{"id":741,"date":"2020-01-09T22:20:06","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T22:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/?page_id=741"},"modified":"2020-02-20T00:33:07","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T00:33:07","slug":"popular-creeps-detroit-bloodshot-red","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mikedeangelis.com\/2019\/popular-creeps-detroit-bloodshot-red\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Creeps Detroit: Bloodshot Red"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You can purchase “Bloodshot Red” from Kool Kat Musik<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There are few things better than hearing new music from friends of friends. Popular Creeps<\/strong> guitarist and vocalist Lenny Grassa<\/strong> is a veteran of Nick Zeigler<\/strong> and John Pozza’s<\/strong> pre-Forty Nineteens<\/strong> band, The Leonards<\/strong>. Their shared legacies are among the richest of any bands currently recording and performing. As you might expect, “Bloodshot Red”<\/strong> is filled with crackling, shot-out-of a cannon Pop and Cow Punk sounds for the ages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Popular Creeps<\/strong> are Andy Colvin<\/strong> (guitar, vocals), Lenny Grassa<\/strong> (guitar, vocals), Joe Heaphy<\/strong> (bass), and Dave Nantais<\/strong> (drums). Their Facebook<\/a><\/strong> page biography explains it all: “Guitars, drums, bass and yelling… blah, blah, blah! ,”<\/em> and they list their influences as “Grandpa, Ray Davies, Robert Pollard, Paul Westerberg, & Rick Nielson.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening track, “Out of My Head,”<\/strong> features a nice, twangy “Dr. Robert”<\/strong> bounce. “Doesn’t matter what they say, I’ll be out of my head all day…” <\/em>There’s an instrumental bridge that’s flavored with a little rockabilly \/ “alt-country” twang before launching into the final verse. It’s clear that the band’s dues have been paid in the school of constructing tight, tuneful songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Blue”<\/strong> further ventures into alt-country turf, the realm of Crazy Horse<\/strong>, R.E.M<\/strong>., and all of the cowpunk bands that filled the Palomino<\/strong> and other legendary haunts…this is where the Leonards<\/strong> connection is very apparent. The song also has a little Stones swagger, a tight, precise and distorted guitar solo, and that indelible Gram Parsons<\/strong> influence on the songwriting of Mick<\/strong> and Keith<\/strong>: “You’ve taken everything that the doctor told you to…oh, and you’re blue, and it’s just not you…” It’s especially notable on this track that bassist Joe Heaphy<\/strong> knows exactly what to do during the guitar solos…both he and drummer Dave Nantais<\/strong> anchor it, punctuate it, propel it. These are seasoned road warriors in action, folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Down And Out”<\/strong> opens with a sound that could have come from the first Eagles<\/strong> album, but the mojo of the band is really closer to the aforementioned cowpunk bands, the genial sneer of guys like Jason Ringenberg <\/strong>and Warner Hodges<\/strong> in Jason & The Scorchers<\/strong>, and the whole Uncle Tupelo \/ Son Volt \/ Wilco<\/strong> phenomenon. If any of what I’ve written so far has intrigued you, you could stop reading and go score your very own copy at the link above. But let’s continue…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Metal Kid”<\/strong> is a mid-tempo empathetic nod to the disenfranchised, with another spot-on guitar solo. “Metal Kid, they don’t understand. this ain’t no Beatles band, and this ain’t The Rolling Stones…”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Why She Went”<\/strong> amps up the “cow” in “cowpunk,” another love gone wrong ode…“Every time it was with her, they were all my favorite days…one day, I turned and she was gone…”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Fade Away,”<\/strong> to continue the contrasts, leans on the “Punk” in “Cowpunk,” specifically mid-tempo Ramones<\/strong> and the “New Wave” power pop bands of the 80s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Lights”<\/strong> is another mid-tempo track, and you’ll really hear the Replacements connection here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album closes with the acoustic-driven “Century,”<\/strong> a melancholy kiss-off to days gone by…“And now we’ve seen it all washed away, there’s nothing left to dig for, and nothing left to say…”<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Popular Creeps<\/strong> cover a lot of ground on this album, and they do it all seamlessly. You’ll be hearing them on the There Once Was A Note radio show, and here’s hoping this is the first of many killer releases to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are few things better than hearing new music from friends of friends. Popular Creeps guitarist and vocalist Lenny Grassa is a veteran of Nick Zeigler and John Pozza’s pre-Forty Nineteens band, The Leonards. Their shared legacies are among the richest of any bands currently recording and performing. As you might expect, “Bloodshot Red” is… <\/p>\n

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