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Speedbuggy USA is a road band bent on coalescing
American roots rock with the younger generation, a sound derivative
of hard times, blue-collar life and endless tours around the world.
Though without turning their backs on traditional country completely,
Speedbuggy USA mingles Buck Owens California twang with some Johnny
Cash and the upbeat sound of the Pouges, and more recent The Clash.
And with the famous Texas Outlaw honky-tonk movement, they've made
it difficult to exclude the parallels evoked when matching newer kinds
of Roots-Alt Country and Rockabilly.
The songs drip with pomade sweat, and through the haunting passion
of Timbo's voice, Sloan's bass tones, McMullen's traditionalyet-modern
pedal steel and Muzingo's persevering backbeats, lies a quality of
emotional extremes relative to peering out a window on a cross-country
road trip and seeing different faces all sharing a similar personal
struggle.
Now 2006 brings yet another chapter in the band's history. Valle De
la Muerte is a special anthology of ten songs about the Deep South
and the Badlands of the West an eclectic collection of traditional
roots instrumentation and stripped-down country-rock with a living
room jam session feel. Several songs even come directly from singer
Timbo's strong emotions of the USA's worst natural disaster, Hurricane
Katrina.
"We play songs about real-life people," Timbo says. "I'm
a working man and the songs I sing are for the working man….people
getting through the pain and misery, just suffering to survive. For
instance, the song "Close Down This Honky Tonk" is about
a man's lost dream of love and hope. You all know the kind, that last
man standing at 2:00 a.m. in the bar. Holding on to nothing turns
out to be the best he will ever have…basically a song about
a broken man." The track's "Hurricane" and "All
Washed Away" are about Katrina and were written during the mixing
period of this release. "We had some extra time before the mix
had to be turned in so we contacted everyone we could to get these
song's on the CD," says Timbo. "Once we told people what
we were going to do with the profits, our friends donated their time
and talent."
The instrumentals "Hurricane" and "Gatemouth to Kingsway"
are something that the band have always wanted, and now finally have.
"Instrumentals are like mini soundtracks," says drummer
Patrick Muzingo, "We have always talked about doing them and
this time they fell into our lap. All of us were in the right place
at the right time for those two tracks to happen. We were also fortunate
to have some amazing musicians contribute to, not only those, but
all ten songs on the record."
This marks Speedbuggy USA's 7th release in as many years. Prior releases
such as George Owens, Hardcore Honky Tonk, Cowboys and Aliens, Round
Up, Six Shooter, Red Eyed and Rowdy, plus numerous compilation appearances
show just how diverse this band can be.
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