Austin Sound

The Gary, The Gary, The Gary. Where to start with this Austin trio and their tremendous debut EP Chub?

Well, first of all, there isn’t a single band member named Gary in The Gary. Allegedly named after a neighbor of sorts, Gary Doyle O’Banien, The Gary is the brainchild of Dave Norwood, Trey Pool, and Paul Warner. So that right there is a little bit of misdirection thrown out there by this trio.

Second, the band wants listeners to not take them seriously. In interviews and other press, they come across as comically light hearted. But, upon first listen to Chub, it is beyond obvious that The Gary is a serious band, with serious aspirations, and serious concerns. And they seriously engage themselves in the art of rock and roll.

Just seven songs in slightly less than twenty three minutes, the EP’s most obvious touch points are arty-yet-bruising low end driven bands like Silkworm, Polvo, and The Minutemen. Starting with “Expiration”, it’s hard not to hear Silkworm’s Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett plastered all over the angular guitar licks, the throbbing bass, and Norwood’s deep monotone delivery. The dry delivery of lines like “expiration long expired/ might I wish for things I’d fight/ love and work and keen insight” are laced with the gospel spirit of dark bars and loud guitars long since replaced with the next trend.

As The Gary unleashes the subsequent six songs on Chub, no punches are pulled and no extra polish is applied — this is truly a recording that is steeped in the sounds of the upper Midwest, somewhere around between Lake Michigan and Albini. “I May Have A Drink” is arguably the height of the band’s Touch & Go worshipping; Warner’s thundering kick drum is the perfect partner to Norwood’s declaration and demands that a hangover, the feeling of loss, or whatever else eats at him surely passes.

The Gary wraps Chub with two ambitious cuts after staying the course earlier. The instrumental “Freaks Go Forward” features call and response between Norwood’s pulsing bass and Pool’s chiming guitars, subsequently building into an impressively crushing freakout that transitions perfectly into closer “Nine Oh Five”. The longest song on “Chub” finds The Gary pummeling the ever-living shit out of their instruments and listeners ears. The drums, the bass, the climbing guitars — all of it — combine into a pulsing, trembling mass that threatens to explode out of the speakers. One hopes The Gary’s neighbor finds out one day that the band with his name is this damned great.

Websites:
www.thegary.com
Myspace