I recently had reason to go back and pop on Geezer‘s first record, Electrically Recorded Handmade Heavy Blues. And I’ll be honest, it’s probably the most I’ve dug into it since it was released in Sept. 2013. Maybe it was the fact that I’d just moved out of the New York region, where they’re from, and the last thing I needed was another thing to be bummed about leaving behind. Maybe it was the fact that Bandcamp was just really starting to come up as an outlet for heavy music and it seemed like every band with a “stoner rock” tag was being mega-hyped on social media as the next Whoever.
Maybe I wasn’t feeling guitarist Pat Harrington‘s gravelly vocal approach — which can sound at first glance like a put-on, but I tell you as someone who’s had extensive conversations with the man, he’s no less ‘whiskey-soaked’ when you’re quietly chatting about your kids than he is on “Full Tilt Boogie” here — or lyrics like “You’re such an evil bitch” in opener “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “My girl is built like a pony/Long legs and curves that ain’t phony” on “Pony,” which only lace one of the catchiest slide guitar riffs I’ve heard in the last 10 years with a fervent eyeroll even now as I’ve come to appreciate Electrically Recorded Handmade Heavy Blues on an aesthetic level, for its songwriting, and for its subtle hints at the band that Geezer would become.
At the time, they were comprised of Harrington, bassist Freddy Villano and drummer Chris Turco, and their stock-in-trade was indeed a heavy blues rock marked out by rolling grooves and the use of slide guitar — something Harrington has pulled back on in years since, possibly as he’s grown more confident in working without it and the band has changed direction — but from their bouncing cover of The Beatles‘ “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road” to the mellow post-Clutch‘s “The Regulator” twanger “Rain on the Highway,” to “Underground” and the penultimate shuffler “I Just Wanna Get High with You,” which boogie enough between them to remind that the blues can be a party as much as it can be anything, their early work reaches beyond those simple stylistic confines. Or at very least it pushes the limits of expectation for them.
Villano and Turco would both eventually be out of Geezer, but the three-piece had a chemistry that worked well and sounded natural throughout Electrically Recorded Handmade Heavy Blues and their subsequent offerings together, and that dynamic is clearly established in these 10 songs. For the title and cover art’s speaking to an earlier era of recorded music — too bad I don’t think a 78RPM platter can hold a 39-minute release, otherwise a limited reissue pressing could be a lot of fun; maybe a double-78 just for kicks and collectors? — the production is never especially retro sounding, but the tracks still come though with enough energy to carry their largely comfortable tempos and there’s enough range between them that Geezer give a showing of character and craft that, had I done a list of 2013’s best debut albums, probably would’ve deserved to be on it.
But that’s hindsight, and of course informed by my experience with the band since as well as the group they’d become. I had seen them and written positive things about their 2013 Gage EP (review here) that would become an STB Records LP (review here) in 2014 — so it’s not like they were completely off my radar — but I just kind of missed out on Electrically Recorded Handmade Heavy Blues when it came out. I tell you all the time I suck at this. It ain’t like Pokemon. You can’t catch ’em all.
Not yet is mentioned six-minute closer “Still a Fool,” and that’s on purpose. It’s about a minute and a half longer than the next longest track, and something of a standout as well as very purposefully placed where it is on the record. It starts out with an up and down riff and Harrington‘s vocals, talking about back-door-creepin’ on someone else’s wife or some such, and resolves itself in a blues rock cacophony worthy of any ’70s comparison you want to make for it — MC5, Cactus, Zeppelin, doesn’t matter who — before capping off as a gig might. In so doing, Geezer sends advance notice of a skill that would emerge in their sound over subsequent offerings, including that Gage LP the next year, and that is the jam.
Ah, the jam. Take a breath. In. Out. The jam.
As the band began its gradual shift in lineup, it was the jam that would begin to emerge as the dominant force within their sound, and it was through the jam that Harrington‘s true persona came through on guitar. Gage and the Live! Full-Tilt Boogie tape (review here) in 2014 showed more flashes of it, and their 2015 participation in Ripple Music‘s The Second Coming of Heavy split series (review here) alongside D.C.’s Borracho led into their 2016 self-titled LP (review here), their second proper full-length, that really marked their arrival as something more than an object of temporary social media interest.
Now signed to Ripple, they brought that bluesy sound with them as they veered into more psychedelic and melodically adventurous fare, balancing songs and extended explorations in a way that successfully captured their live spirit with studio clarity. 2017’s Psychoriffadelia (review here) followed and built on that principle, and early 2019’s Spiral Fires EP (review here) on Kozmik Artifactz not only kept the momentum and progression going, but tested the waters with drummer Steve Markota alongside the longer-set pairing of Harrington and bassist Richie Touseull. And “waters” is the right word for the fluidity they were able to conjure between the three of them.
Nonetheless, the reason I had for going back and finally giving Geezer‘s debut long-player its due was that in 2020 the band — Harrington, Touseull, Markota — will release another new album that they’ve been working on throughout 2019. I’m not saying I’ve heard any of the tracks or anything, but I will say there’s a good chance it marks another significant forward step in their ongoing sonic evolution and features some of their best and most developed songwriting to-date. I have no release plans or details to share, but consider it something to look forward to, even as you look back at their first record.
As always, I hope you enjoy.
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Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US. Like just about everything in this country — including the country itself — its history is racist and horrifying. Hi, colonialism.
Turkey was good, family time was even better. My Jersey crew and The Patient Mrs.’ Connecticut crew (plus a rare but crucial appearance from the Maryland blood-relative branch) all got together up in CT and we went up with The Pecan on Wednesday, stayed over and then were there until after dinner and at least the first stage of cleanup on Thursday before getting in the car so the kid could fall asleep on the ride and then just basically be thrown in bed. It was good.
I’ve slept an extra hour the last few days, waking up at 5 instead of 4AM. It’s been good for my rest level, bad for productivity. My disposition is still shit either way, so, you know, I might as well at least do what I need to do to get done what I need to get done. Head down, keep working.
Like now. It’s 9AM. I just put up that Roadburn post — actually just got to write it too, with all the inherent chaos of the holiday yesterday — and The Pecan and The Patient Mrs. are playing hide and seek while I’m off watch and buried in my computer. I must really need this as much as I think I do.
I have an appointment to finish up a root canal in about an hour and a half, so that’s a thing to look forward to. This is the follow-up to the surprise root canal I had a couple Fridays ago. Third one on the same tooth. I don’t like the tooth’s chances longterm, but I’ll try and give it as much of a shot as I can. The crown is too big and shaped wrong for the surrounding teeth. The human mouth is a cesspool anyway. Why should my bite be any less awkwardly shaped than any of the rest of me?
So anyway, I’ll probably spend the next 45 minutes or so trying to brush the coffee taste and residual garlic from yesterday out of my mouth (and fail) before I head out and then come back and start to worry about weekend stuff like the press release I need to write for STB Records this weekend — I’ve sworn to myself that I’m stepping back from such usually-unpaid labors as this, liner notes, bios, etc., and I am, but some projects you can’t refuse — and a playlist for the next Gimme Radio show, which airs next Friday. I guess it’s best-of-2019 time already. Go figure.
Anyway, if you’re in the States, I hope you got the four-day weekend thing going. I’ll be in my sweatpants probably the entire time, fretting about this and that and enjoying leftovers. May you rock and roll and have fun and be safe and be kind and have kindness done to you, wherever you are.
FRM. Forum, Radio, Merch.