Scouts Honor

"From their first notes to the final feedback, Scouts Honor is determined to never let you think you're in control. I wish I could say that I knew they were going to be playing at Nietzsche's because I would have been there an hour earlier. Only after noticing a merch. table with a CD I had reviewed for Impose did I know my $5.00 was worth it. I stood both amped and hesitant only because their prior album kicked ass and I saw they had a new album out. Many a show have we all been to when the band wants to get their new sounds out there, sacrificing what makes them great in the process.

"Let's just say I needed a copy of I Am The Dust when Scouts Honor finished their set. Not that I expected a subdued performance, but I wasn't sure what kind of energy their brand of Midwest, vengeful rockabilly was going to give off. Live, Scouts Honor brought a chaotic vibe to their music. Whether it was one of their straightforward dustdevil tunes or one of the more melodic ones from the new album, they're always teetering on and pressuring the exhaustion point. You can tell they have a good time under the lights. They've bottled that feeling when you're so pissed blood is about to come out of your eyes, but then they bring it right back down with a little humor between songs, mainly provided by drummer Atomic. Scouts Honor live is a frenzied trio of electricity which exudes confidence and maturity. It's not easy to change your entire chord progression after breaking a string, but they never lost stride.

"I did have a chance to speak with Jared and Chris for a few minutes before and after, and like most bands, they're average guys just trying to do something they like. If the music thing doesn't work out in the long run, they definitely have a shot at taking up drinking as a profession. Between the two of them, they must have put back 12-14 pints in the 2 hours before they played. Didn't faze them one bit. Scouts Honor is still on tour in support of I Am The Dust, so set $10.00 aside and go share a beer with them when they show up in your town."
- Impose Magazine

"To get this out of the way, yes, Jarad Grabb has a yell that is very similar to one Tom Gabel of Against Me!, and yes, Scout's Honor sound as if they take some influence from said band, but they are not a clone. Instead, they carve out their own identity on their No Idea debut like a future architect in a high school shop class. They tweak with things, not worrying about whether or not they will work. Because of this, Scout's Honor have pulled off a style all of their own. They mix punk rock, folk, country, rock and roll and stoner rock into a tight knit package of amazing music. The mixture of these styles should not work; they should sound very awkward being played together, but Scout's Honor pull it off, they make it work so incredibly well and don't even think twice about it. I've spent many hours listening to this album in complete amazement, wondering how they were able to make these concoctions of styles sound so good.

"A band as innovative as Scout's Honor should not fly under anyone's radar. I'd like to think of Scout's Honor as being the next band that will demand notice, sort of like another band that was mentioned in this review. They have the sincerity, the talent and the ideas; meaning that there is little stopping them from dominating the punk world in the very near future." - theplaylist.net

"Just to get your attention I've got to tell you, this CD is awesome! I'm sure people called Reese crazy before they actually tasted his sweet new combination of chocolate and peanut butter just the same as people will call me crazy for saying these boys have found a way to combine the best of the Cult and Willie Nelson to produce something equally sweet for the ears. This hard knuckled working class three piece called Scout's Honor melds hard souled vocals similar to Ian Astbury and the rock hard sounds of the Cult with all the bio diesel wholesome goodness of Willie Nelson into a folky yet heavy musical mishmash. Like a pendulum this album swings back and forth between bluesy country flavored folk-rock and hardcore. It may not be pretty, but if it was there'd be something wrong. As the name of this album implies, there is something dark and amiss here; like a graverobber in the night digging up family heirlooms to pawn for drinking money. Though they are thick and heavy and I'm sure you'll find a week's worth of grime under any of their fingernails, they're still just a little on the artsy side--in a good way. These Southern style dirt rockers sound like they'd be just as at home playing a venue with sawdust on the floors as they would openning for a straightedge hardcore band." - Evil Needles

"Listening to Hot Water Music, Against Me!, Dogwood etc. during the start of the summer is a refreshing variation on my usual hardcore. Four releases that reached my door from No Idea Records perfectly fits in this summer playlist. I’m talking about Defiance. Ohio, Armalite, Whiskey & Co and Scouts Honor. The last one is up for review here.

"After having heard Scout Honor’s 2nd full-length “I am the Dust” I was a little surprised. A harmonica opens the CD and is followed by the pretty slow, heavy, hardcore, rocky “Devils’ Serenade”. A few songs later this release has however transformed from slow hardcore to groovy Against Me!-like punk rock with acoustic country, folk and blues influence.

"Although the first, three to be precise, songs, the heavier ones, are not bad, I think the album only starts to lifts off from “The Sun Won’t Set In The West” on, which is also the best song on this release. The pushing drums and the dark, heavy and tense atmosphere have disappeared, only to come back a few times. From that point and the music starts sounds more acoustic, sober and desperate and there the album structure seems more balanced. Songs like “The Sun…”, “The Songs They Sing”, “Joshua” and hidden track “The Earthly Parade” are really beautiful and can easily match with the 3 major bands mentioned at the beginning of this review.

"Lyrically “I am the Dust” is also really well provided. The lyrics are written down pretty poetic at some points and sung really well. Together with the stylish artwork this is a little extra on top of the music.

"Just before writing this review, I read that Scouts Honor consists of only 3 members, and considering how much the music has to offer, I think that’s quite unbelievable. I wonder how this band would convince us live since there too many instruments on record to be played all at the same time live. I must say I can’t wait to find that out myself and see this band come over to Europe.

"90/100" - Roar E-Zine

"Having avoided all notions of the Scouts movement as a youngster, to my eternal shame I'm useless with knots but at least any quips about scouting for boys or those horrible uniforms pass me by.

"Who knows if any member of Scouts Honour wore the woggle with pride but their latest release 'I Am The Dust' would no doubt earn them a badge for varied musical influences with relative ease.

"Opener 'Devil's Serenade' packs in an unbelievable amount of influences. From the Dylan-esque folk intro and the blue slide guitar break, the main body of the song throttles and screams like your darkest nightmare and the juxtaposition of these ideas leave the listener reeling but intrigued for more.

"The confusion isn't lightened by 'Canvas' following on with a bass-line sounding like it came from the score of "Jaws" but by the time the vocals kick in, the thread of the album starts to become clear and the musical pattern starts to take shape.

"There is a chugging drive to this album that will be appreciated by fans of heavy or impassioned music. So often the bass thunders on, chewing out big riffs and lines underscoring each song and always banging away in the background. Even when the other instrumentation takes a more casual approach, the bass can be relied upon to chase the songs along.

"For those fans of a more timid nature, never fear as there is something for all here. 'The Sun Won't Set In The West' is a grizzled blues track and comes across more like The Soledad Brothers than any modern hardcore act. A lot of this lies in the varied vocals on display. With other tracks receiving the throaty growled deliveries, this track offers some lighter more melodic showings, with even a quivering spoken monologue offering some relief.

"The variety contained within the record carries it along at a great pace and refuses to allow the listener to become bored with anything. As the guitars lurch and the cymbals tap and crash around, it's almost fun to try and second guess where each track is going to go next.

"The eclectic nature of the songs even extends into country, and the gnarled and grizzled emotion of 'The Songs They Sing' shines and fizzles greatly as well.
Whether there is too much variation to allow Scouts Honour to gather a fanatical following remains to be seen but what is available on this record has a swagger and confidence that should find favour with many.

"10/13" - Room Thirteen

"Scout's Honor has taken it upon themselves to fill the musical gap that exists between Bahaus and Against Me! and have done so in a surprisingly well orchestrated fashion.

" The album opens on the "Devil's Serenade" a great song with lyrics that are semi-Biblical or taken straight from some lost chapter of Greek mythology. The music rages and pulsates, yet is very melodic while the lyrics burst out full steam ahead from the throat of lead vocalist Jared Grabb.

"One of the highlights, for me anyways, was the acoustic track "Joshua" which is one the darker country ballads in years. It's a powerful song of regret among other things that take place during war. And it captures an emotional aspect of being at war, that bands like NOFX, Anti-Flag, and others have been unable to capture. They skip the politics and go straight to the humanity of it. And that hits closer to home for most people than "Idiot Son of An Asshole" ever will.

"There have been several comparisons made to Against Me! in other reviews of this album. And outside of them both playing folk influenced punk, I can't hear it. On there latest album Scout's Honor works through various styles and uses fairly well thought out song structure to write longer songs. While on Against Me's latest they simply played the same 2 1/2 minute song a minute or so longer than they used to. Against Me! are certainly a fine band, and more well known. But, I am afraid that when it comes to the writing of each band's latest albums, Scout's Honor takes the cake and a little ice cream too.

"This is easily one of the better albums to come out this year in the punk/hardcore genre.

"7.5/10" - Punk United

"Hailing from the Midwest, Scouts Honor are genuine and honest and write about what they know. Namely, the friends, family, and farms of home. The trio all sing on this powerful album that combines rock, punk, and country easily and naturally. 'Canvas' is a huge sounding, raucous slab of country-infused hardcore whereas 'Joshua' is a straight-up dark acoustic country track. The electric guitar slides and thumping country rock 'n' roll of 'Pillar Of Faith' is another highlight that combines old and new sounds magnificently. This is like Against Me!, Kyuss, and Johnny Cash all merging into one bizarre and brilliant beast. On the title track, the singer repeats, "Hit 'em hard, hit 'em in the heart" and that line sums up the album perfectly. 'I Am The Dust' is passionate, powerful, and strikingly different.

"4/5" - Big Cheese

"Comprised of a singer/guitarist, a drummer/singer and a bassist/guitarist/singer who plays a strange guitar/bass rig (confused yet), Scouts Honor sound like the heaviest country/folk/blues band you have ever heard. Seriously.

"If William Elliot Whitmore and Johnny Cash indulged their hardcore and punk fantasies, then it might sound something like these guys. It’s not hard to see why this lot have played with everyone from Meshuggah to The Forecast to These Arms Are Snakes – they really are that versatile without every compromising their sound or pulling together too disparate elements of sound.

"None of this is a gimmick however – the aforementioned bass/guitar rig gives the band a nasty low-end and bite, whilst elsewhere the band include slide guitar, banjo and a variety of vocals to great effect. Oh – and they have tunes in abundance, every song is memorable, has hooks, has almost everything.

"Admittedly this won’t be to everyones tastes – country and folk is as much hated as it is loved, but this is a great, original record that deserves attention.

"8.5/10" - thecommunion.co.uk

"Growing up the way I did, my dad was always into old dirty southern rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the likes) and my grandpa listened to a bunch of old country (Hank Williams Sr., Johnny Cash, etc.) so I've grown to enjoy all of that music, and I've taken a liking to modern interpretations thereof. As I grew up I got into a bunch of heavy off-time bands. So Scout's Honor is a band that I think has all the right things in all the right places. I recently reviewed Scout's Honor's earlier release, Roots in the Gasoline and I was pretty thrilled with it. How can you not get all hyped up with a pure rock band playing southern style dirty rock but with their own feel to it? I wasn't even aware that this new album was coming out when it did, it just kind of showed up on my door. For a band that evolved from a two piece band into the mammoth that stands before us now, we owe them all the credit in the world. Add that to the fact that they fit into that category of "unable to describe, but worth listening to every second of the album" and that will tell you that we have something special on our hands.

"Between the release of Roots in the Gasoline and I Am the Dust this two piece morphed into a three piece and it added a lot to their song writing ability and gave each of their songs a whole new texture. The additional guitars in the band allowed them to explore a little bit more with what they wanted to get done, it raised the bar of what was possible for them, both live and on record. But as many people have already said before, and many more will say again, describing this band isn't really an easy task when you think about it in terms of comparisons. They fuse together folk, southern rock, off-time metal and punk into one band that seems destined to take over the world. They are the only band that I know of that has gone from an Akimbo/Mi Amore style heavy riff into a track with an acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica, and minimal drumming. If you're looking for what I'm talking about on the album, it is the end of "To and Fro" and then "Joshua". I spent most of the time that I was listening to this album looking at the layout and listening intently in shock saying "Are you fucking kidding me? Did they really just do that?" Scout's Honor is and will always be a horse of a different color, but they are a band that has the potential to pull away from the pack and gain the respect and admiration of people around the world as a ground breaking piece of art. I would pick highlights of songs out that I liked and tell you about them, but I have a feeling that if I did, you might get confused and start thinking that I was talking about a handful of different bands. So we'll finish it like this, scout's Honor isn't a band that I feel I can explain to you appropriately, but they are a band that you need to listen to, love, and support.

"In conclusion: There aren't that many stand out bands in today's music scene. Sure, there are a lot of great bands out there, but very few are venturing out into uncharted waters to forge their own sound anymore. Most of them take the safe bet and say "Well, this band got big on this sound and we like them a lot, so we'll sound like them." Not Scout's Honor. They took the road less traveled and it paid off. This is one of the best bands I have heard in the past 5 years.

"Rocks Like: The Melvins, Against Me, Clutch, etc."

"92/100" - Rise & Revolt

"Curveball! No Idea, a label known predominantly for the trademark Gainesville punk sound, has gone a different direction by signing Illinois duo Scouts Honor, and releasing their new record, I Am The Dust. An interesting dichotomy, the band juxtapose a folk-punk sound with metal; and perhaps even more oddly, it works. Singer/guitarist Jared Grabb is able to toe the line between the more theatrical-sounding delivery of southern metal and the rhythmic delivery of punk. The ebb and flow of the entire album is as interesting as the band's initial approach, as there are some tactfully included acoustic songs to offset the slow, sludgy sounds of tracks like "Canvas." Minor complaints of a few sub-par songs aside, I Am The Dust is a solid, albeit different, effort from the usually predictable No Idea crew.

"3/5" - Jordan Rogowski/Alternative Press #222 - Alternative Press #222