Press release –
TORONTO ON — What is it with punks and country? The two worlds have been co-mingling since the early Eighties, and it’s easy to argue that the results have been the best thing to happen to rock and roll since Jerry Lee Lewis got kicked out of bible college. Edmonton, Alberta’s The Give ‘Em Hell Boys unrepentantly keep a foot in both camps, and by doing so have built a reputation as one of western Canada’s most exciting live bands. They’re now set to release More Noise In An Already Noisy World—the long overdue follow-up to their full-length debut Barn Burner—and are previewing it with “All Said And Done,” a high-octane dose of electrified bluegrass that’s suitably tailored to deliver the message that having fun comes at a premium as we get older.
Fronted by primary songwriter Quinn Clark, the core of The Give ‘Em Hell Boys also includes Charles Biddiscombe on lead guitar, Lindsay Bueckert on bass and Evan Brown on drums. But with their sound augmented by fiddle and pedal steel, the twang quotient remains high on “All Said And Done,” and for listeners of a certain vintage it will call back to a time when the alt-country insurgency was gathering momentum.
For Clark, just completing More Noise In An Already Noisy World is a major victory after plans went awry during the pandemic. Work on the record began in late 2020, but had to be done in piece-meal fashion when Clark became a first-time father soon after. In 2022 the band made the live-off-the-floor EP Buckle Polishers, consisting of four country classics and Motorhead’s “Ace Of Spades,” but it wasn’t until two years later that the line-up stabilized and The Give ‘Em Hell Boys got back to serious work.
“When the band started it was never meant to be a full-time gig,” Clark says. “Charlie and I had been in a garage-punk band called The B-Movies, and we would often have jam sessions with our punk and metal friends in our old living room. Our curiosity with country music would inevitably come out after a few drinks, and soon other musician friends would show up with banjos and fiddles. Everyone knew a few Johnny Cash songs and that led to exploring the deep classics of Ernest Tubb, Roy Acuff and Hank Williams, while the speed of Bill Monroe really appealed to our punk and metal instincts. Sometime around then Hank 3 released Straight To Hell and that sealed the deal. Country could be Punk As Fuck.”
One of the standouts on More Noise is a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line,” and his spirit permeates the album more than any of the band’s other musical touchstones. Waylon is particularly present in the title track, as Clark explains. “I had been complaining to a friend about the music industry and he said, ‘It’s like we’re just making noise in an already noisy world.’ Hearing that floored me because I’ve always thought of myself as an optimist, and it made me wonder if what he’d said had to be a resignation. Could it instead be a mission statement for the whole record? Is there triumph in making art in spite of every hurdle, distraction and all the indifference? To me, that was the attitude that fuelled the Outlaw movement of the ‘70s. So I set out to write a song that might feel at home in Waylon’s catalogue, but with a touch of my personal optimism.”
Indeed, The Give ‘Em Hell Boys have made a country record unlike any you’re likely to hear this year, a point further driven home by the stunning cover art by Katy Wicks depicting a psychedelic cock fight between two mutant rooster-dragons. If you can wrap your head around that image, then The Give ‘Em Hell Boys might just be your new favourite band.
Track listing:
01 BGD (Bluegrass Is Dead)
02 Ain’t Gonna Write (No Songs Today)
03 This Drink’s On Misery
04 Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line
05 More Noise In An Already Noisy World
06 This Too Shall Pass
07 Whatcha Gonna Do?
08 Almost Perfect
09 All Said And Done
10 Revelatin’
11 Enough Rope
For more information, visit https://www.morenoisemusic.com/giveemhellboys.
