Smitt E. Smitty & The Fezztones’ last banger/earworm (“Buzzkill Baby”, go get yourself obsessed here) was one that we really, really, REALLY wanted to cover but just missed our window of opportunity so when the newest slab of what we assumed would be some more sonic gold dropped in ye olde digital inbox, we were bound and determined not to miss out again.
Which brings us to “The Growler”. And like we anticipated, it rules. Boston’s version of Electric Six or maybe long lost relatives of Walter Sickert & The Army of Broken Toys, Smitt E. Smitty is a fun maker with a growing gang of co-conspirators that are all about the Rawk and we can definitely get behind that!
The song itself is a shredder with Eddie Nowick and James Melanson’s guitars front and center as Jess Townsend’s steady stick work moves and grooves alongside bassist Andrew Padua’s robust rumbling. Ringleader Smitty, as always, demands your attention with howls and barks and a rip-roarin’ range that’s highly hypnotic backed on vocals by Subtle & Serious (JoEllen Saunders Yannis & Linda Bean Pardee respectively) with Jonathan LaMaster adding theremin and violin accompaniment to accent the auspicious atmosphere.
The video, directed by Smitty, is a collection of those signature visuals found in previous video treatments (The aforementioned “Buzzkill Baby”) with live footage interspersed as the lead Fezztone fades in and out of the picture like The Wizard of Oz and more psychedelic images of trippy trips flash about to give fans as fitting a feast for the eyes as “The Growler” is for the earholes.
“The Growler” arrives on October 13th on Code 213 Records. You can get on board now by following along here, here or here.
One Response