photo by Elisabeth Donaldson
VOLK has a wonderfully busted up country spiked blues rock sound like a fight between honky tonk and punk (in some way) and listening to Chris Lowe's chunky big hollow body guitar and Eleot Reich's down home in your face vocal aesthetic and pounding drumming and I oddly thought of an amalgam of the hillbilly swoon of The Carter Family and the caustic L.A. punk sound of X (no kidding). And, in an alternate universe kind of way, Lowe has the glitter sparkle play of Billy Zoom and Reich has the derisive take no prisoners charm of Exene Cervenka.
Their latest track "Old Palestine" is delicious in it's gritty scowling sound. Lowe's guitar embraces the melody that Reich's amazing croon mirrors in a truly roots sort of way. The porch blues sound rolled in honky-tonk like chicken rolled in ample amounts of cornstarch infused flour, before dropping in the friar, is deeply engaging because it sounds honest and real. Make no mistake about it, there is chewing on scenery within this sound but that, after all, is the rock and roll here and it is gleefully bold.
“Old Palestine (TX)” is an unfiltered critique of the American South. It takes its beats from Neil Young's “Southern Man” and Bruce Springsteen's “Born in the USA,” as well as the writings of Twain, Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, and Thomas Wolfe. It will be the final single dropped before the release of VOLK's first full-length album, Cashville, on May 28th via Romanus Records.
The boldness of VOLK's overall aesthetic extends to the social commentary in this song and the pair de-glorify the small town mythos framing it squarely at Lowe's hometown of Palestine, Texas. The town like many throughout the south have a difficult time reconciling their past. Steel tentacles hold onto Southern Pride while not coming to terms with old racism and white supremacy that forges modern day systematic and cultural racism, "modern-day residents left trapped in an antebellum time warp, drowning in stagnant economies, crumbling infrastructures, and cultural vacuums, victims to corporate scavenging."
Step into VOLK's downhome stew of garage rock, country-fied blues baked rock, hillbilly punk toned musical diatribe.
-Robb Donker Curtius
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Lightning-charged duo VOLK is a Molotov cocktail of high-octane Rock & Roll and Honky-Tonking Country swagger. Their live performances explode with Chris Lowe's (TX, guitar) and Eleot Reich's (CA, drums) Motor City energy and Nashvegas pageantry. They boast musical influences ranging from the Carter Family to Little Richard to Dwight Yoakam to ACDC. VOLK is loud suits and loud amps, shiny dresses and shiny drumsets; it’s growling tones and thunderous beats; VOLK is Rock & Roll, Country-Fried.
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