James Straight And The Wide Stance have just released this killer album of raw, punk, vintage rock and roll. No Loitering is sure to raise the group’s visibility even further on the Boston music scene.The band opens with the elastic guitar phrased “Female Trouble” by John Waters from Waters’ dark 1974 comedy of the same name. Guitarist Joe Fagan massages a lot of greasy, funky notes out of his axe, making them jump around the beat like a slinky on steroids. Straight delivers his verses with a dry, even timbre that sounds rootsie and sincere. The rhythm section of Aut Powell and drummer Laurel Blanchard keep a thick palpable groove going on. Taken together, it’s a juke joint delight.
“Lonely” comes on strong like 1970s punk rock, pure energy riding a seemingly simple structure. Straight’s even tempered vocal is full of color and richness. He sounds like a natural character as he discusses miserable isolation. Fagan’s guitar creates the warm rush of bracing rhythmic chords that form the song. He eventually plays a blistering lead line, letting his guitar cry out the solitary misfortune. And that rhythm section is up to its old tricks again, keeping it simple but feeling fulsome.
Fagan offers a thick broth of chords with inner spicy lead notes on “Future of Love.” This one rocks with forceful warmth. The rhythm guitar blends perfectly with the bass and drums to conjure a punk-funk combo. Straight emotes over all of the sonic texture with an assertive vocal. His sudden shift in dynamics in the chorus add a colorful twist to the song.
A blitzkrieg raid of up-tempo drums and driving guitar and bass usher us straight into “Solo.” Straight fully utilizes his colors and tones to fill this garage rock gem with a frenzied sense of urgency. This singer may just be at his best when he’s vocally riffing over a platform of driving, racing, bracing punk instrumentation.
“Wide Stance” is not only the name of this band. It could also be a local radio hit. Blanchard’s drumming under the fuzzy guitars and Straight’s catchy vocal deliver keep the toes tapping while the rest charm with their individual craziness. Powell’s bass solo and Fagan’s guitar phrasing are like dueling partners and dance partners at once, artfully working together while simultaneously contrasting.
“Always A Bridesmaid” is another one with radio potential written all over it. This band, underneath their punk fury, have an uncanny ability to make their music catchy with the simplest applications. A listener can find himself bobbing his head to their driving rhythm because of the steps that comprise it. Straight, as always, has a character rich vocal delivery that gives this a personality and a sense of motion, like the song is bringing you to a worthy musical destination.
“High Alert” is a mid-tempo charmer. Straight lets out his unique vocal in smaller bite size pieces. The rhythm he creates with this nuance carries the listener right along. The chorus is catchy as hell, as the band creates lot of motion with the combination of their subtle techniques. Fagan’s high-pitched guitar yelp sounds like it was transported here via time machine from the late 1970s. Boy, is this band steeped in their favorite genres.
Fagan drives us right into “Crazy For You” with the edgy, assertive phrase he presses out of his axe. Jumpy rhythms and a hooky chorus with backing vocalists Blanchard and Fagan adding a second level of catchiness as natural as an echo. This is just such a tight, feisty simple rocker that it makes you want to jump and down to its infections sound, which is probably what a lot of Wide Stance fans do at the band’s live shows.
Fagan’s crunchy guitar chords are the intro to the bouncy rhythmic tune “Higher Elevation.” Fagan is beautifully and warmly sarcastic as he describes a woman’s unhealthy dieting methods. Straight practically shouts the protest song’s second chorus “Dying to try a new diet.” The anger behind these lyrics are announced in Fagan’s blistering guitar phrase and the rhythm sections heavy duty groove pattern.
Speaking of angry songs, “I Coulda Killed Her” is a stunning indictment of violent child abuse. Fagan wrote this song by taking a mother’s frustrated expression “I Coulda Killed Her” and fleshing out the details of home life horror. There’s a lot of angst coming out of the instrumentation here. Yet, Blanchard’s sweet, cooing background voice belies the seriousness of the song, letting it sound almost like any other pop-punk tune. Closer listening, though, reveals a serious sophistication that this band doesn’t conceal too deeply beneath the surface.
“Babies Go First” is likely about infants being the first to die when a cult decides to suicide itself out of existence. Fagan keeps slamming out his aggressive chord pattern over a noisy but rhythmically cool bass and drums. The band, again, has no problem injecting their music with a sense of urgent motion. You can almost picture people running around in a panic or calling the police to report a loud band playing at three o’clock in the morning. Straight’s punkish delivery is icing on the cake as he brings that ambivalence between anger and helplessness.
The band close out their album with “Trouble At The Marquee,” a barn burning punk rocker with a sudden thunder in its rhythm section and distorted guitar madness. Fagan looms large as his chords build into a wide, hefty tone. His feedback technique makes you think you’re experiencing an artist’s mental breakdown while the rhythm section keep a brawling, slamming piece of the action.
James Straight And The Wide Stance are a popular band on the Boston indie originals music scene. They may not be musical geniuses but they sure know what to do with a few chords, simple beats, and a nervous lead vocalist. And that is genius.