Country/Rock Band : Skunk Ruckus
The release of their second album on May 11th, “Pearls Before Swine” really showcases the band’s unique style and lack of concern when it comes to crossing genres and breaking the rules of sterile formula based music. It’s a gret combination of old school Appalachian Mountain Music and the free expression of punk rock.
Originally a duo with Jim McCarthy on Banjo and stomping a kick drum along with Max Steel on bass, the current configuration has the addition of drummer, Claude Coleman, Jr. and Dave Gilbert on electric guitar. With Jim’s gut-singing vocal style the sound is awesome and you can’t compare it to anything out there, definitely unique and hard to put in any kind of descriptive box.
I think sometimes as regional musicians you end up in performance situations that vary dramatically in regards to the engagement of your audience. Sometimes you’re a rockstar and sometimes you’re background noise for the drinking crowd. The title of this new album comes from a situation Jim McCarthy was quoted as saying, “We were playing a show and just kicking the crap out of it,” he says. “And no one was responding. We might as well not have been there. And then Dave leaned over and said, ‘We are giving these guys gems!’ And I said, ‘Pearls before swine!’” It was all meant in good-natured fun, but the phrase stuck and ended up as the album title.”
The Ruckus boys are playing all up and down the East Coast and the Carolinas, if you have the chance to catch one of their shows you will not be disappointed. HillBilly Rock-N-Roll is alive and well!
