Fourkiller Flats CD release show @ Plush

I wrote a lot more about this Friday's Fourkiller Flats CD release show in my feature for the Tucson Weekly, but I had to toss it on the blog as well.

The band's new album, Treasure & Trash, is perfectly captures the Flats' brand of hard-charging rock 'n' roll: rough, twangy and loud, and full of raise-your-drink-and-sing-along hooks.

And on Friday, the first 20 people to buy the new CD will also get a copy of a two-song single. "Givin' Out" and "Nickels on the Dime" were recorded years ago, but never released. Get the details at the band's MySpace.

The album is now available for download at Digistation, and the band promises it'll be available through iTunes and CD Baby as well.

Check out the band for an in-studio live performance on KXCI Friday at 4 p.m.

I first saw the Flats play at Club Crawl in the fall of 2000, not long after they'd formed, and I picked up a five-song CDR that was all they'd recorded at that point. The band has seen plenty since those days - again, see my feature for plenty of details - and the long-long-awaited new record fully captures the Flats well-honed live sound.

DOWNLOAD:
Fourkiller Flats - Never For Free

Quick recap

Not only did I have the whirlwind known as Shurlandez visiting this past week (OK, he's not so much of a whirlwind himself, but a Shurlandez visit inspires all of us other old-time Spotters into valiant action), but I had a bit of a car issue, and quite a bit of work.

But I did want to pause a bit and recap the live shows: Friday's Mudhouse Records showcase at Plush and Sunday's David Rovics show at Club Congress.

I think Mudhouse Records is on the verge of doing some great things for Tucson music. The label (founded and run by Jake Bergeron of the Deludes and Beta Sweat) has already put out the Sugarmama LP by Tom Walbank & The Ambassadors and they've just finished the vinyl pressing for Golden Boots' The Winter of Our Discotheque (Park the Van Records did handled the CD).

Coming up for Mudhouse are releases by the Fourkiller Flats, Chango Malo, and The Swim, which would make for one hell of a 2009.

So it's no surprise that Mudhouse collected Fourkiller Flats, Golden Boots & Tom Walbank for a excellent and versatile Friday night show.

The never-been-better Flats opened the show, putting together another teaser performance for their long-long-awaited new record. Their brand of gritty, twangy rock 'n' roll only gets better for me. The Fourkiller Flats are playing another show, at Che's Lounge on Saturday, for free as always.

Fresh off their new album release show with Bob Log III, Golden Boots sounded comfortable and relaxed, mixing their old and new in a tune-up for their trip to SXSW. Golden Boots will play the Rhythm Room in Phoenix on March 16, then they have four shows booked in Austin, including a Park The Van showcase with Dr. Dog and the Spinto Band. Then they'll spend April touring the East Coast (including Buffalo), Midwest and West Coast with Dr. Dog. Check here for tour dates, and don't miss out.

Tom Walbank closed out Friday night with his blistering harmonica solos and groovy Delta blues that sounds so perfect that you forget it's all coming from a British desert-dweller.

On Sunday, I caught an early acoustic show at Congress, arriving in time to watch Leila Lopez opening for David Rovics. I'd never seen a whole set from Lopez, who is an impressive acoustic guitar player as well as songwriter.

Rovics fits in somewhere along the spectrum of left-wing songwriters like Billy Bragg, Dan Bern, Steve Earle and Tom Morello. He's clever, passionate and dedicated, with rich and articulate songs that are history lessons as often as they are calls to arms. Stridently anti-commercial, Rovics gives away all of his music online, and bless him for it, because it's not as though sparsely attended gigs like Sunday's are earning him much to live on.

DOWNLOAD:
Fourkiller Flats - Never For Free
Golden Boots - Matters of the Heart
David Rovics - Minimum Wage Strike
David Rovics - New Orleans
David Rovics - I'm A Better Anarchist Than You

New Fourkiller Flats tunes

Just in time for their first show in too-damn-long, the Fourkiller Flats have posted two new songs on their MySpace.

The Flats will take the stage, such as it is, at Che's Lounge, about 10 p.m. Saturday. There's no better place to catch the fellers, who like to stretch out their two sets and give the faithful plenty of whiskey-drinking time as they rock out. There's a certain magic that makes up a Flats' show at Che's - the familiarity of the songs and the dudes playing them all kind of builds together into a moment where everything is just right.

Despite being notoriously poor at self-promotion (on MySpace, the band writes that they sound like "Chunka Chunka Chunka Chunka WAAAAAAAAAA - weedle dee weedle deee - WAAAAAAA Chunka Chunka Chunka"), and prone to the occasional hiatus, the Fourkiller Flats are without a doubt one of the best bands in Tucson, now or ever, and among the greatest twang rockers to ever plug in amps or throw on cowboy hats.

Jim Cox sings, in a deep and weary voice that covers several different shades of mournful before breakfast, and then wraps in anguish, defiance and his own brand of audacious, wordly wisdom. Neal Bonser is the perfect foil on lead guitar, practically another singer in his expressive, soulful and almost effortless playing - it's the kind of thing you sit there in the crowd, just waiting for... Never mind the pitch-perfect harmony vocals and the rock-solid-hire-'em-at-any-price rhythm section.

The songs are about heartbreak, drinkin', fightin', and the occasional morning in which one might just happen to find oneself stinkin' of Jim Beam upon waking, for some reason or another, in a Las Cruces jail. In other words, the songs are perfect.

And the bastards have decided to finally get around to recording some more. And - no shit - they promise a new album, on Mudhouse Records, in March ("or thereabouts").

So until March, or thereabouts, when we can expect a proper album release show, tomorrow is prime Flats time. Catch 'em if you can.

DOWNLOAD:
Fourkiller Flats - Never For Free (2009)
Fourkiller Flats - Go Get Gone (2001)
And get more new tunes at Fourkiller Flats' MySpace page

Go Get Gone

Start pouring the whiskey, the Fourkiller Flats are back on stage Friday at Club Congress.
The Flats are hard-charging twangy rockers who sound plenty legit singing about waking up in a Las Cruces jail or tossing beer bottles about in one holy hell of a fight. An EP from 2000 and a 2001 set of 10 originals and a cover of Whiskeytown's "Faithless Streets" (so I started this damn country band, 'cause punk rock is too hard to sing) are all the bastards have recorded so far.
It's been a few months since they've played a show, and last time they played nearly all unrecorded songs, so maybe it's time for a new album one of these days.
The band has this curious roller derby video up on their MySpace page and while the connection escapes me, it's a song they haven't released, so check it out:

The Flats are opening up for the Mother Truckers, an Austin-based alt.country combo that I haven't seen yet, but they've been getting a lot of props around here.