If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Chris Sikich I'm quickly becoming a fan of the no opener/twenty song setlist trend. This past Monday night saw Sarah Shook & The Disarmers taking the stage at Atwood's Tavern (which is becoming their de facto Boston area home base) shortly after 9:30 pm and playing nineteen songs. Pretty perfect way to see a band these days. This was my third time seeing Sarah Shook & The Disarmers live since discovering them since May 2018, and the second time I saw them at Atwood's. It was a diehard crowd that came out on a Monday night. We've seen these songs performed live before, and we'll see them again. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers put on an amazing show with their blend of country, rock, and punk. While the songs from their last two albums definitely lean more heavily on the rock side of things, they broke out two new songs ("Night Rumour" and "Black Angels") that came across much more rock than I would have expected. "Black...

Last year Sarah Shook & The Disarmers's Sidelong  was my #2 album of the year. This year, their album Years  is my #3 album. It says a lot for one artist to land in my top 3 two years in a row, but such is my love of Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. Years  is a tiny bit more polished than it's predecessor, but ever so slightly. No one out there is doing country punk better than this group nowadays. It's such a raw sound that hearkens back to classic country without being a throwback at all. Normally when a band cleans up their sound and gets a little less raw I'll be that guy and whine and complain. Sure, I missed the rawness of Sidelong on my first listen of Years . But that didn't last long at all. Shook is an amazing songwriter, and with Years that is what shines through. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers are one of the rare bands I root for being as huge as they can be. True country fans will love this, but unfortunately most country fans want to hear songs ...

We're obviously huge fans of Sarah Shook & The Disarmers here at If It's Too Loud..., and I've been gushing about Gorman Bechard's Lydia Loveless documentary for the past two years. Once I saw that his new documentary about Sarah Shook & The Disarmers was having its world premiere at the Boston Independent Film Festival, I knew I had to clear out my plans to check it out.  It's going to be pretty easy to draw comparisons to Who is Lydia Loveless? and What it Takes: film en douze tableaux  as it is to compare Lydia Loveless and Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, so let's get that out of the way now. Both are directed by Gorman Bechard. Both are about bands fronted by a female with mostly older male band members. Both play a version of alt country heavily infused with rock and punk. Both are on Bloodshot Records. The main difference between these films is structure and subject matter. Who is Lydia Loveless? had three acts: The first focused on Lydia hers...

Photo via Facebook It feels like I've been obsessed with Sarah Shook & The Disarmers for years now, even though it's been just over a year. I unfortunately was unable to make their one Northeast trip for Sidelong , so when I saw that they were playing at the end of April, I knew I had to make it, despite it being another Month of Too Many Shows. Luckily, they are completely worth staying up far too late on a Sunday night. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers play the kind of country punk that translates much better live than on record, and, considering how much I've loved Sidelong  and the just released Years , that is saying quite a bit for their live show. It's nearly impossible to pick a few highlights for the songs they played live. "The Bottle Never Lets Me Down," "Fuck Up," "The Nail," etc were all just as equally great as the last song they played. Despite not being much of a touring band before signing to Bloodshot Records, Sar...

Sarah Shook & the Disarmers's Sidelong was my #2 album of 2017. Since they just released an album last year, I assumed we'd have longer to wait for a follow up. Turns out Sidelong  was released in 2015 and last year was a reissue (Whoops!), so we have a follow up coming out soon. Right now we can hear the first song from the new album, "Good As Gold." If you liked Sidelong , you're going to like "Good As Gold." It's more of the rock n roll country punk that we loved from the previous album. "Good As Gold" is decidedly more mellow than most of our favorites from Sidelong , and it's definitely more melodic. It's showing a definite growth in songwriting, and has us even more curious than we were before. Plus, it's a great way to ease your more mainstream friends into Sarah Shook & the Disarmers. You can watch the lyric video for "Good As Gold" below. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers's new album, Years , w...

Today is packed with highly anticipated album releases. For us, one of the most anticipated releases of all is the latest from Sarah Shook + The Disarmers, Sidelong . This morning I woke up to an email from NoiseT r ade offering me some free music from Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. Songs From Sidelong + More  includes three songs from Sidelong  as well as three songs from Sarah Shook's 2013 solo album, Seven.  We've been raving about the songs we've heard so far from Sidelong . Her deep down country sound mixed with punk and indie rock resonates hard for us. I had never heard anything from her solo album, so being able to hear a few songs from that release is welcome. Those three are more traditional alt-country. Sidelong is the album that sets Sarah Shook & The Disarmers up as a completely unique sound. You can get your copy of Songs From Sidelong + More  over at Noisetrade . After listening to these songs, you're going to want to get your own copy of Sid...

Photo by poprockphotography "The Nail" is the song for people who say they love real country. It's a rollicking, rambling song about a terrible relationship filled with lots of arguing and drinking that you know is going to end, you just don't know who will end it first. But it's fun and exciting, so you stick with it for now. As with all good country, "The Nail" is fun sounding but lyrically it's depressing as can be. Plus, it fits right into the standard definition of outlaw country since it's probably a little too rocking for country and a little too country for rock. Plus, Sarah Shook's voice, while it does have a great twang to it, is a little too rough for country and would probably fit in better with an indie rock band. But, for those of us raised on indie rock who slowly grew to accept and love country in adulthood, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers couldn't be more perfect. You can listen to "The Nail" below, along ...

Photo by poprockphotography Country punk is kind of a thing right now, combining the twang of country with the attitude of punk. But no one is quite doing the country punk (or alt country, or outlaw country) thing quite like Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. "Keep the Home Fires Burnin'" is definitely not mainstream country. There's far too much old school twang without it being old timey. The obvious comparison would be their label mate Lydia Loveless, but while Loveless has more of a punk attitude, Shook has this odd 90s indie rock sensibility. Think Guided By Voices going country. For quite possibly the first time, "Keep the Home Fires Burnin'" has guitars that both twang and fuzz.  Sarah Shook & The Disarmers' first record for Bloodshot Records, Sidelong , will be out on April 28. You can listen to "Keep the Home Fires Burnin'" below. To pre-order Sidelong , go to Bloodshot Records . For more on Sarah Shook & The Disa...