Album Notes

The Rugs’ drummer Donnie Thompson has an idea that could drastically alter the course of the band’s history. “We’ll call ourselves The Sumpins,” he says. The problem: the name “The Rugs” has generated considerable buzz in the last five months, even being referred to by some as a Springfield music scene supergroup. The Sumpins…well, it just doesn’t carry the same panache.

Thompson’s quip comes from the fact that the group features a band member from each of the last five decades: two twentysomethings (or “twentysumpins”), a thirtysomething, a fortysomething…you get the idea. Can such a disparate group form the basis for a serious rock band? Yes.

The core of The Rugs is the songwriting duo of singer Matt Darkly and guitarist Eric Schuchmann (the two twentysomethings). The two met while partying together with mutual friends and then drunkenly listening to music Darkly made on his computer. They joked about needing to work together in a studio, and when Schuchmann’s band broke up the collaboration talk got serious. They laid down demo versions of songs for The Rugs’ first album, 10 tracks of garage groove rock written to communicate attitude through the amplifier that is the male libido. If the White Stripes were more overtly horny, they might make some of the songs on this record.

Darkly and Schuchmann decided to take the album onto a concert stage, and recruited from an A-list of local musicians. Lou Whitney, bassist for The Skeletons and The Morells, came aboard; Schuchmann’s brother Jimi played drums; Richie Rebuth of the Domino Kings became lead guitarist and Donnie Kraft played keyboard. When Jimi left the band, Thompson replaced him.

The band has only played four concerts together, but the members say every show is packed when they go on. This Friday marks the fifth Rugs show, for which members plan to wear red T-shirts to show solidarity. It’s just one way of bringing together a group of “sumpins” from five different decades, which Thompson says could mean there is no other band like The Rugs. “And if there is, we’re gonna get teenagers and a 70-year-old,” Darkly says.


GO Magazine
Chris DeRosier
September 13, 2006