REVIEW: J Roddy Walston & The Business - S/T

J Roddy Walston & The Business - J Roddy Walston & The Business
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First, let’s get something straight: J Roddy Walston and The Business is not a rock band, they are a rock ‘n’ roll band. It's an incredibly important distinction that J Roddy made clear in a recent interview with the Baltimore Sun's Sam Sessa. A band can rock, but they aren't rock 'n' roll unless they have soul. And that's what strikes you most about Roddy and the Business: they've got just as much as soul as any Motown artist ever had.

Tennessee-via Baltimore rock 'n' rollers J Roddy Walston and The Business have been at it for nearly a decade now, and it's about time we all started paying attention. The band plays an earnest concoction of rock 'n' roll's best elements that boils down to 100 proof, pure rock 'n' roll that's bound to do one thing for you: give you a good time. It's a no-frills, in-your-face powerhouse of parlor-ready piano, surging electric guitar, chugging bass, and heavy-hitting drums. It's a combination of the songwriting chops of Big Star (more "Don't Lie to Me" than "September Gurls"), the southern fried rock of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the soul of James Brown.

Walston plays piano and sings with the ferocity of Jerry Lee Lewis, but with even more energy -- if that was even possible. There're no two ways around it: this band rises above the rest with Walston's undeniable charisma. Sounding like a cross between Ronnie Van Zant and James Brown, his vocals grab your attention and then guitarist Billy Gordon, bassist Logan Davis, and drummer Steve Colmus tear you to pieces. The phrase "melt your face off" is often applied to guitar players, but, in the case of J Roddy Walston and The Business, your whole body is given a hard shaking -- if not from all the dancing you find yourself doing than from the sheer force of the band's energy and collective skill.

The band keeps things exciting by being dynamic with their stylistic changes. On "Full Grown Man," they show off an effective group falsetto over Colmus' ferocious cymbal hits which all manages to ease seamlessly into a southern shuffle that was made for dancing on the hardwood floor of some bar. The band kicks it up a notch on "Don't Get Old" sounding like a rougher, more punk version of Creedance Clearwater Revival, with Walston's signature howl and yeah, one of those "face melting" guitar solos. With "Caroline," they also prove themselves capable of making a slow burning rocker that's just as much heartfelt and intimate as it is raucous and heavy.

Sure you could say that they're nothing new, but when was the last time you heard a band rocking this hard and well? They've more than earned the right to be called one of America's best rock 'n' roll bands. This collection of songs comes together to make an album that's bound to stand the test of time; relevant now and ten years down the line, too. The thing that's most respectable about J Roddy Walston and the Business is that they're not trying to rewrite the book of rock 'n' roll, they're just writing their own chapter.

BUY: J Roddy Walston and The Business is out today on Fairfax Recordings/Vagrant Records. Pick it up here or on Amazon.