"I feel like dancing, / I can do anything that I want / I got my little rubber boots on / my little rubber boots..."
The gleeful surreal slap and tickle of "Little Rubber Boots" (song and Official Video) by Ever-Lovin' Jug Band, the project of singer-songwriters, multi-instrumentalist (and not instruments) Minnie Heart and Bill Howard, feels like a blend of current doo wop punk, seeded from 50's broad pop / maybe surf rock, 60's country swing and spinning yourself silly on a carnival Gravitron ride. This is not to minimalize what Heart and Howard are doing here. What they do here whether earnest or kitsch (or earnest kitsch) they do super well. So well that in another universe I could have easily seen them on the Ed Sullivan show or Hee Haw, two shows that did not cheap out on the musical acts they shared with the country every week. "Little Rubber Boots" is my first taste from their upcoming album "Move That Thing" set to drop on July 19th, 2024 out on Jalopy Records.
LINER NOTES about a bit about Ever-Lovin' Jug Band's process:
[Everything on the album was written, arranged, played, sung, recorded, and produced by just the two members of the Ever-Lovin’ Jug Band, a duo made up of Minnie Heart and Bill Howard. In addition to a jug on every track, sounds include baritone sax, heavy percussion, drum sets, soaring string sections, tape delay, wild textures, sonic vistas, and backwards effects.]
[In addition to a jug on every track, sounds include baritone sax, heavy percussion, drum sets, soaring string sections, tape delay, wild textures, sonic vistas, and backwards effects. All but two of the songs feature dual lead vocals, where both Howard and Heart sing in unison, to create a double-tracked vocal effect, combining their voices into one, on top of loads of backup vocals, giving it a warm, thick sound. In addition to their own recordings made via vintage tape machines, band member Howard has engineered recording for Mashed Potato Records (including Esther Rose and Jackson & The Janks) while Heart designed the record jackets, logos, and posters.]
[Having completed ‘Move That Thing’ now they are hard at work making a visual presentation of the entire record, working on twelve music videos, one for every song from the album, inspired by the sci-fi, film noir, b-films, kung-fu, boring documentaries, outsider/art films, '70s schlock, crappy vintage TV shows, old music videos, etc., they had spent endless hours watching and studying while stuck at home during the cold pandemic winters.]
This wonderfully strange band is such a grand surprise just like the Official Video for "Little Rubber Boots". For whatever reason, the imagery, the attitudes here had me thinking of The Muppets, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and Roy Rowland's 1953 movie co-written by Dr. Seuss, 'The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T'. I like art made by the outliers etc, and maybe Ever-Lovin' Jug Band are just that, not sure, ha and please note that I consider wierdos as my people (so to speak). Musically speaking, Howard and Heart's musicality feels incredibly present and vibrant and I can imagine that their jam sessions, improvisations are killer.
[Having completed ‘Move That Thing’ now they are hard at work making a visual presentation of the entire record, working on twelve music videos, one for every song from the album, inspired by the sci-fi, film noir, b-films, kung-fu, boring documentaries, outsider/art films, '70s schlock, crappy vintage TV shows, old music videos, etc., they had spent endless hours watching and studying while stuck at home during the cold pandemic winters.]
This wonderfully strange band is such a grand surprise just like the Official Video for "Little Rubber Boots". For whatever reason, the imagery, the attitudes here had me thinking of The Muppets, Pee Wee's Playhouse, and Roy Rowland's 1953 movie co-written by Dr. Seuss, 'The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T'. I like art made by the outliers etc, and maybe Ever-Lovin' Jug Band are just that, not sure, ha and please note that I consider wierdos as my people (so to speak). Musically speaking, Howard and Heart's musicality feels incredibly present and vibrant and I can imagine that their jam sessions, improvisations are killer.
As I listen to Ever-Lovin' Jug Band I think of a widely diverse list of bands like Pere Ubu, Violent Femmes, Shannon and the Clams, The King Khan & BBQ Show, Faming Lips, HABIBI, Hunx and his punx or maybe an amalgam of all such artists in terms of being artistic outliers, of having their own specific clear visions of what they want to create.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
http://www.everlovinjugband.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/everlovinjugband
https://everlovinjugband.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/everlovinjugband/
Ever-Lovin' Jug Band's video for their hit number "Little Rubber Boots", off their upcoming album "Move That Thing", coming out on Jalopy Records!
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