The Nice Outfit

"The Nice Outfit - With songs that recall the Plimsouls, Buzzcocks and early Beatles, it's safe to say these power-poppers are still young and working through their influences, which also include vintage surf and classic punk. But among these six songs is a sense of commitment that counts for a lot more than overt finesse. In fact, screw the finesse: the vocals are so nakedly emotional, the music so brash and in-your-face, I'll take the Nice Outfit over any major label-groomed group of popsters you'd care to mention." - written by Fred Mills - Magnet Magazine

BY Dave Luhrssen
It's telling that on the sleeve of the new CD by the Nice Outfit, "Recorded by Eugene III" is listed among the credits, but no producer. Fair to say that the self-titled, six-song disc by the Milwaukee band wasn't actually produced at all in the normal sense. Recorded by Eugene of the Etiquette in his home studio, a facility described as being innocent of special effects (even reverb!) and mixed in one day, the Nice Outfit's outing is a case of rock 'n' roll caught on the fly with the tape recorder running. In a word, the music has immediacy.
"We wanted to strike while the iron was hot," says guitarist-vocalist Terry Hackbarth, contrasting the speedy session with the protracted, two-year recording of the upcoming CD by his other band, Trolley.
The Nice Outfit was born partly from frustration with the growing backlog of songs written by Hackbarth and his prolific Trolley partner, Paul Wall. Teaming up last summer with a pair of younger musicians, bassist Nate Norfolk and drummer Jon Phillip, Hackbarth and Wall found themselves playing to a new audience. "It's a younger crowd. Everybody's upfront. They're excited, like they've never seen a rock 'n' roll band before," Hackbarth says, genuinely amazed by the response.
Older listeners will recognize the Nice Outfit as a re-creation of the classic, two-guitar bands that proliferated in the '60s and '70s. The CD bristles with all the verities of that once-familiar sound-energy, sharp-as-nails riffs, snappy melodies, the grainy sound of the garage-and delivers it with contagious conviction. Like the best of their predecessors, the Nice Outfit's urgent hooks convey moments of epiphany in everyday life, its minor keys allude to a sadness that remains unarticulated. Listeners are allowed to fill in the blanks, write their own endings, their own stories to the songs.
"There's lots of emo and punk, but little rock 'n' roll out there," Wall explains, tracing out the roots of the Nice Outfit. "What I listen to today is what I listened to when I was 15-the Bangles, the Buzzcocks, the Beatles. I still love them! That's the music I search out."
- The Shepherd Express (Milwaukee)

First up at the Pop Culture Press showcase was The Nice Outfit, from Milwaukee. They're a young garage/rock band often compared to the early Plimsouls and the early Buzzcocks, which turned out to be good comparisons. Just yesterday I was reading an interview in the new UNCUT with Pete Townshend, and he was emphatically stating that in his opinion, Ray Davies of the Kinks was the greatest of all the '60s bands' writers. I have to say as time goes by I agree with that more and more. And about the 2nd song into their set, these very young lads tore into a smokin' version of "Come On Now" (a staple of Plimsouls' live sets) followed by "She's Got Everything" (a vastly more obscure Kinks song) and I was hooked. And their original material was even better. I really look forward to hearing more from them in the future, and the night was off to a great start. - Pop Culture Press (Austin)

"When we got to The Entry on Friday night, the first band of the evening was onstage. The Nice Outfit is a sort of power pop/punk band from Milwaukee. Their set was very energetic and at times quite loud. I recognized some of the covers, but I'm not familiar enough with the band to name them. I enjoyed their set very much and would definitely see them the next time they come to town. " by Karla Ludzack - howwastheshow.com (Minneapolis)