The history of blues is about as long in time as the Mississippi is. . . .long, and LLC include many elements from one of the most pure American art forms and combine it with the simplicity of Punk. I don’t claim to be a big Country or Blues fan but I appreciate the classics. Hank Williams Sr, Cash, Elvis, Link Wray, BB King, SRV and such. In no way am I about to throw LLC into this elite group but it is obvious that their main inspiration is rooted in Blues. Instead of doing research I figured I’d just dive head first into ‘All You Can Eat’ and hope that it would be just that.
The opening track "Crackalacka" sounds about as crazy as its name. It opens with a wild twangy riff with a relentless slide that rolls for about four bars. When the drums kick in you feel like you are on a high speed country cruise to anywhere south. This track alone sets the tone for the rest of the album. It is relentless but not too aggressive, fast but not so fast that it sounds awkward. It’s just right. Fast Bluegrass style picking combined with old school Punk rawness grabs you quickly. Evans voice sounds like a sad old country boy who just stubbed his toe. Not the most attractive sound but you feel for the guy. He plays a mean steel guitar, uses the hell out of the slide and his distortion has to consist of a few holes in the speaker. "Sausage Paw" Beck’s drums sound like they consist of a old snare, a kicking floor tom and two cymbals but they do the trick. Plus he’s got a great nickname and plays the Jaw-Harp.
"Hillgrass Bluebilly" is the second track and takes a slight turn into to deep south territory. The riff dropped me right into a murky swamp in the dead of summer when bugs buzz by your ears non stop. Heavy blues influence is shown on this knuckle dragging tune. Just as soon as you find your way out of the swamp the album takes another turn with "Ol’ Fashion". On the third track they unplug and shift down to granny gear. "Ol’ Fashion" is what sold me. It’s an old time kind of blues tune, and really displays their musicianship and admiration for the style. "Black Lung", "Hard Luck" and "Broke Ass Blues" fill out the middle of the album well, displaying more punk influence reminiscent of The Ramones, Dead Kennedys and The Stooges.
Overall I found this to be a really good listen and a really well produced album. I enjoy listening to bands who push the boundaries and are not afraid to be different and Left Lane Cruiser is just that. They take elements of some of the most basic but timeless forms of American music and make it their own. I’m not big on the New Age Country and Hellbilly movement but I have my ears open. – Stereokiller
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From the greasy slide-guitar-and-drum-pummeling intro to opener “Crackalacka”, you either jump in and let Left Lane Cruiser take you on a hell-raising hayride or plain get out of the way because Freddy J. Evans IV (guitar/vocals) and Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck (drummer/“trash”/vocals), a powerhouse duo out of Fort Wayne, Indiana, are roots-music revolutionaries who take no prisoners on their second outing for Alive Records. Following 2008’s Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table, All You Can Eat assimilates the Mississippi Delta blues laid down by guys like Big Joe Williams and Son House and cultivates it into a country punk ‘n’ blues speedball. “Hillgrass Bluebilly” is a frenetic juke-joint stomper that finds Freddy J IV hollerin’ out a reference to the Who’s “Squeeze Box”. “Ol’ Fashioned” is a country-picking blues flashback with washboard, while the primal trio of “Black Lung”, “Broke Ass Blues”, and “Putain!” finds the boys strutting through stoner-blues country with bravado. It doesn’t get a lot better than this. – Alan Brown / PopMatters
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The music sounds so big you wouldn’t necessarily realize that you are listening to a duo, comprised of Fort Wayne, Indiana locals Freddy J. "Joe" Evans IV on guitar and vocals, and Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck on vocals, drums, misc. percussion, and various other noisy implements. Big bands wish they could sound like this! In their live shows Left Lane Cruiser tends to pay homage to their blues origins, with gritty covers of classics like "Rollin" and "Tumblin’" and "Black Betty" which lend themselves to a hard driving electric onslaught (witness the late RL Burnside). But in the ten original songs on All You Can Eat!! they really show their own style, on this album that was recorded in five days with some of the songs written on the spot.
The beautifully instrumental "Ol’ Fashioned" is full of fast furious guitar licks, while "Crackalacka" and "Waynedale" make you feel like you are fast forwarding through a sick car chase. "Hard Ass Blues", "Black Lung", and "Hard Luck" feature wrenching vocals and messy, noisy guitar that made me want to do some shots and resume smoking cigarettes. This is not safe music, but intense gritty, dirty stuff that makes you want to shower after listening.
All You Can Eat!! is old fashioned music without the slick production that I, for one, have grown so used to — and quite bored with. It reminds me of live Cramps, RL Burnside, and even old Henry Rollins. If CBGBs was still open that would be the venue I could see Left Lane Cruiser playing. Amid the dirt, the history, and the gritty smoky fog. – Lynda Lippin / Blogcritics
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Grab your whiskey and get ready to rage. I’ve never heard a more powerful and gritty blues rock duo than these guys. Left Lane Cruiser is a two man outfit out of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. They’re a couple of thrashers that can play the hell out of some punkesque garage blues. Think along the lines of a possessed Black Keys, Jack White without his cute peppermint outfits, or even ole’ R.L. Burnside fresh off divorcing his sixth wife and a four day bender. These guys don’t F around. Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck plays the ever lovin’ shit out of some drums (no joke, dude broke his hand 5 songs into a set a couple years back) while Freddy J IV tears you apart with insane licks off the slide. I dare you to try and listen to these guys and not immediately want to stay up all night slamming shots of Old Crow. – Indieshuffle
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The musical tornado known as Left Lane Cruiser are back. And like a tornado, you better get the hell out of the way or risk finding yourself flat on your ass three miles down the road. The duo of Freddy J. IV and Brenn Beck are back and the formula remains the same – Freddy J. belts out the vocals while he plays the guitar like its on fire and Beck beats the drums like they grabbed his wife’s ass.
While the formula remains the same there are a couple of subtle differences. In spite of an excellent finger-picking acoustic number, “Ol’ Fashioned,” the album sounds heavier (more metal) than Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table and it sounds cleaner than its predecessor, Thanks to Jim Diamond’s production. That’s never more evident than on “Hillgrass Bluebilly” and “Black Lung.” – HearYa
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After a long night of heaving drinking (I know we’ve all been there) you really only have two options if you can’t sleep it off. You can either find a Waffle House and thrown down some grits, gravy, sausage, and strong black coffee or you can suck it up and keep drinking. While neither really works and both usually (ultimately) leave you worse off than before, Left Lane Cruiser’s second album for Alive Records, All You Can Eat, is the musical equivalent of both those choices. You might be familiar with the band as having the #16 album on my list of favorite albums of 2008, but if you aren’t, listen up. Left Lane Cruiser is punk-ass blues duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana whose sonic slop is simply ferocious. Joe Evans bashes on the electric guitar and spits out distorted and liquor-stung vocals while Brenn Beck smashes his drums like a man possessed. It’s a rumbling tinnitus-inducing musical vertigo of swampy Mississippi-style ghetto electric blues that’s greasy, grimy, gritty, and basically un-fucking-real. It’s the kind of music that should be played in dark, sweaty, dive bars while yer pounding shots of Wild Turkey. What you really need to know is that All You Can Eat has been in steady rotation since it came across my desk about a month ago and ain’t goin’ nowhere anytime soon. – Can You See The Sunset?
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Left Lane Cruiser is called a lot of different things. Most say it’s a blues band, but they are also a hard rock band with a lot of Southern fried attitude. They are their own category. Call them Industrial Redneck, or Country Thrash.
Backed by Brenn "Sausage Paw" Becks’ flurry of drums, Freddy J Evans IV’s guitar buzzes into the opening track, "Crackalacka," which allows Evans to screams out lines like, "Sweet ass, tastes like chicken." You quickly figure out what these boys from Fort Wayne, Indiana are all about.
Evans is great with the fuzzy blues licks, as he demonstrates on "Broke Ass Blues," but he is also capable of some fancy finger-picking, which he showcases on the almost entirely instrumental "Ol’ Fashioned," which also features some of Becks’ fine washboard playing.
But for the most part this is big, bold, in your face, industrial blues with a country punk attitude. "Waynedale" pounds along at such a torrid pace, it seems like the perfect music for the next Grand Theft Auto.
Producer Jim Diamond, who worked on the first two White Stripes CDs, should be credited for the full, fuzzy sound. He provided lots of old amps and a bunch of microphones in front of each one to record each muffle and crackle. The result is Megadeth if they had grown up in Louisiana listening to Delta country and blues. Sounds intriguing, don’t it? – Al Kaufman / Atlanta Music Guide
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Live in London review : There is a huge satisfaction when a master of a trade shows you how it’s done and this is exactly what Left lane Cruiser do in abundance. Although a laid back approach is carried to their stage presence with Freddy J’s sit down position, Left Lane Cruiser work as a total powerhouse unit. Easing themselves in with a stomping cover of Muddy Waters’, ‘Rollin’ and Tumblin’ then Lead Belly’s/Ram Jam’s, ‘Black Betty’ warms it up nicely and without fear of airing their influence. This is a band that oozes its natural live ability, they don’t seem to roll through a set list but get moving on how the atmosphere takes them. Nothing but pure, heavy, heart thumping punk blues. Left Lane Cruiser thunder through the tracks ‘Hard Working Man’ and ‘Ol’ Fashioned’, backed with Beck’s pounding drum style and undeniable energy. They even stir things up a little by busting out a washboard and cowbells hinting at a taste of an earthy, roots tinker. But, the low end overdriven guitars, growling vocals, blood, sweat and a belly full of primal blues is the Left Lane Cruiser mix and damn, it’s good. – Blues In London
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Some boxers are like Roy Jones Jr. in his prime and are damned near impossible to hit, some are like Pacquiao and just overwhelm opponents with power & handspeed, while others are like a young Tyson and eschew all style points for pure power. Left Lane Cruiser are like Tyson, and with All You Can Eat, their second album with Alive Records, they’re throwing haymakers from the opening track “Crackalacka” and their power is showing no signs of waning some 9 tracks later as they close with “Waynedale”.
Those familiar with Left Lane Cruiser know exactly what I am talking about. Those that aren’t familiar with this duo from Fort Wayne, Indiana, I gotta ask…why not? Left Lane Cruiser is Freddy J. Evans IV on vocals and guitar assault, while Brenn Beck is responsible for drum abuse and an array of other sounds including washboards and mouth harps. Folks that come around ninebullets with any regularity know that I’ve been singing the praises of these guys since before they were signed to Alive Records, and I can assure you that I will not be stopping with All You Can Eat. Matter of fact, one could say that the band has actually gotten better thanks to the production talents of Jim Diamond. The recording quality of All You Can Eat is night and day better than the previous albums, leaving every instrument clear and audible at high volumes (and believe me, I’ve put it to the test).
So, next time you find yourself in the need of blues-fueled, rock-driven cd in the midst of a whiskey rage, then this, the newest entry to the 9b.net Essential Listening list, is exactly what the doctor requires. You like this site? You’ll love this disc…trust me. – Nine Bullets
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Five New Songs We Love: September 23, 2009 – Blender
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A two-man groop, Left Lane Cruiser kicks up a howling fuzz of dirt road holler, a hard-scrabble blues-punk blast created by messrs. Freddy J IV (Guitar, Vocals) and Brenn "Sausage Paw" Beck (Drums, Trash, Hollerin’), straight outta Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Somethin’ aint right with these boys, and that’s good. Mmmm mmmm good.
Somewhere there’s a world where Left Lane Cruiser is blasting out of every ’72 Chevy Nova and broke-ass VW van, the road a bleared smudge in the rear view mirror. Drums that burn down bridges full of oil and fire, a guitar fucked into submission with god shining his face across six strings of hillstomptrash skull-fuckery. Above it all a voice all cracker-ass kick and wail…"feed me, baby, and I’m yours". – Big Rock Candy Mountain
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Left Lane Cruiser is the real deal. They are blues at its best, filth at its finest, with just two men who are evoking enough inner demons to populate an entire circle of hell. Raising a ruckus, punching throats, and blackening eyes all the way from Ft. Wayne Indiana, Left Lane Cruiser makes a bigger and louder racket than most five-man operations, never once sacrificing songwriting or musicianship for the sake of bombasity. – Andrew Bryant / Disc Exchange
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From the humble beginnings of The White Stripes and Black Keys it seems like two-person bands, especially blues-based ones, have become commonplace. Left Lane Cruiser is a couple of guys out of Fort Wayne, Indiana. They have beards, wear hoodies ‘n’ backwards baseball caps, and write songs with titles like "Hillgrass Bluebilly", "Broke Ass Blues" and "Crackalacka." They additionally stir up quite a racket for two guys. Speaking of two-person bands, if you remember those Arizona nutjobs from a decade ago, Doo Rag, then you’ll be in the ballpark of where these guys sound, but Freddie J. Evans IV (guitar & vocals) and Brenn "Sausage Paw" Beck (drums, trash, hollerin’) are more influenced by deep Mississippi blues and they do a good job of aping their heroes.
First cut "Crackalacka" comes scootin’ out of the gate with some cool guitar noodle while "Ol’ Fashioned" adds some wiry slide guitar and gravelly vocals, and "Black Lung" is its younger, tougher, more tweaked kid brother. Later, on "Poopdeflex" (song title of the year?) the vocals get more guttural and desperate and at that point you realize one thing about Left Lane Cruiser: they mean it, man. – Tim Hinely / Blurt
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If this Indiana duo’s debut album, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table, was merely an invitation to sample their bill of fare, then this follow-up certainly lives up to its title. All You Can Eat is another taut 35-minute blast of raw garage blues built upon the gigantic riffs of guitarist/shouter Freddy J IV, and the equally towering swagger of drummer Brenn "Sausage Paw" Beck. There’s a bit more of a streamlined quality this time through producer, and early White Stripes mentor, Jim Diamond, who obviously was enamoured with Freddy’s guitar playing. Its dominant place in the mix leaves everything else cowering in its shadow. That’s hardly a bad thing, as tracks like "Black Lung" and "Hard Luck" rock harder than any band with three times as many members could ever hope to. This is exactly the album LLC fans hoped for: another solid collection of material with just enough refinement of their sound to ensure that they have a vision for the future. – Jason Schneider / Exclaim
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‘Dirty’ blues comes to Lexington.
An old chicken-processing plant isn’t the traditional venue for a recording studio. But then again, Left Lane Cruiser is not what most would call a traditional blues band.
Band members Freddie J. Evans IV (aka Joe) and Brenn Beck (aka Sausage Paw) form the Indiana-based band that will hit up The Green Lantern Tuesday night to promote the release of their latest album, “All You Can Eat,” and play what they like to call a little “broke-ass blues.”
The band blends styles that wouldn’t normally be compatible, but when the two musicians come together — Evans with his slide guitar and vocals that sound as if his diet consists of swallowing sandpaper and chewing gravel, and Beck with his collection of hubcaps, trash cans, ladders and whatever garage accessory you can drum a beat on — the result is hard, rusty blues that Beck guarantees will get you moving. – Katie Saltz / Kentucky Kernel
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Scampering out of Fort Wayne, Indiana comes a seriously hard punching, punk blues duo. Freddie J Evans IV and Brenn ‘Sausage Paw’ Beck make up the engine and driver of Left Lane Cruiser with their third release.
The record hits the ground running opening with Crackalacka. Jumping straight into a crisp, fast electric slide guitar and firecracker drumming makes up a perfect intro to this album. Heavily overdriven boot stamping riffs, growling hoarse vocals and leaving nothing to the imagination is exactly how LLC lead on. Each track brings its own edginess to the table. Hillgrass Bluebilly, a bottom lip biting stomp, Ol’ Fashioned, a classic, gritty, finger picking guitar which has inherited a fantastically authentic buzz and Hard Workin Man is a big kick of dirty, power blues which makes you drive your car fast. The whole record is just as it should be. High velocity, vicious, thumping, ass-kicking punk blues delivered with passion and depth. This is an out of control locomotive which is about to run off its rails.
Freddie J’s vocals are frighteningly raw, mixed with his rampant guitar playing style puts him at the top of the pile of charismatic front men and with Beck’s machine gun drumming makes this an awesome pairing. An image of a smoky, whiskey stained basement and a bunch of stolen equipment is undoubtedly the setting for the recording of this album. A good full on record, no messing, in your face head splitting punk blues. This would be a great soundtrack for a cage fighting medley and is definitely not something for the faint hearted.
Left Lane Cruiser tick all the boxes from the relentlessly hard hitting sound to their cool names. This is not something for the faint hearted. Rest assured this is more than you can eat! – Will Bray / Blues In London
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Some right there in the zone, raw, blistered, no messing, slide-guitar freight-train riding blues. Oh yes, Hillgrass bluebilly hard working good honest black-lunged blues music delivered with a nail on the head righteous punk-fried attitude. They’re from Fort Wayne, Indiana, they sound like Seasick Steve for Rose Tattoo heads in need of an Ol’ fashion lo-fi five dollar shoe-shine… This is good, this is very good, certainly not the putting in of a twenty and the taking out of a forty here, the good is there in these Broke Ass Blues. There’s just two of ‘em, broken down old scratchy electric guitar, gravel throats and drum kit. There’s some great You Tube footage if you have the time to go look. They got bags of soul in there, they got it all nailed, real deal stripped back raw broken bottle stripped to the bone blues goodness. – Organ Magazine
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Their third cd ‘All You Can Eat’ is loaded with sleazy, raw, heavy North Mississippi blues, which grabs you at the throat from first track ‘Crackalacka’ until the last song’Waynedale’ is fading out; only ‘Ol’ Fashioned’ gives the listener a short break to breathe. – FuryRocks
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Highly intense Blues/Rock Duo from Fort Wayne, Indy come straight out with no holds barred, in your face, hardcore slide steel top guitars, slightly distorted gravel throat vocals and drums that you normally don’t hear in such a genre that has me thinking that these guys have been around the block more than once and decided to go in a different direction than your typical two piece outfit. This is a CD that any Guitarist or Drummer can appreciate with such RAW emotion behind every track grabs your attention and holds you too it till the next…and that doesn’t happen to often. AWESOME isn’t a big enough word to describe this band. – Neus Subjex
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They didn’t change a thing and they don’t have to because this two-man band sounds like there’s four of them anyway and their songwriting skills are top-notch. – Punk Rock Theory
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Two-man blues bands have become their own genre, blossoming from the font of the White Stripes and a dozen others. Left Lane Cruiser is a Fort Wayne, Indiana duo that offers roaring storms of electric slide playing by Freddy J IV (Fredrick Joe Evans IV) and powerful, driving drumming by Brenn Beck. Though the songs often settle into standard blues progressions, the raw, shouted vocals and in-your-face electric guitar force is quite unsettling. Beck is constantly in motion on his snare and kick drums, adding cymbal crashes for texture, while Evans alternates between greasy power chords, low-string riffs and slide licks that alchemize electricity into music. The torrent of distortion clears momentarily as the duo turns the volume down for finger-picking and washboard percussion on “Ol’ Fashioned.” But mostly the duo rages, with Evans’ growl sufficiently distorted to obscure many of his lyrics. But with titles that include “Black Lung,” “Hard Luck,” and “Broke Ass Blues,” the pain isn’t subtle. This is very much what you’d expect from a band that thanks Jim Beam and Pabst Blue Ribbon for “keeping us feelin’ good.” – Hyperbolium
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Freddy J IV is actually quite the demon on the six-string – he plays like he’s visited a crossroads or two, with Kenny Brown by his side and a Lucifer bearing a strong resemblance to RL Burnside. He can do the grunged-out Zeppelin thing, too, when he’s of a mind (cf. Black Lung and Hard Luck), but he really comes alive getting his hands dirty. Frankly, Freddy’s not much of a singer, but when he digs into the frets it doesn’t matter. The songs are perfectly adequate for LLC’s purpose, which is to rock every room like it’s a deep South juke joint (despite the duo being from Fort Wayne, Indiana). – Michael Toland / Sleazegrinder
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The 10 songs on All You Can Eat will leave your jaw on the floor and your eardrums bruised. There’s “Crackalacka,” where Mississippi blues meets punk; and “Black Lung” that will raise the hairs on your neck with its muddy, to-die-for guitar tone; and “Ol’ Fashioned,” a song that is nearly playful in its clean(er) finger picked guitar and lighter drums. I can’t tell you much about the lyrics because it’s difficult to hear clearly. Evans could be singing about leprechauns and unicorns and it would sound like he’s singing about a backwater dive that sells watered-down whiskey to grimy truckers. – Jason Hoffman / Whatzup
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They recorded at Ghetto Recorders, in Detroit, with Jim Diamond. Diamond, aside from being the bass player for The Dirtbombs (one of my personal favorites), also recorded The White Stripes’ first two albums. Needless to say, the fact that Diamond produced All You Can Eat is a bit of a big deal. They both agreed that working with Diamond was one of the best recording experiences they have had so far, and cited that he actually seemed to care about the end result, rather than just getting everything down on tape. “Normally people just want to get you in and out,” Joe said. Brenn added “he knew what we wanted before we even walked in,” and then went on to describe all of the vintage microphones and amps Diamond had ready for them, as well as the way he wanted to place them to get the sound they were aiming for. “There were at least seven mics on Joe’s amp, from old Victrolas ten feet away to right behind the amp to pick up the muffled bass.” In regards to amps, Diamond provided such equipment as old Traynors and Kalamazoos. Joe told me “I literally had 3 stacks by the time it was done…just a wall of power,” none of it newer than the 1960’s. – Read Left Lane Cruiser ‘s interview with the Fort Wayne Reader
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CoreAndCo review (France) | PaperBlog (France) | Rock Times (France) |
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Let us tell you, our rock ‘n roll stethoscopes were blindsided by their downright raw ‘n nasty debut LP. Think of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table as the soundtrack for a ballroom brawl-an electrified six-string sex pantry filled with mojo, empty whiskey bottles and rusty needles drippin’ with 40W motor oil. Freddy J IV (Joe Evans) is the chief instigator leading the way with his mojo workin’ and unrelenting straight-ahead rough neck whiskey-soaked fretted guitar violence. Brenn Beck is behind him bangin’ everything from a big-ass bass drum to cowbell to trashcans and hubcaps. – Doctor Mooney’s 115th Dream
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Left Lane Cruiser plays North Mississippi style blues like a lot of blues bands do these days, they just play it louder and harsher than anyone else, and that includes the North Mississippi AllStars. There’s nothing subtle or sophisticated about LLC. Their music lunges straight for your soul, and puts a stranglehold on it until you’re involuntarily rocking along. When I first heard them, I thought they were a three or four piece Southern band presenting a rawer version of the Black Crowes. Turns out, it’s just two guys from Fort Wayne, Indiana. But this ain’t no Black Keys. Joe Evans plays a righteous and riotous slide guitar with snarling lead vocals, while Brenn Beck plays a bass drum, cymbal, washboard, harmonica, and a homemade kit of various thingies to bang on. The dude is just a human multi-percussion machine. Their debut album Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table came out at the beginning of this year and the dozen originals sound like they were composed on a front porch in Tupelo with a Marshall amp set next to the rocking chair. Even when performing at some record store, their sound comes across big enough to fill a stadium. – Pico / Blogcritics
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Left Lane Cruiser guitarist Joe Evans always plays seated, like bygone Mississippi country-blues greats, such as Fred McDowell. Except Evans is 29-years-old and from Fort Wayne, Ind.
“I honestly can’t play standing up,” Evans says. “Some people think that takes away from the visual thing of the shows, but I have to be rooted. And I like to stomp my feet, which I can’t do standing up.”
Even from a chair, Evans is able to pull big, nasty tones from his Les Paul copy, often tuned to open-G or open-D, both slide guitar classics. Meanwhile, LLC drummer Brenn Beck beats his 1965 Ludwig kit with creative aplomb.
Since LLC is a two-piece, the thick sound of their 2008 Alive Records set, “Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table,” is particularly eyebrow raising. Although LLC’s raw grind suggests they spent many hours listening to Fat Possum Records releases, the arrangements on “Bring Yo’ Ass” are more ambitious. – interview with Metromix Greenville
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Patients, it’s time to Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table for the electrifyin’ two-piece Left Lane Cruiser. Think of LLC as a mix of Hound Dog Taylor, Jon Spencer and Lucky Wray and the Palomino Ranch Hands. Kapow, kerpow!
In 2008, Alive Records released Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Left Lane Cruiser’s 12-song label debut, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table. Let us tell you, our rock ‘n roll stethoscopes were blindsided by their downright raw ‘n nasty debut LP. Think of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table as the soundtrack for a ballroom brawl-an electrified six-string sex pantry filled with mojo, empty whiskey bottles and rusty needles drippin’ with 40W motor oil. – Doctor Mooney’s 155th Dream
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SXSW : Good live jams today from the intrepid (and very loud) Left Lane Cruiser– featured at the redoubtable Bohemian Cafe . – Daisy’s Dead Air
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One of them there lo-fi slide guitar street corner broken string wooden box for a drum two piece greased up whisky drenched hobo blues bands outfits. R.L Burnside, Seasick Steve, trash cans, hub caps, meth smoking two dollar pawn shop mics and all sounding as cool as that all sounds – sound, pass me that square bottle with the number seven on it while I go put this sucker on line. – Organ
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In another life, Freddie J IV could have been a good ol’ fingerpickin’, porch-playin’ blues guitarist. Basking away in the sun, he could have whiled away his time exploring the many shades of blues, from country hit whittling to Delta swamp wading. But there was fire in his belly and a flame in his soul, and in his hands the blues were transformed into an assault weapon. Bren "Sausage Paw" Beck was perhaps every mother’s nightmare, a boy who seemingly just couldn’t sit still. In a world pulsing with rhythm — from the blood pounding through our veins to the cacophony of traffic in our towns — Beck had to drum back in response at every turn, on anything and everything available. He is a continuous tattoo, battering out the beats of his own internal drums. Fatefully, one day the two met, and so was born Left Lane Cruiser, an astounding two-man blues band. Lo-fi is a totally inadequate term to describe their sound, a sizzling mix of Beck’s pusillanimous drums, claps, percussion, and hoots and hollers and Freddie J’s blistering guitar and husky vocals. This is the blues in their purest form, rough and ragged, rubbed raw by too much hard living and too many tough breaks. The blues’ African-American progenitors could bare the pain in their souls, but dared not express the anger that underlay it. Cruiser, however, are under no such constraints, and on the trio of songs that close the set the music bristles with barely repressed rage that immediately brings the Stooges to mind. In contrast, the exuberant crash and bash of "Wash It," the dizzy stomp of "KFD," and the gleeful hook of "G Bob" all roil with a grand joie de vivre, with the exhilarating "Set Me Down" the perfect band anthem. Then again, every track on Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table ripples with energy and an electric charge of creative frisson. Whether celebrating a plate of "Pork n’ Beans," "Big Momma"’s delights, or "G Bob"’s steel guitar playing, the Cruisers rumble through the back streets of life, focusing on the small details, although the scathing "Amerika" does look at the bigger picture. A thoroughly unique journey down a well-traveled road; best now to sit yo’ ass down a spell and listen to this stunning album. – Jo-Ann Greene / All Music Guide
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Place Muddy Waters, AC/DC, The Black Keys and ZZTop in a blender and hit frappe, the resulting sound might come close to the music Left Lane Cruiser grinds out on stage. – Unfamiliar with Left Lane Cruiser? Check out their newly released album Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table. Immediately, the head bobbing begins as the sweet twang slowly builds to a blasting garage-band sound. This driving hard rock, blues is the simple combo of Joe Evans on lead vocals and guitar and Brenn Beck on percussion. I say percussion only because Beck makes his sound on any instrument he can get his hands on, ranging from the harmonica to trash cans found in the back alley. – Review Magazine
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Another in the growing number of young, raw blues acts carrying the torch for the late R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, this Indiana guitar/drums duo certainly sound ready to compete with peers like the Black Keys on this full-length debut. And while it suddenly seems fashionable to crank out a few Robert Johnson slide guitar riffs alongside a meth-fuelled drummer, Left Lane Cruiser actually possess enough chops to write some memorable songs. What’s at the root of them is the unshakeable rhythm that singer/guitarist Freddy J IV and drummer Brenn “Sausage Paw” Beck create together, leaving plenty of space for Freddy to strut and holler over top. The line between hip-hop even blurs slightly on heavy stomps like “Big Momma” and “Pork ‘N Beans.” But it just goes to prove that when reduced to its basic elements, the music is all rock’n’roll. And when played with such conviction as Left Lane Cruiser displays, it doesn’t get much better. – Jason Schneider / Exclaim
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Left Lane Cruiser have four years under their belts now and its about time they put out another doozy of an album. The energy of these guys is really intense, almost death metal-ish, and oh-so-perfect. When listening to the record, you can close your eyes and almost picture them onstage in front of you. All of the riffs and solos are fuckin’ amazing, and the fact that they use anything else they can to make more noise (i.e., ladders, hub-caps, trash cans, etc.), only sweetens the sounds coming from the musical device. This is high-quality music from a group who practiced in a heatless garage in Indiana, and whose philosophy in music is "Let your soul drive what you do". Pretty good philosophy, if I say so myself. – Adam Dorobiala / Slug
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Fuck man, this is awesome. I think I probably heard about Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Left Lane Cruiser from the good folks over at Nine Bullets (a great site you should check out BTW) and once I picked up a copy of their latest album, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table, I haven’t been able to turn it off. Their swampy Mississippi ghetto electric blues just rumble like an earthquake inside my head. I’m not even sure how Joe Evans and Brenn Beck (yeah, a two piece) can actually coax this much ferocious noise from their instruments. I love it. If you can’t tell what I think of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table from the few sentences above, here are a few more to convince you. Evans’ blistering electrified slide guitar, his whiskey soaked vocals, and “Sausage Paw” Beck’s thumping are raw like broken, blistered, and bleeding hands splintered and holding a fifth. This shit is greasy, gritty, grimy, and un-fucking-real. I mean, the sweat just drips off this this record thick like motor oil. Left Lane Cruiser is the real deal folks so tap yer toes, stomp yer feet, nod yer head, or do whatever it is you do and go get a copy of Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table. – Can You see the Sunset?
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Alive Records has released Left Lane Cruiser’s label debut, Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table, and it is everything fans of their self-released album, Gettin’ Down On It, could have expected and so much more. I got an iPhone for Christmas and in preparation for the beginning of the year, I planned to load the new LLC, Drive-By Truckers and N. Mississippi Allstars albums on it for listening in my New Years travels. I never made it to the DBT or NMA discs. Joe and Brenn headed into Painesville, Ohio’s Suma Studios, a studio full of reel to reels and vinyl cutting machines, and emerged with a blues-fueled, rock-driven cd on the verge of a whiskey rage. This is a must add to the Essential Listening list and currently my favorite cd of this young year. You like this site? You’ll love this disc…trust me. – Nine Bullets
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Left Lane Cruiser’s high-voltage blues sound is downright nasty. Blistering electric slide guitar and leering vocals distill old-school Mississippi blues down to its rowdiest essence. This band has some major mojo. – Casual Listening
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At this day and age when most musicians attempt to defy time and skip to the future, Left Lane Cruiser has successfully revamped the reason why classic blues and country music are the footprints of many other genres today. With members Joe Evans (slide guitar, vocals) and Brenn Beck (drums, harmonica, vocals, percussion), the blues based band from Fort Wayne, Indiana has shown through their second album (first nationally released) Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table that blues and country music can still be cool. – Phil Lee / DecentXposure
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You know they put word counts on these to maximize space for ad revenue. I get it. Folks gotta eat but sometimes I just wanna write a review with 150 of the longest words I can find and see what the reaction would be. Besides, I only need 2 words to review the new Left Lane Cruiser: fucking awesome. Too short? Fine here it is in long form: Fucking awesome punkass garage blues. Imagine if the Black Keys got pissed off. LLC is the reason your cd player has an 11 on the volume knob. I got mine on 28 right now. Just ask the neighbors 2 blocks away. LLC is music to get drunk and pet your dog to so I’m gonna stop typing, refill this glass and help the neighbors 3 blocks know what’s up. – Reax Magazine FL
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LLC won’t seduce you with poetic lyrics, but they’ll start you off with a whiskey on the rocks to warm you up on the intro track, “Wash It,” and then run you over with brute force throughout the rest of the album. Lead singer/Slide guitarist, Joe Evans, sounds like he is foaming at mouth as he isn’t going down without a fight. Brenn Beck beats the drums like they owe him money and blows a damn good harmonica. Three songs into Bring Yo’ Ass to the Table, we’re greeted by “Pork N’ Beans,” a song about a plate of pork n’ beans. Nothing more. In the same vein as Mofro’s “Ho Cake,” Left Lane Cruiser show that simple tunes about food can hit with as much punch as the most complicated piece of music if performed well. This is a booze-fueled, blues romp that Evans devours. Midway through the album you’ll find “Justify,” a song full of rage about racism. It’s the song Zach De La Rocha would have written if he’d have grown up in a swamp with lyrics: “Well the mama and the children, came out to watch you burn/ And the lawyer and the preacher, came out to take their turn.” – Hear Ya
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Ever dreamed about driving an old, beat down monster truck along the banks of the Mississippi river, tearing nature apart bit by bit? I have, but never thought anybody would do it for real. At least not the way Left Lane Cruiser is sliding that ragged old mixture of steel, rust and rubber through the mud. ‘Cause muddy it is -and dirty- – and gritty- the way Joe Evans aka Freddy J IV (guitar/vocals) and Brenn ‘Sausage Paw’ Beck (drums/percussion/harmonica/(backing) vocals) are spitting out their own brand of stripped down, whiskey-soaked, adrenaline-fuelled, bottom heavy blues. You don’t believe me? Well, then you just have to buy this album, experience the truth and get blown away by the first pounding slide riff of ‘Wash It’, one hell of a booty shakin’ swamp blues hymn that will definitely bring a huge smile to R.L. Burnside’s face, knowing two white blokes are carrying his heritage, making the world burn and blister with heartfelt black music that’s got Jon Spencer’s rock&roll veins throbbing at the core. Raw, pure and intense. And that’s probably the key that makes this album so special. LLC takes it all one step further, creating a wall of sound with just two humble musicians, while in the meantime they’re literally tearing down everything in sight – and internally. At the end of the seventh track you even have to scrape Joe’s vocal chords off the ground and shove ‘em back up his throat to make sure he will keep growling for the remainder of the album. And he needs ‘em badly towards the end when destruction reaches its gritty height with the dirty, low tuned groover ‘Amy’s in the Kitchen’ and the bonecrushing ‘Mr. Johnson’. On the other hand, it feels quite arbitrary naming any standout track on a record that brings ass to the table big time with twelve tracks that make it impossible to stay in your seat, and even more difficult not to smash your furniture to smithereens. And the best part is: you don’t even care putting up with the mess. – Ronny Dijksterhuis / Up (Netherlands)
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LLC is another two-piece gritty, raw, dirty blues outfit but the depth of sound they bring is unreal. First you have Freddy J IV (Joe) on guitar and hoarse, screamed vocals. All too often people talk about smoke and whiskey ripped throats, but in the case of Freddy J IV, his vocal cords appear to be held together by only a few sinewy strands. People always talk about emcees being hungry on verses, well, in this case I think Joe is thirsty. He rips through the tracks, giving every ounce of sweat and energy he has, in a Southern Pavlovian response. It’s like he knows the minute the track finishes, he can catch his breath and pound a shot. I can picture him tossing the glassware across the studio, wiping his brow and signaling to Brenn to start up again. It doesn’t matter that they are in the studio not on stage, he treats the recordings like a performance; live, rugged and adrenaline/whiskey fueled. Joe is backed up by Brenn. While he is listed as the "drummer", Brenn is much, much more. He pounds through the kit, stretching the limit of the material like the seat on Kim Kardashian’s jeans. He fills open spaces with harmonicas, mouth harps, and backing (occasional lead) vocals and you are left with a wall of sound that hits you in the jaw like you were caught dancing with it’s girl. Obviously, you can tell I love this record. That’s the beauty of blogging not critiquing. I don’t have to waste my time looking for some counter point. I can gush about the fact the cover design on the record reminds me of the old Jimmy Smith cover for Root Down. I can say that the fact Brenn’s nickname (Sausage Paw) makes me want to love this band even more. But most importantly, this record blows the door off the hinges for 12 songs. – Herohill
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Guitar and drum combos are becoming the arrangement-du-jour, with notables such as The White Stripes, The Black Keys and Two Gallants all finding a massive audience. Left Lane Cruiser are at the whiskey’d up badass Seasick Steve end of the spectrum – this is dirty rock blues, like ZZ Top at their early best. As you may expect, it is the intensity of the bottleneck guitar attack and ferocity of the drumming that sustain the interest here. The fact that the ‘band’ is a duo isn’t actually noticeable – bands like Black Eyed Snakes and North Mississippi Allstars make music that sounds similar – but perhaps the wild-eyed interplay between the two elevates the energy to 11. Bring Yo’ Ass To The Table is the kind of music that could care less about whether ties are straight or thin this year, and in doing so defines its own coolness. – Salisbury Journal
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a blues rock guitar/drum duo straight from Fort Wayne, Indiana with an unrelenting appetite for slide guitar and foot-stomping percussion. They make ferocious, whiskey-fueled music that is just right for driving a pickup truck 70mph down a narrow dirt road, with the cops in high pursuit. – Covert Curiosity
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The lo-fi, hard punk-blues sound is raw, gritty and often ferocious, thanks to singer Joe Evans’ aggressive slide guitar and Brenn Beck’s minimalist percussion. How could you not like a band that rhymes "Johnson" and "Wisconsin"? – Startribune
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A number of tunes make return engagements from previous recordings, and they don’t disappoint. It makes sense for LLC to showcase these live favorites again for a bigger audience, and it’s a hoot to hear them again. The whole package sounds great, and LLC perform with an air of authenticity and total commitment that sucks you into their world from the first note. – Whatzup
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