance at the track titles might fool a fair-weather fan into thinking that some of these songs have been released before. In fact, this compilation of "greatest hits" is a collection of never-before recorded tunes. They are, however, familiar songs.
The album opens with perennial crowd-pleaser "Tamale Lady," a ranchera-style ode to that legendary purveyor of bar eats, and proceeds to "Hobo Luv," a paean on Rube Waddell's favorite subject matter. Much like the group's live performances, Greatest Hits giddily lurches all over the stylistic map, with nods to rockabilly ("Jesus Didn't Die for Me"), sea shanties ("All for Me Grog"), and mad cow disease ("Spongiform Encephalopathy"). As usual, once you think you've got their sound pinned down, they wriggle away and do some other damn thing you weren't expecting. Although these songs lack some of the more inspired lyricism that made ballads like "Mawson's Will" on Stinkbait (Vaccination, 1998) such enduring favorites, I have no doubt that many of these hits are here to stay. For indeed, they are great." - Nicole Gluckstern (SF Bay Guardian)