{"id":10433,"date":"2011-04-21T16:13:02","date_gmt":"2011-04-21T16:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejoycollective.co.uk\/blog\/?p=10433"},"modified":"2014-09-09T15:59:34","modified_gmt":"2014-09-09T15:59:34","slug":"two-cow-garage-the-keys-deer-park-lt-meat-le-pub-newport-25-04-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/preview\/two-cow-garage-the-keys-deer-park-lt-meat-le-pub-newport-25-04-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Cow Garage \/ The Keys \/ Deer Park \/ Lt. Meat : Le Pub, Newport : 25.04.11"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Seems as though there’s long been a country element to Newport’s punk scene, or a punk element to its country scene.\u00a0 Either way, there’s a healthy cross-pollination that winds through the music of Jon Langford (amongst others), the releases of Diverse Records and the tireless promotional work of Gathered In Song.\u00a0 Bands like Columbus, Ohio’s TWO COW GARAGE<\/strong> are kind of a natural fit around South-East Wales, then.\u00a0 Fierce, ragged-voiced\u00a0blue-collar country-punk (‘cowpunk’ always makes me wince for some reason)\u00a0that can sound driven and\u00a0impassioned but also has a laconic frustration with small-town America and small-time relationships, there’s plenty of examples online as to why they’re well worth the short train journey to Le Pub this Bank Holiday Monday.\u00a0 RIYL Richmond Fontaine, Replacements, Drive-By Truckers, Wilco, Dinosaur Jr etc.<\/p>\n

Cracking support bill too, high in quality but nicely varied.\u00a0 I shan’t try and second-guess whether DEER PARK<\/strong> will be a full band or just Mark Grassick solo, as was the case on the recent Singing Adams tour, but his bruised Americana and Dublin twang and witty, cutting lyricism\u00a0are equally effective in stark solo mode.\u00a0 Reminiscent of Will Sheff or John Darnielle, neither of which are compliments to be bandied about lightly.\u00a0 Nestled in between those two with a nice stylistic left-turn are THE KEYS<\/strong>, who turn up all over the place in the next few weeks as they release Bitten By Wolves<\/em>, a swift full-length follow-up to Fire Inside<\/em> (which, it now seems, is deemed a mini-album; no mention of 2002’s debut).\u00a0 Lovely chewy psych-pop, sunny harmonies and British Invasion-timestamped tunes.\u00a0 Reliably untethered live, too.\u00a0 Nice to see Newport’s own LT. MEAT<\/strong> opening up; his splendidly deadpan patter and\u00a0warped\u00a0guitar n’ laptop surf-rock giddiness is top fun, so get there early for this and for the Daniel Higgs Trio show at 10 Feet Tall on the 28th where he’ll make a welcome return to Cardiff.\u00a0 Faultless line-up and cheap entry, let’s hope this one gets the local enthusiasm it deserves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

————————————————————————————————————————————————–<\/p>\n

TWO COW GARAGE
\nTHE KEYS
\nDEER PARK
\nLT. MEAT<\/p>\n

Le Pub, Caxton Place, Newport
\nMonday 25th April \/ 8pm \/ \u00a36<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/twocowgarage<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.twocowgarage.com<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.myspace.com\/thekeysmusic<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.myspace.com\/deer-park<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.myspace.com\/steakrecords<\/a>
\nhttp:\/\/www.lepub.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

I hear a Two Cow Garage song, and I hear an unembellished, unapologetic story from a real day in a real person\u2019s life. I hear about passions, dreams, determinations and setbacks. I hear about loneliness. I hear about relationships \u2013 some that work out, others that don\u2019t. I hear about kids growing up in a dreary Anytown of mediocrity, resolute to break free of the mire that bogs their peers in dead-end lives. I hear about me. I hear about my friends. I hear about the wall against our back. And I can totally relate.<\/p>\n

Though they spend far more days on the road \u2014 on their way from the last show, on their way to the next \u2014 than they do at home, Two Cow Garage hail from Columbus, Ohio. Among many locals (and visitors, for that matter), Columbus is known as \u201cCowtown.\u201d This is because, according to guitarist\/vocalist Micah Schnabel, \u201cif you drive five minutes out of the city, any which direction, you\u2019re gonna be in cornfields and cows and the whole deal.\u201d Musically, Micah\u2019s band plays a blaring, tight, nasty manner of\u2026eh, let\u2019s call it \u201cpodunk punk\u201d for lack of anything better, that wouldn\u2019t sound out of place shuddering the walls of a converted garage\/practice space at the end of the cul de sac you just zoomed past on your way outta town. So, yeah, their name fits. But that\u2019s insignificant.<\/p>\n

The new, second album by Two Cow Garage is called The Wall Against Our Back. That\u2019s significant, not just because it\u2019s also the title of one of the album\u2019s best songs, but because it describes the determination, in the face of obstacles aplenty, to rise above which informs so many of the album\u2019s tracks. There\u2019s no turning back. \u201cI think that song just kinda wraps up where we stand right now \u2014 poor and busting our ass,\u201d drummer Dustin Harigle says of the title track. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing how fast you grow up when you don\u2019t know where you\u2019re gonna eat the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trio\u2019s debut album, 2002\u2019s Please Turn the Gas Back On (poor and busting their asses back then as well, obviously) was written in the basement, while the members were just on either edge of age 20, before they had started touring, before they had quite gotten confident with their sound and their statements. Though a fine album, it was perhaps somewhat unrepresentative, tending to emphasize the band\u2019s more countrified influences rather than the rawboned rock \u2018n\u2019 roll they crank out at their gigs.<\/p>\n

The Wall Against Our Back was written mostly on the road, and it shows. Produced by Brent Best of Two Cow\u2019s drinkin\u2019 pals (and frequent tourmates) Slobberbone, their sophomore shot kicks in with the potent, scorched \u2018n\u2019 scarred ferocity that rarely translates outside of a go-fer-broke set at any night\u2019s given dive. Musically, the songs are muscular but diverse, showcasing the many factions within Two Cow\u2019s sound, while maintaining allimportant focus. And there\u2019s a palpable, cocksure chemistry to the performances which can\u2019t be faked \u2013 it can only be honed by night after night after night of slamming through your songs in front of pockets of otherwise distracted drunks who may or may not care if you\u2019re even alive.<\/p>\n

Two Cow Garage have made quite a reputation for being road warriors, touring like crazy (over 332,000 miles between two vans in about two years), not letting up, not getting discouraged. From my observations, a lot of bands at their level \u2013 after releasing one VERY independent CD \u2014 don\u2019t put as much into that. They feel they need to hold on to their day jobs, or college, or relationships, etcetera\u2026 there\u2019s always some excuse or reason holding them back. \u201cAll valid excuses!\u201d Schnabel cracks. Sure, but the problem is, those bands then put their focus on playing the same old local clubs every other week or so, and usually get nowhere. Two Cow Garage were determined to not do that. Luckily, they found a huge fan early on in Chris Flint, a Columbus attorney who swiftly became the band\u2019s manager and part-time guitarist, insisting that the Garage hit the road with a vengeance. But another factor lighting a fire under their asses was the threat of ending up back where they\u2019d come from, like everyone else they grew up with.<\/p>\n

Lancaster and Bucyrus are tiny Ohio towns where farming and manufacturing provide the primary economy. Lancaster, where Two Cow bassist\/vocalist Shane Sweeney was raised, boasts a glass factory. In Bucyrus, where Dustin and Micah were childhood friends, it\u2019s a ball bearing plant. \u201cAnd there\u2019s one person in every home who works there,\u201d says 23-year-old Harigle. \u201cMy dad. Micah\u2019s mom\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the inspiration for a lot of the band throwing ourselves so into it,\u201d Sweeney, 25, pipes in. \u201cJust wanting to do anything BUT go do that \u2014 end up in a factory five days a week for the rest of our lives.\u201d Musically, not much cool or hip reached those towns, \u201cso we had either our parents\u2019 music to choose from, or the stuff on MTV,\u201d says Schnabel, 22. \u201cAnd I think all of us chose the stuff our parents listened to.\u201d Which tended to be a mix of older country stuff, classic rock and, in Dustin\u2019s case, a bunch of spandex metal power ballads. The latter genre has yet to seep its way into the Two Cow Garage musical stew, but of course there\u2019s still plenty of time for that. This is a band unafraid to whip out the odd cover song or three during its sets. Typically, these run the gamut from Billy Joe Shaver\u2019s \u201cGeorgia on a Fast Train\u201d to Bad Company\u2019s \u201cFeel Like Makin\u2019 Love,\u201d Neil Young\u2019s ragged \u201cFuckin\u2019 Up\u201d and an absolutely smokin\u2019 version of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Down.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two cover songs on The Wall Against Our Back, but neither one was written by quite so prominent an artist. \u201cAlphabet City\u201d was penned by Todd May, formerly of Columbus alt-country hopefuls the Lilybandits and a songwriter who often finds backing by Two Cow Garage at his occasional gigs. And \u201cHillbilly\u201d comes from another of Two Cow\u2019s hometown buddies, Sean Beal, who once led a band called Big Back Forty, of whom Schnabel testifies: \u201cWhen I was in high school, when I first found this kind of music, that was the band that made this music make so much sense to me. \u2019Cause it was real \u2013 it was very \u2018where we\u2019re from,\u2019 you know. It was songs about where we\u2019re from and where we grew up \u2014 it was about what was actually going on and happening. So I think he was a big influence on us. Probably one of the biggest. I love that song.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guys in Two Cow Garage have learned well from such examples. Their music is similarly very \u201cwhere we\u2019re from,\u201d and very real. And while I can\u2019t promise that you\u2019ll relate as strongly as I do, I think there\u2019s a good chance you will. Because, despite the overwrought ramblings about this new album that I\u2019ve sputtered onto the page you\u2019re grasping, The Wall Against Our Back is, when all is said and done, basically just a rockin\u2019 little record full of all sorts of bitter revenge against all the assholes we went to high school with who always told us we\u2019d never amount to shit, and all the girlfriends who\u2019ve tossed us outta their apartment at three in the morning for no discernable reason, and all the pretentious dicks who\u2019ll never appreciate the feel of a brand new July, and all the reasons you need to get up every day and bust your ass to prove them all wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cBingo!\u201d confirms Schnabel, while Sweeney, accentuating the obvious, adds: \u201cIsn\u2019t that what all good songs are about?\u201d
\nJeff Clark, August 2004<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.twocowgarage.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seems as though there’s long been a country element to Newport’s punk scene, or a punk element to its country scene.\u00a0 Either way, there’s a healthy cross-pollination that winds through the music of Jon Langford (amongst others), the releases of Diverse Records and the tireless promotional work of Gathered In Song.\u00a0 Bands like Columbus, Ohio’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[458],"tags":[1379,1934,464,684,565,1954],"class_list":["post-10433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-preview","tag-deer-park","tag-hello-newport","tag-le-pub","tag-lt-meat","tag-the-keys","tag-two-cow-garage"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}