Whiskey and a Sense of Humor

We all have that friend who asks – “hey, a buddy of mine’s in a band.  They’re playing Friday night – want to go?”

I did not want to go.

I’ve seen plenty of bad cover bands, and I’m on the other side of 40.  I didn’t need to see another bad cover band.  But because my friend happens to be my best friend, and I had watched the Super Bowl with a guy in the band – what choice did I have?  If nothing else – it got me out of the house and got me, for the first time, on the band’s guest list.  No cover – “that’s another round of drinks,” I thought.  So okay – I’d go.

Then the band – not a cover band, not hobbyists, but a few guys intent on proving a point – blew the roof off the joint.

The Public Good restores one’s faith that rock and roll can grow up and remain interesting.  Not just interesting – but relevant, and exciting.  They write songs that sound like the Faces – in the best way.  Not sloppy, but sincere.  A few guys with just enough whiskey in them to be honest, and to enjoy themselves while speaking of their frustrations with the women that walked past, with the labels that turned them down, with the too-small crowd that showed up…and the band still loves what they’re doing.

Their second album – “A Varied Program of Stereo Dynamics for Your Wild Nights Alone” – is riff heavy but treads lightly, with a knowing wink to the passage of the years and a yearning that is universal.  They balance a sense of humor with a seriousness of purpose almost perfectly.  Utterly un-self-conscious, they lay bare their wounds and make sure you don’t feel sorry for them.  On a song like “I Saw You Walking” – earnest and sincere and unsentimental and utterly romantic – coming two songs after the tongue-in-cheek “Your Product Name Right Here.” 

Who pulls that off and maintains their credibility?  There aren’t too many bands that even try, let alone succeed – which the Public Good does, wildly.  Or a song like “Black Ice,” which is rife with an adult’s perspective of cancer in a family member set against a rib-cage-crushing riff that cracks the foundation of whatever bar they’re playing tonight.

This is not irony.  This is not meant to provoke hipster smugness. Like the Hold Steady, the Public Good means to reach you – with humor, and vulnerability, and sincerity – while still hoping that the listener smiles along with the bittersweet observations.  We do – in recognition and empathy.  “My Pre-Existing Conditions” next to “In Bed” on tracks 10 and 11 of their new CD captures the sweet-and-sour nature of their observations on a life a degree outside the mainstream.  And who hasn’t felt a degree removed from real meaning, especially as fractured marriages and kids and cancer and lost opportunities become all too familiar?

Top to bottom, the Public Good has its heart on it sleeve and your concerns top of mind.  Crank that up with killer riffs, a dependable rhythm section, and a few words to let you know you’re not alone – why wouldn’t you buy this album?

Trust your friends -- when they ask you if you want to go see a "friend's band," you never know what you will stumble upon.