Liquor Store

***There are a lot of bands out there these days that claim they play rock and roll. A lot bands who think they're Crazy Horse, a lot of guitar players who think they're Neil Young, a lot of "punks" who think the Grateful Dead are cool, a lot of hippies who call themselves punks. They're all pretenders, the lot of them, writing songs for "fans" to stream on their playlists, making records for collectors of vinyls, podcasting about their own artistic process. Bandcamp hustlers, Spotify jokers. It's all so precious, making music for people to get all wistful over, as if stirring feelings of melancholia in bunch of work-from-home keyboard pounders makes them a real rock band. It's a fraud. That's fake music. You want real rock and roll? Ask that guy who just finished a ten hour shift making the pizzas those same melancholy meatheads ordered on Grubhub in between Twitter updates what he wants to hear. Ask the punk who delivered that pie what was on in the car while they drove through human traffic garbage to get it to their doorstep. Ask the dude who just dropped off your weed order what he's got in those headphones. You know what the answer will be? They're the ones listening to true rock and roll. And that true rock and roll is LIQUOR STORE. Yes, true believers, Liquor Store have returned to save the world. Again. They've been hunkered down since 2013's 'In the Garden' (the finest long playing record made in that year of the lord, by the way), chewing on cigs, killing tall cans and tightening guitar strings, waiting for the right time emerge phoenix-like and let their guitar fire shine like a beacon of light over this world gone to shit. And I'll tell you what, this new record isn't going to have you staring at your shoes feeling all sadsack about the shitshow of the past year-plus and how emotional it is to know there's some glimmer of hope out there because life is soooo special... no, this record is going to make you forget all that shit completely. This record is going to make you feel alive again, these guitars are like oxygen, these songs rushing like blood to your heart. Liqour Store IS the light at the end of the tunnel, and whether that is the Lincoln Tunnel or the tunnel of your inner thoughts, IT DOESN'T MATTER, because this is as real as rock and roll gets. This is Van Halen, The Dictators, BOC, LFD, KBD, RVD, MC5, all that shit. Real rock music for real fucking people. Two songs that the band needed to record for us so badly they stopped by the studio of a famous musician while on the lam in Nashville, discovered he was not there (perhaps visiting the other half of his band in Ohio) and just decided to discreetly lay down these two tracks in one scorching hot take direct to tape before he got back. The results have the Brothers sounding extra raw and in the pocket here, "Scumbag" on the A-Side being yet another of their can't-miss rockers, dropping a heavy riff and a fist-pumping refrain alongside some inspired guitar explorations of the heat-seeking variety. The type of song records were made with a top side for. "We Buy Gold" on the flip visits more familiar terrain for the boys, the mid-tempo party track, one of those tunes you need to have on the boombox while killing a 30 pack with the crew at the swimming hole or inhaling spliffs around the campfire. A real feel good anthem is what I'm saying. A rocker and a roller for the price of one here, a record any real music head will want to hear and then wish they had made. True rock and roll that will make you forget that the world is shit and leave you wanting to live that much harder. And here's the real good news: lookout for the new LP "Powerburner" out sooner than later. You're welcome.