The great George Edward "Rube" Waddell (1876-1914) was a fire engine chasing, hard drinking, alligator wrestling,baton twirling eccentric pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 to 1910.
RUBE WADDELL the band is a quartet from the Mission District of San Francisco CA that has taken him as their patron saint and lives to honor his name by causing bizzare,confounding, and sinfully fun ruckuses in bars, concert halls, city street corners, and home stereos everywhere they can.
Performing their own breed of modern Americana music, they mix Blues, Gospel, American and Irish Folk, Country, Rock, Punk, comic Vaudeville, German theater, South-East Asian ditties, a little funk, and a lot of raw power into their sets. Reviewers have compared Rube Waddell at times to Captain Beefheart, the Fugs, Ween, Doo-Rag, Tom Waits, Jon Spencer and other lo-fi giants.
The Rubes got their start performing in the streets of San Francisco and became known for their monthly performances, "Live at Leeds," in front of a well known shoe store in the Mission district, and from there their popularity took them into bars and clubs around the city, America and Europe.
The instrumentation of the band varies widely including slide guitar, mandolin, trumpet, sousaphone, tabla, ukulele, marimba, pots and pans, kazoo, harmonica, electric guitar, toy keyboard, accordion, banjo, tin whistle, and various home-made instruments from one-string guitars to junkyard percussion ensembles.
"Bound For the Gates Of Hell" is the band's third album released in 2001 on the now defunct Oakland-based collective record company Vaccination Records. They mix swamp blues, various ethinic influences, and eccentric wit into one hella of a good time.
Here is what reviewers have said about Bound for the Gates of Hell:
"Backyard country-blues with an Irish drinking feel, Rube Waddell (a band, not a guy) reaches deep down into the roots of music, capturing the pureness and honesty of history, allowing breathing room for the modern-ness to live. Dark and swampy, Rube Waddell creates engaging songs you don't just hear. You react to them. Whether you move and shake, sing along, or just feel the music consume you, Rube Waddell will give you a feel. A band capable of creating records so very different, yet rooted in their own sense and style, they have established themselves as one of the most versatile indie bands out there."
-IN MUSIC WE TRUST
"The new 14 song, 56 minute set careens among raw electric blues, oom-pah music, Kurt-Weill theatricality, string-band thump, rockabilly, warped Americana, and Residents-esque surrealism-all spawned into zombie life on a mix of store-issue and handmade instruments. As you listen, don't bother wondering if they're fucking with your head because they most certainly are."
-ROCKBITES ALTERNATIVE DAILY
Look out for the Rubes coming to your town and their new album due out in February 2006. Their second album, "Stink Bait," is also available through CDBABY.(http://cdbaby.com/cd/rubewaddell1)
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