FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
Touch & Go Records is what we professionals in the word biz like to call a really... wrong name that... to describe something that's not really like that... or something. The Chicago-based label known for such bottom-heavy chunky sludge thumpers as Jesus Lizard, Tar and Big Black delivers the exact opposite of the subtleties and niceties which the name implies. Fist & Sprint, Stomp & Dash, maybe, but Touch & Go? How 'bout Tickle & Prance or Caress & Mince?
Well, apparently one of the label's musicians is now making an effort to live up to the name. Earlier this year Preston (P.W.) Long, former frontman for the bands Mule and Wig, released a sparse and acoustic effort with help from a subdued backing band - which includes ex-Jesus Lizard drummer Mac McNeilly - under the band title of P.W. Long's Reelfoot.
Recorded by noise guru Steve Albini, We Didn't See You On Sunday travels the roots highway alongside acts such as Palace and Son Volt. Super stripped down for the most part, the album embraces traditional country and blues, and the basic instruments that sing their notes: organ, fiddle, guitar, bass and drums. At the center of the twang and pluck, there's Long's unshaven tuneless/soulful vocals plunked down like a hedgehog in an orgy.
And while being heard was part of the point of Reelfoot, it also proved to be part of the problem for ol' P.W.
"I've always had trouble with lyrics," he admits wearily. "In previous bands, I just wanted them to not be stupid. Or to get one cool line in there somewhere and build a song off of that and make the rest of them so they wouldn't be so distractingly stupid, so you wouldn't notice them.
"When you continue to strip it down so it's just me and a guitar, then I started going, 'Man, I gotta figure out what I'm talking about here.'"
The album is a contentedly somber look at life through the heavy eyelids of latenight. Long gruffly intermingles the gospel and blues of a man who's better days have been seen through the bottoms of an endless cross-country trail of bottles and ashtrays. That's something the musician unapologetically admits he knows a great deal about.
"A lot of dudes go on the road and they're real tight with their money and real conservative because it's a long haul and you've go to be easy on your body. I've always been around people and I've always been the same way where it's just like if you're going to be on the road for more than half the year or more, if that's where your life is, quit saving it for when you fucking get back home," Long says.
"I try to get every bit out of it I can because if you just let the time pass, and places and cities pass, and roads pass and next thing you know 10 years are gone and you haven't done a fucking thing except be conservative and save your money - there's not much to write about there."
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