ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY
Locked and Loaded
By: Erin Fox
Although Alabama Thunderpussy set out for a stripped-down, rough and raw approach on Open Fire, the band’s latest
platter of grimy sonic rebellion, the resulting effects are no less substantial than what we’ve heard from the group in the past. Gathering up inspiration from every musical style that’s atypical of the underbelly of American subculture, ATP has once again delivered the type of bone-shaking, awe-inspiring testament to reckless abandon that forms the foundation of all great rock music. With Open Fire marking the induction of former Exhorder belter Kyle Thomas into the band’s line-up, fans can be confident that the band’s latest record packs an even harder punch than ever before.
Erik Larson takes his axe-wielding in ATP very seriously. You can point to the band’s former efforts like Fulton Hill and Staring At The Divine for prime sonic examples of his no-nonsense attitude toward laying listeners out with a raging slab of monster, twin-lead powered sounds, but the guitarist relates the band worked even harder at going for the throat with their latest set of boisterous rock thunder. Does this new record reaffirm the group as one of the most powerful forces in American rock today? The answer is unequivocally yes. When asked whether Open Fire takes the band to an entirely new level, the answer from Larson is decisive. “Absolutely. I know every band says that, every time, but it’s true. We joked in the band room about it a bit, suggesting thanks list credits for certain folks as ‘Thanks…we couldn’t have done it with ya.”
That brings up a rather poignant question: How has the interpersonal dynamic in
ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY changed since replacing the band’s former front man Johnny Weills with Thomas? “Well, I think for one,” says Larson, “the cowardly way in which Weills left the band, and the causes for his departure - for example drugs - made everyone snap to and really say ‘Enough is enough, no bullshitting around.’” Larson goes on to say, “We dug deeply into the song writing first and foremost. Secondly, we are all in it for the right reasons, Kyle included. We want to create great songs that have a lasting impact. I think the year that we spent in the basement slugging it out has unified the band with purpose more than ever before. It’s nice when everyone enjoys each other’s company both inside and outside of band related things.”
For those fans that remember loving Thomas’ performance on the classic EXHORDER record Slaughter In The Vatican, excitement is definitely in order. Although the music of ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY is unquestionably stylistically separated from the straight-ahead thrash grooves of the growling vocalist’s previous act, his dominant presence has made a major impact upon the sonic agenda of these resolute rockers. Larson gushes over the acquisition of Thomas, relating, “All I can say is that from the first notes that I heard coming out of his mouth, I turned to Bryan and said something like, ‘When’s he coming up?’ It was an instantaneous gut reaction, and when y’all hear him with us, I think everyone else will feel the same way.”
Sans vocalist, these Southern-fried, dirt-punk giants set to work on Open Fire, determined to put forth their most earth-rumbling set to date. Since July of ’05, the group spent plenty of time honing their latest cuts to ensure their deadly effectiveness. “Basically, we wrote 14 songs and 11 made the album, mostly because we didn’t want to have a long record this time. The other three will see the light of day eventually down the road. The time spent writing just gave us an opportunity to fine tune them all before going into the studio.” Fans will agree upon hearing the finished product, Open Fire contains plenty of spot-on bull’s-eye tracks. It’s obvious the band made the effort to go the extra mile.
Holing themselves up in Etching Tin studios, new vocalist in tow, ALABAMA
THUNDERPUSSY bashed out the hard-hitting material that listeners will hear on Open Fire with a resounding vigor. Larson indicated his happiness with the somewhat quirky production house, stating, “Well, basically the studio was just a great dead room. This enabled Ian Whalen to get accurate sounds. There was really a minimal approach to the production on Open Fire. Unlike some of the records we’ve done in the past, this one was very stripped down. We used two guitar tracks and very little effects on anything, including vocals. We just felt that we’ve done all the ‘huge sounding record’ thing with 48 different guitar tracks and amps and weirdo mic-ing techniques, and extra instrumentation to last us a while. We just wanted to make a raw tough as nails album. Call it what you want, it’s ATP as we are, a hodge-podge of styles blended and made unison.”
Much the same as the band itself, Etching Tin carries its own distinctive personality, right down to the infamous, mystical “Golden Ass” that haunts the studio’s inhabitants with its bafflingly supernatural presence. “There is a really strange recovering addicts vibe to the studio,” said the guitarist, “There is all this weird Christian stuff everywhere. The Golden Ass, if I remember correctly, is a papier-maché head that kept appearing on certain people’s heads throughout the session. There was nothing to read there but 1980’s Rolling Stone magazines and Fredrick’s of Hollywood catalogues. That was the extent of the porn, fucking underwear rags. So you’ve got to entertain yourself somehow, hence the Golden Ass.”
“I hope the reaction to Open Fire will be something like ‘Holy shit!! What happened to this band?’” Judging from the furious viscosity with which the group attacks the entire new effort, such a reaction is not only likely; it is inevitable. Larson emphatically speaks of Open Fire, “I love each track for its uniqueness and individual ass-kicking ability. All I can say is, this record will instantly grab you. It runs the gamut, from four-on-the-floor hard rocking, to classic ATP stomp, to heavy as shit metal sounds.”
The gristly six-string handler feels the album also contains the band’s most memorable material to date, observing, “A lot of the vocal hooks are unforgettably catchy. For the first time we have an album that in its entirety is a sing-along, anthemic piece of work. But also, everything here does that for me, whether it’s the riffs, drum fills, solos, little moods and bass licks. There’s just so much to latch onto.”
You can sense a renewed confidence in Larson. Feel free to attribute such increased self-esteem to the rise in the band’s proficiency as players and songwriters. But no matter what level of adeptness ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY attains, the member’s reasons for playing have stayed the same: “That’s true especially for Bryan and me.” Larson muses. “We learned how to play in this band. Other than that, I don’t think the attitudes or reasons for playing have changed one bit. We still do it because we love it and hope others will too.”
Naturally, the band’s raw power is often fueled by a bit of fun, and when it comes to
recreation, ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY can hang with the best of them as well. A bit of relief from the intense pressures of making Open Fire helped to take away a bit of the tension associated with the changes in the band and the pressures of realizing its long-awaited new effort. “Speaking for myself, I’m not a smoker.” Larson says of his partying habits. “Some of the other guys do, but mainly I stick to drinking bourbon and beer. And I’ve gotta say, I’ve spent many a night sitting around with my acoustic and a liter of Evan Williams, writing as well as drinking the frustration away. This record has probably been the most intense one we’ve ever written. Not just in the meticulous nitpicking, but the back and forth aspects. Just when we thought a song was finished, someone, me included, would come into the basement and have a new idea or perspective on it. We wrote this without a singer, so we really had a chance to focus solely on the musicality of it, and I think that rings true throughout the album.”
Do Larson and his band mates plan to hit the road long and hard in support of the powerful new record? There’s little question when the guitarist ardently states, “Count on it.” With the release of Open Fire looming in the not-too-distant future, Larson is certainly looking forward to taking this fiery new batch of songs directly to the people. When asked which songs he believes are going to make the most substantial impact on the band’s swarms of fans in a live situation, the player confirms, “All of them. We wrote them with our live show in mind, so I think they all fit really well in that context. When we play, it’s not just unrelenting assault, we try to create a certain ebb and flow, mood shift kind of thing, so all of them fit the bill in that context. Come see us play and you’ll see what I mean.”
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