Drummer - Feel Good Together
Have I told you how much I love Super Bands? You know, like when members of different bands get together (perhaps on their mastered instruments, sometimes trading out) and rock out Hall of Fame style? You know, “Super Bands.”
Well, I do. I love them. I love Super Bands. They’re like my favorite comic book super heroes getting together to kick some ass or expand on their different character attributes.
Such is the case with Drummer, the side project of The Black Keys’s Patrick Carney and several other drummers from various other (unknown to me) independent bands. The lineup includes Patrick Carney on bass, Gregory Boyd from Ghostman & Sandman on drums, Steve Clements from Houseguest on keyboards and backing vocals, Jon Finley (who I had never heard before but am now a fan of) on guitar and lead vocals from the bands Party of Helicopters and Beaten Awake (is he perhaps a Super Band Slut?), and Jamie Stillman of Teeth of the Hydra on guitar.
For a Super Band composed entirely of full-time drummers, the drum parts on Feel Good Together are relatively straight forward. Instead, the album is heavy on synth and guitar riffs which, though they may show a degree of competency making them indistinguishable from other full time players, the writing and craftsmanship tends to show a narrow vision about what a guitar should sound like, or what a synth should sound like. This apparent fanaticism for the melodic instruments also means that in a lot of songs (“Lottery Dust,” “Mature Fantasy,” “Diamonds to Shake”) the vocals and lyrics seem to take a pretty big step back—and not in a good, Exile on Main Street kind of way.
But goddamn…there’s melody here! There’s tunesmanship! And, by God, you can’t help but listen to this record LOUD!
Favorites: “Lottery Dust,” “Buddy Scapes,” and “Diamonds to Shake.”
Get the record here.
