When it comes to garage rock, duos are a dime a dozen. There’s the good like Brother O’ Brother and The Ghost Wolves. Then there’s the bad like Death From Above and The Black Keys. But here at 50Thirdand3rd, we don’t dwell too much on what we don’t like. Thankfully, in this case, Volk isn’t just one of the good kind but maybe even among the best! With the Nashville-based duo’s sophomore EP Average American Band, Volk prove a band needs nothing more than a guitar and a set of drums as long as there’s plenty of attitude and showmanship!
Most garage rock duos are making songs for beer commercials, Volk offers the soundtrack Nashville’s gnarliest bars.
I’ve covered many duos over the past few years. There’s something truly magical about the simplicity of just two individuals playing rock n’ roll. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with big production at all. Some of my all time favorite bands spend months honing their craft and developing chemistry amongst their respective members and that’s great! But when there are only 2 people in a band, they are forced to come correct. Volk goes above and beyond.
Instead of simple pentatonic blues riffs and bare minimum percussion, Volk combines elements of honky tonk with larger than life guitars found on Humble Pie and T-Rex records. Adding Karen O-esque vocals and punk sensibilities and Average American Band is one of the most satisfying rock EPs I’ve listened to in a long time.
With Volk’s attitude and red-eyed soul, it comes to no surprise Average American Band is being released through Brother O’ Brother’s Romanus Records!
And coming from that label you already know there’s going to be some wild collectible variants on the vinyl front! There’s the splatter, a one-off wonder, and of course a tri-color. But knowing how off the wall the dudes from Romanus are, there’s a ‘half and half’ variant filled with tea and Country Time Lemonade. (yes you read that correctly.)
No matter which variant you choose, Average American Band is an extremely feral yet catchy, listen that will satisfy your craving for unadulterated rock n’ roll and look amazing while doing so! You can pick up the EP on vinyl exclusively at Romanus Records on November 17th. Until then you can stream the whole thing on Spotify with our premiere below!
Average American Band will be available on vinyl November 17th ONLY at Romanus Records