An Unfunny Joke

Happy 80th Birthday Waylon!

Single Review: Lee Brice "Boy"

By Jonny Brick

Two of the finest songs of the last decade are I Don’t Dance and I Drive Your Truck. The former has been played on Spotify alone 67m times, the latter a mere 24m times. The voice of Lee Brice, sort of like Tim McGraw’s (in fact a lot like the voice of Tim McGraw), carries both of those songs.

Much like "My Old Man," the new Zac Brown song which does this without programmed drums and synths, this song is another to be found in the sub-genre of Dad/Son-country. It could also be a message to young writers seduced by the headlights of modern country; head to the trunk, where’s there is gold to be found in mining the human condition.

We have a while to wait for the album, self-titled (like Tim McGraw’s first album) and out in November. Tim is on tour this year, still plugging Damn Country Music, which contains "Humble & Kind," a song written by a mum to her kids but sung by Tim, a dad of three.

Musically there are two magical moments in Boy: Lee’s little chuckle in the second verse after the word ‘stubborn,’ and the slide guitar sound before the sombre final chorus which ends on the line ‘run like he’s bulletproof and total a car, too.’ Country must realise that, above other genres, it puts family first, rather than the act of making babies.

"Boy" is thus one of those ‘advice’ songs country music offers (some star or other has just put one out called "Speak to a Girl"). It’s a song from a dad to his son, who will ‘always be my boy’ even if he is genetically programmed to repeat the mistakes of his dad. The middle eight is tender, as the dad feels sorry that his son is off – on his gap year? To NYU? To fight for his country?

Lee is a father-of-two, soon to be a father-of-three, and he must have seized on this song when it was sent to him for consideration. "Boy" was written by Nicolle Galyon (Automatic, It Ain’t Pretty) and Jon Nite (Strip It Down, We Were Us, Think a Little Less). It’s a winner, and an example of what contemporary songwriters in Nashville can do when they step off the tailgate.

After five years of drinking beer, cruising and eating a catfish dinner, country music is hopefully waking up to what Chris Young would call a Sober Saturday Night. If it lasts a few years, so much the better for top quality songs about real things coming out of Music Row and given the confidence to make headway into the charts and people’s playlists.

8/10

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Hell Has Frozen Over: Everlast is Back in the Hip Hop Game

by Robert Dean

One cool thing about music is that there’s always a chance to be pleasantly surprised. More often than I’d like to admit, I go into listening to stuff with a piss poor attitude that it’s going to suck, and then I come out feeling like an asshole because the music in question goes hard. Today’s review is no exception.

So, I’m scrolling through my podcast feed, and Joe Rogan pops up. I see he’s got Everlast on. I haven’t heard that name in a long time. I wasn’t into the whole Whitey Ford thing - my Everlast is wearing a Celtics jersey and rapping about Irish shit – the House of Pain Everlast. I figure, why not. Let’s see if this dude starts talking about some “Where Are They Now” scenario or whatever. I was genuinely interested in Everlast’s career trajectory and what he’s been up to.

The interview itself was good. These two, Joe Rogan and Everlast have a long-standing friendship, and it shines through in how they talk to one another. But, when Everlast started mentioning his new group, I was like, Nah. It’s gonna be corny. It’ll be some half-assed attempt at being relevant in an age where relevance changes hourly thanks to Internet culture. I was NOT into thinking about Everlast, the OG rapping alongside some dork with a Rose’ bottle and boat shoes. I assumed Everlast’s new group would suck.

And boy, was I dead fucking wrong.

Warporn Industries, Everlast’s new group doesn’t throw down, they wreck shop and leave the building in ruins. On their debut mixtape, (which is free for download), the group consisting of Everlast, Divine Styler, and Sick Jacken go prison yard hard for a bunch of dudes well into middle age. It’s 100% a coming home, a return form for Everlast, as he dusts off that razor sharp tongue once again.

The beats on the Warporn Industries mixtape crush, sampling Led Zeppelin, old doo-wop tunes, even jazz, and funk. There are no trap beats, no mumbles. This is straight west coast hip hop for folks who can’t relate to the radio or only listen to Backspin in the car. The bars that these old cats spit aren’t about what middle-aged men do, but instead examining the world that they’ve been brought up, but further, the world their kids are coming up in.

The songs are a collection of honorable stabs at the artform that many would say is losing its way. But, because it’s honest, because it’s a project built by a crew of dudes who’ve paid their dues, the energy isn’t driven by a false narrative, but instead, it’s a Rolodex of situational anger. There is no love lost for the current administration, for the culture of the country, and for the legacy, we’re leaving across the board.

If you’re a hip-hop fan, you need to give the Warporn Industries mixtape a listen. It’s free, and it slays. It’s a crime the project will go under the radar, but at least the shows will be packed with fans of the artform and not just because it’s the thing to do. But, really – that’s the basis of Everlast’s whole career: do what’s honest vs. what’s easy.

https://www.warpornindustries.com/mixtape