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Ben Weaver, Truckee Brothers
Borderline, London
[By Helen Keen]
27th April, 2005
Not everyone will find it as easy to get a gig at the Borderline as San Diego's Truckee Brothers, who happened to be chatting with the booker in the bar next door when he got the call that tonight's support act hadn't shown up. A quick dash down the road to the Columbia Hotel to get their guitars, and within the hour they were up on stage, strumming and strutting and star-jumping to their own unique sound of acerbic alt-country-rock-pop. The "brothers" are in normal circumstances a four piece, but tonight just Peat and Cady Truckee weave their constant harmonies, each testing their acoustic guitars to their rock 'n' roll limits, bashing away percussively like the strings were a horrible ex-girlfriend. Their sound is sharp and punchy, their lyrics bubbling with innuendo, and no doubt with a full band, their songs are explosive. Like a white-neck Big & Rich who wouldn't be seen dead in a Stetson.
Ben Weaver's band is far less animated, but their slow-paced, sensitive and spacious playing is the perfect accompaniment to his brand of haunted southern gothic: landscapes of moonlit slaughterhouses, deserted steel mills and playground scrap yards. Weaver's deep, gravel scratched vocals deliver immaculate lyrical metaphors, which benefit from the minimum of distractions, a vibrating snare drum here and a languorous bass line there. Indeed when he performs one song alone with just his grubby banjo, each line feels like a page-turner. "You can t use words to corral something this wild," he sneers like Steve Earle at his lowest. Towards the end of the set Weaver straps on an electric guitar and the ghostly graveyard vibe is rudely awoken with some snake bending rattle 'n' roll. Drunk people dance, which feels as wrong as laughing at a funeral. As the Truckees could tell you, there s a time and a place for everything. - Maverick Magazine (UK)
Blue Notes
[By Buddy Blue]
December 8, 2005
...The Truckee Brothers were the first to arrive and the last to play. These guys' noble sportsmanship and dazzling talent left me giddily spazz-dancing (when I find that guy with the video camera I'll definitely have to kill him) and ultimately humbled by their precipitous powers. Humbled, I say!
Exceptional songcraft, elaborate arrangements, wholly unique style, ferocious performance somebody please give this band a record deal so they can single-handedly save rock 'n' roll from itself. No hype we're seriously talking timeless, world-class goods here, people.
...San Diego is in the midst of a rock 'n' roll renaissance of unprecedented proportions. Shall you partake of it, or shall you lurk in shame among the lame?
For the full article click here. - San Diego Union Tribune
It Came From The Speakers[By Simeon Flick]
February, 2006
With their latest release, the Truckee Brothers have created an intelligently disaffected record that may very well put the sophisticated swank and swagger of the San Diego area music scene on the international indie-rock map once and for all.
The Truckee Brothers’ erudition and influences are revealed through clever wordplay (“Not a cad nor a gent/Just a day I'm on the fence/Same plain-Jane, chalkboard blank/Poster child for dissonance” from “I’m So…So-So”), swanky metropolitan innuendo (“Do you wanna play doctor/With what’s in your locker?” from “Billy Club”), impressionistic chord voicings (“Gin & Catatonic’s” lush changes are reminiscent of psychedelic 60’s folk-rock), smoothly integrated progressive time signatures (a grooving 7/4 time on “One Little Indian”), engaging indie-rock instrumentation (loud guitars, various keyboards and stringed instruments, etc.), and wink-and-smile, joke’s-on-you classic rock hat-tips, such as a full doff to CCR’s “Proud Mary” on “Becherovka” and a slew of song title name-checks on the title track (“It's More Than A Feeling/Hot Blooded Double Vision/Witchy Woman”).
The dual vocal attack of Cady and Peat Truckee (pseudonyms that invoke the Ramones’ spirit of group solidarity) are at the core of this quintessentially San Diegan offering. Although songs like “Billy Club” might make you wish (for a negligible minute) that only one of them was in charge, the constant harmonies are a breath of fresh air in that they contribute a new twist to the challenging act of balancing two distinct voices within a single band. Peat’s spry tenor (reminiscent of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke) contrasts nicely with Cady’s burly baritone (which answers the hypothetical what-would-it-sound-like-if-the-singer-from-Crash-Test-Dummies-was-hip question). The Truckees add another synergistic pairing to the annals of rock n’ roll; John Doe and Exene Cervenka (X), Ian McKaye and Guy Picciotto (FUGAZI), Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and now the Truckee Brothers.
The real stroke of genius here is how well the Truckees have managed to reconcile passé (?) classic rock influences with the dumbed-down approach of contemporary indie-rock. With this deft mixture of old and new, they could easily live up to the recent plea of Buddy Blue in the December issue of The Union Tribune: “Somebody please give this band a record deal so they can single-handedly save rock n’ roll from itself.” - San Diego Troubadour
[english translation]
The Truckee Brothers, from San Diego, are ready for success. Each song is a hit. Listen to Road Kill Constant, or Ooh Ohh Ooh Chicken Pot Pie and you can tell. It's Music rich in enthusiastic production and a brilliant rhythm section: bright acoustic guitar sounds, drums, - all framing the twin lead vocals of two young brothers that are the two (or one?) minds behind the name.
Art pop and rock'n'roll tunes, full of fun and a special chemistry. - I'm reminded of Frock, as I listen, but with a bigger accent for catchy riffs. Everything is propelled up, - it's incredible that it was recorded in just three days. For those who like Turin Brakes, Cake, then be ready for a fervent contagious indie oddness.
paolo : komakino
www.inkoma.com - komakino [italy]
8.5 out of 10
Goes Well With: Convoy, Alice in Chains, Nick Cave
"Death fuckin' grip!" starts out the debut EP by The Truckee Brothers. Or does it? Closer examination reveals that the low/high twin-voice acoustic-electric attack is actually intoning "death Vulcan grip!" Which, of course, just confuses things...
For Wall to Wall, it was just "Cady and Peat Truckee." Of course, thems is lies...from the love-as-casualty western funk of "Roadkill Constant" to the wobbly death ballad of "Imperial Nightclub Waltz" to the greatest line penned in quite some time-"She's an angel, but like a fly, I have an urge to pull off her wings"-this is an exciting new noise ...man does the initial blast sound good.
: Troy Johnson
www.sdcitybeat.com
- San Diego City Beat
"...Self-effacing & pure enjoyment for the sake of the music..."
Ellen Duplessie
San Diego Troubadour - San Diego Troubador
" 'Death Vulcan Grip' is possibly the greatest song ever written! ...with titles like 'Hookah Afternoon' and 'Ooh Ooh Ooh Chicken Pot Pie' how can wrong be so right!..."
From a backwoods truck stop to the finery of nice clothes, good liquor and a sleazy bar hag these guys can deliver...it's like Folger's - 'good to the last drop' and that's why I like em'.
: Tim Pyles
91X FM (XTRA FM) - 91X FM
ALBUM REVIEW
Localese
[By AnnaMaria Stephens]
August 12, 2004
Seemingly out of nowhere, the Truckee Brothers burst on the San Diego scene in March with "Wall to Wall" ( ), an eclectic, six-song EP released on tiny local label Populuxe. The album allegedly is the handiwork of brothers Peat and Cady Truckee, though the band's Web site suggests that these are fictitious identities assumed by veteran local musicians.
AdvertisementThe Truckee boys dub themselves the "evil Everly Brothers." Tightly harmonized twin lead vocals and a rock 'n' roll sound fortified with country twang are where the similarities end. While the Everlys epitomized fresh-scrubbed innocence, the Truckees are scruffy and sardonic, and, yes, a little bit evil. (Another likely "sibling" influence: early Flying Burrito Brothers.)
"Wall to Wall" kicks off with "Death Vulcan Grip," which thumbs its nose at the FCC with its innocent but phonetically profane-sounding Trekkie reference. Vocal harmonies in this song are stellar, especially when the lower-register half of the duo hits deep, gravelly bass notes. Soulful "oooh-oooh" backup vocals and charging interplay of acoustic and electric guitar flesh out the sound.
From the opening grunt, "Road Kill Constant" hits hard with bluesy swagger and infectious "yeah yeah yeah" choruses. "Hooka Afternoon" trips along with traces of Brit Invasion-era psychedelia.
"Imperial Nightclub Waltz" unfolds as a sly political pun, employing a carnival-esque three-quarter time signature and playing on waltz's secondary meaning as "an easy victory." (Listen for the "shock and awe" bit at the beginning.)
Beyond its title, "Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Chicken Pot Pie" is forgettable. "Ashes and Stashes," though a mere wisp of a song, is pretty and literate, a bare-bones composition of stripped-down chords and muted handclaps.
Clocking in at just 16 minutes, "Wall to Wall" will leave you wanting more. The Truckee Brothers, whatever their true identity, are talented guys. - San Diego Union Tribune
'Wall to Wall' REVIEW
Singled Out
Missive 41
[By Mark Barton]
August 24, 2004
The Truckee Brothers 'Wall to Wall' (Popluxe).
Now if I had to own up and admit to saying what release came as the biggest surprise from this assembled Singled Out crowd, then this 6 track EP from the Truckee Brothers would win hands down, initially up for review last time out and again I'd have to admit that the temptation to sneak it away in the pile of heard and done CD's without a review was overwhelming, yet there was something there, maybe an extra week would solve the mystery.
Point of fact is the Truckee Brothers are one of those acts that you simply can't hear reference points, well not immediately anyway. The blurb attached describes them as being an evil Everly Brothers from a negative parallel universe which to be honest isn't far off the mark especially on the closing 'Ashes and Stashes', but then their undoubted charm is borne out of the fact that they find such ease at dipping into not only Americas rich musical history (to which they tip on its head) but Britain's too, amid these six tracks don't be surprised to find the clever weaving of psychedelia, campfire blues and Beefheart / Zappa edits aplenty.
Add to that the liner notes, which describe the roles of the duo as 'prancing about' and 'voodoo', which should put you on your guard immediately that all is not quite right in the house of the Brothers Truckee.
The superbly titled 'Death Vulcan Grip' has an off centre rockabilly edge to it that's strangely more in tune, if anything, with the Violent Femmes than Stray Cats while mutating a cow punk dynamic with the lighter elements of Gallon Drunk's illustrious back catalogue. 'Road kill Constant' is blessed with a seriously infectious hip grinding side winding riff that subtly points to the Knack doing early 70's street cool Stones licks for fun while both 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, Chicken Pot Pie' and 'Imperial Nightclub Waltz' see the duo fall through the cracks of reality into the weird and wonderful world of the Dawn of the Replicants, the latter cut obliquely surreal and alarmingly eerie in a way that only early Black Heart Procession ever achieved with a degree of aplomb, think Bowie's reading of 'Alabama Song' redone by an in macabre acoustic moods Radiohead.
A certifiable gem of a record though you'll be left scratching your head wondering why exactly. www.populuxerecords.com - LosingToday
Discography
It Came From The Speakers : Populuxe Records (2005)
First single "Billy Club" spinning on radio in US.
Wall to Wall EP : Populuxe Records (2004)
"Death Vulcan Grip" featured in LOSINGTODAY magazine (Italy/UK) on Autumn CD comp (2004)
"Death Vulcan Grip" spinning on 91X FM, 94.9 FM in Southern California.
Poly Esther Film Soundtrack : Dissident Films (2004)
Score and Songs by the Truckee Brothers
A Shambles Tribute : [Track] Waiting Game
Wizard Vinyl (2005 Japan)
A Little Bit Neil : [Track] Porcupine Pie
Delirium Records (2005)
Redsand Christmas : [Track] Santa Claustrophobia
Redroom Recordings (2004)
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Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
BIO : IT CAME FROM THE SPEAKERS
What folks say :
"Peat and Cady Truckee weave their constant harmonies, each testing their acoustic guitars to their rock 'n' roll limits, bashing away percussively like the strings were a horrible ex-girlfriend."
Maverick Magazine (UK), May 2005 ( LIVE REVIEW )
"These guys' dazzling talent left me ... humbled by their precipitous powers. Humbled, I say! Exceptional songcraft, elaborate arrangements, wholly unique style, ferocious performance - somebody please give this band a record deal so they can single-handedly save rock 'n' roll from itself. No hype - we're seriously talking timeless, world-class goods here, people."
BUDDY BLUE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE. Dec 2005
THE STORY
What is it about the TRUCKEE BROTHERS that is causing this reaction in audiences, bands, and journalists? That turned a one-off performance in 2003 into a full fledged rock n roll band with no definable genre, two appearances at SXSW this year, nomination for Best Rock Band at their hometown awards and a tour of the UK in 2005, 2 more album releases on the way in 2006, heavies like Mike Watt, Lucinda Williams and Shane McGowan passing out glowing expletives about them, a buzz growing (much to the band's amazement), and a distinctive look that can only be described as Rock-n-Roll-Used-Car-Salesmen? Well, hopefully it actually has something to do with the music, but we're not sure 'cause it ain't "first listen" music. You need to take for a few spins before it digs into you.
The Truckee Brothers formed in San Diego in the Summer of 2003 to play a single show. That was the plan. Somewhere along the way 91X FM in San Diego began playing their song, "Death Vulcan Grip", and in Spring 2004 an EP was released and a band was born. Critically well received with the EP, their 2nd release "It Came From the Speakers" with it's 12 songs about Billy Clubs, Indians, Polyester, Sex, Pink Elephants, Caller ID and the like has been garnering some serious airplay in Southern California on KCRW, Indie 103.1, 91X, and 94/9 and in shows on MTV. The first single, "Billy Club", was placed into regular rotation on 91X FM without corporate approval when it was still a Clear Channel station and their track "Poly Esther" became the title song to their first film score. Frequent guest appearances on radio and television and a surprise sell-out show at Shane McGowan's Boogaloo in London have fueled the sparks of their growing reputation.
Maybe the growing reaction has something to do with their twisted twin lead vocals. Yes, TWIN LEAD VOCALS. Peat and Cady Truckee, are both lead singers with voices that couldn't be more different if they'd planned it. And, as far as they will admit, they NEVER had plans to be in this band. So opposite, they are like air and earth, and that makes a dust cloud. And they've got this sense of harmony that...well, goes far out in left field and over the wall. This ain't Simon and Garfunkel. With their brothers Hemi and Ott determined to bring back the great rhythm section pairings of Moon and Entwhistle, this band has become very hard to pin down.
We all hear a lot of guff from bands that they truly sound "original", but something about the noise these 4 lads make together is really like no-one else. A pure synchronistic accident it's like trapping lightning in a bottle.
So what do you do with lightning like that? You write, record, perform, drink, and when you're in the money, eat good food (which is rare). You hone what you've got. You become a band, live in each other's back pockets, get in fights, write better songs, and work your ass off to keep building something for yourselves. You make far too many records for management's liking and keep doing it 'cause you NEED to do it, not 'cause you've got some kind of grand plan for world domination (although if you ask Peat, they actually DO have such a plan.).
With a live footage video for the single "Billy Club", touring in both the US and UK this summer and fall, and a new album underway for release later this year the Brothers seem to be picking up the pace rapidly. And with an infectious and explosive live show, that's where you will find them spending most of 2006. In front of an audience. That's where the lightning strikes brightest.
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