UNCAPPED 004: LAST YEAR'S MEN

We linked up with Last Year’s Men in their hometown of Chapel Hill, NC. On stage at the Cave, this skin-and-bones quartet delivered a set of rowdy garage rock stompers powered by the same rocket fuel that’s been sending us into orbit for the last half century. With the band behind him jagged and loose, Ben Carr’s teeth-gnashing howl cut through the squall as a potent reminder that rock ‘n’ roll is often at its best when it’s been weaponized.

Last Year’s Men’s sound can be traced to a time when players from honky tonks and juke joints started cross-pollinating licks and rhythms. The band trafficks in the primal components of early rock ‘n’ roll. In a celebration of process and aesthetics, they recorded Sunny Down Snuff, their debut LP, on analog tape in an abandoned storefront. In an age when albums can be constructed with two thumbs and a smart phone on the morning commute, Last Year’s Men’s devotion to timeless songwriting and time-honored recording techniques tethers them to a rich tradition.

Taking their cues from garage rock forerunners like fellow North Carolinians the Reigning Sound and Austin’s the Strange Boys, Last Year’s Men are part of a vibrant wave of new talent feeding into the global garage community. Along with bands like Ottawa’s White Wires and Denmark’s Cola Freaks, Last Year’s Men are injecting always needed young blood into the scene. Attacking the classics with a nod to the rabid lessons learned from punk rock, these new groups are bursting ear drums and blowing minds on a nightly basis.