J Roddy Walston And The Business Almost Killed Me
My friends are going to hate me in about thirty days.
Actually, if what I’m about to do has the same effect as what happened when I found The Hold Steady, my friends are going to hate J Roddy Walston and The Business in about a month.
You see, they’re not gonna hate J Roddy because they’re not a massively awesome rock and roll band, rather, they’re going to hate J Roddy Walston and The Business because the new record is all that I’m going to listen to and play for a long, long time once I get it this coming Tuesday, July 27. (It’s streaming on Spinner right now)
But that’s what we do, isn’t it? Don’t we scream it from the rooftops and evangelize on streetcorners and blog and tweet and facebook and hire skywriters to tell everyone about this awesome new band.
I thought that The Hold Steady ruined music for me. Simply because they set the bar SO FUCKING HIGH that most other new bands that I have heard since simply haven’t done much for me. That is, until J Roddy came along. We ran a short “Indie At The Abbey” series a couple of years ago that our friend Joe at Instrumental Analysis put together. J Roddy was on the wishlist for that but a date never materialized. That was when I got my first taste of the Rod. However, it wasn’t until over two years later seeing the boys open for The Hold Steady at The Recher Theater in Towson that I got the first addictive injection of this band.
It’s just straight up, down and dirty, high and mighty, wet and sloppy, fat and happy, dark and dirty, foot stompin, fist pumpin, head banging, beer swillin rock and roll music.
Oh, and Rod plays the piano – but it’s not really piano rock. Though the “dinka-dinka-dinka-dink-dink” of Used To Did is simply as catchy as any jingle I’ve ever heard and it’s a natural show-closer (and usually is).
Look, I can go on and on about this band. And I likely will over the coming months. But their new record comes out on Tuesday. It’s on Vagrant. They’re playing the Khyber in Philly on Tuesday night, Baltimore at the Ottobar on the 31st is the hometown CD Release show. And from there? Sky’s the limit.
I’ve found the new kings of bar rock – and they are J Roddy Walston and The Business.
These guys rock. I try and tell every person that asks me what I am listening to these days about J Roddy. Hope they can make a return to the ABC soon.
I’ve been into this band since the first time I saw them about 5 years ago and I never miss a chance to see them when they’re in the area. They are absolutely my favorite club band and I hope that one day they become my favorite amphitheater band. This is rock and roll at its finest. Be sure to buy this album on the 27th, but in the mean time, buy their other offerings online or at a show.
If you haven’t seen these guys, shoot yourself in the neck. Okay, don’t do that. Just buy their new record and then lie and say you saw ‘em.