Album Notes

Recorded in 2010 at Electical Audio in Chicago, IL. Engineered by Jon San Paolo.

"The members of The Bootheel nailed the description of their band’s sound from the very beginning, and only needed two words to do it: “aggressively Midwestern.” (My attempt: Rustic-tinged power-rock weaving elements of punk, Americana and country with choruses often using two- and three-part vocals that blur the line between singing and on-key shouting… nope, still like their description better, and it’s 1/15 as long.) Such is the benefit of knowing what you want your band to sound like from the start. The Bootheel’s first EP, Gold Tops, is remembered more in most people’s minds for showing the band’s Midwestern side, due in no small part to the EP’s opening track, “Meg,” making a big impression on those who heard it with its vibe of a ’70s country song amped up to 10. Transatlantic Drag, by contrast, may be remembered for showing more of the aggressive side of “aggressively Midwestern,” even if it ends up without such a standout individual track.

All seven songs on Transatlantic Drag, once again recorded at Steve Albini‘s Electric Audio studios in Chicago with former SGFer Jonathan San Paolo, will sound immediately familiar to regular attendees of Bootheel concerts, as all of them have been played onstage at one time or another. From the outset it rips through one all-out rocker after another, beginning with “258,” which gives us the album’s name (“tearin’ up the transatlantic drag/never gonna bring it back”) and flies into the ode to low-cost escapism “Birds on the Bat” and then the album’s longest, and perhaps most compelling, song, “The Midnight Stalker,” the chorus of which sets lead singer Todd Balisle‘s emotional, wailing chorus in contrast with bassist Dillon Rudder‘s dark shout-back to creepy but good effect. After all, a stalker is creepy to everyone but the stalker; to him or her it’s a matter of love. Shouldn’t a song about a stalker show both sweet innocence and dark aggression, too?

The latter song is arguably as close to a signature song as there is on Transatlantic Drag, though the album doesn’t suffer in the absence. The songs, if less immediately attention-getting, are consistently better written on this second album and more naturally integrate the elements I mentioned in my 15-times-longer description of the band. It’s not all pounding and energy on Transatlantic Drag, either, as “Macho Man Randy Travis” (catch the blending of names there?) brings some ‘roided-out country into the mix before jumping back into the supercharged Americana rock with “Hustler Club.” The record concludes with “Bering Sea,” a holdover from the band’s early material that didn’t wind up on Gold Tops and another more country-ish (the bass line is all country, anyway) with a dose of wistful trumpet toward the end. Taken as a whole, one can see how this and “Macho Man Randy Travis” make the rest of the album work. Without them there is no counterpoint to the prevalent rock assault and Transatlantic Drag would feel repetitive. With them there is a reminder that the word “Midwestern” comes after “aggressively” in the band’s self-description, and neither would matter as much or sound as good without the other."

by Chris DeRosier----TAGSGF.com