Standing Over By The Record Machine: Jefferson Trout are a 24-armed-and-legged punk rock machine!
Austin pogo-rock supergroup features members of The Dicks, Scratch Acid, Pocket FishRmen and more!
Jefferson Trout’s Buxf Parrott (center) sanctifies proceedings, as Brett Bradford (left) and Todd Kassens (right) get his back. (photo: Jefferson Trout Facebook page)
What has 24 arms and legs, and approximately 1,104 years of punk rock experience? That would be Jefferson Trout, an Austin punk supergroup whose gigs have been some of the most fun on the local scene since they kicked up a few years back!
The back sleeve of their debut LP, which came out this past fall on prolific local indie Flak Records, depicts the members standing beneath graffiti representing the various bands the members have been in. It’s impressive. To name a few off the top of my head, Jason Craig has been (and still is) Pocket FishRmen’s longest-serving four-stringer and also currently serves in Pong, but was first spied in early ‘90s grungers Myra Manes. Brett Bradford was in the almighty Scratch Acid, which is pedigree enough for 1000 men. Guitarist Todd Kassens’ CV contains local Tom Waits worshippers Shoulders, but it was in Uncle Pie Hole he collided with Jefferson Trout co-vocalist Buxf Parrott, original member of Austin punk royalty The Dicks. The other singer Dotty Farrell has served in such hallowed outfits as Swine King (featuring The Big Boys’ Randy “Biscuit” Turner) and The Punkaroos, which also featured Buxf. She’s also one of the most dynamic frontpersons seen on a local stage, ever.
Oh, and besides The Dicks, Buxf’s been in The Jeffersons, Pretty Mouth and Trouser Trout, among others. Hence the band name.
Like I said: This is a lot of Austin punk history under one roof!
Dotty Farrell (left) operates her invisible marionette, as Buxf wonders what the Hell is sitting atop The Lost Well’s lighting rig! Travis Garaffa keeps calm behind the drums. (Pic: Doro Packlick)
Buxf recently remarked Jefferson Trout began in order to provide entertainment at his wife Laurie’s birthday party a few years back: “She said, ‘Just throw a band together.’ We were only going to play once or twice. And as soon as we did it, everybody was like, ‘This is pretty good! Let's just keep doing it.’ But they're just all songs that I've done over the years. I just got the best musicians around. They took off with it.”
As admitted, Jefferson Trout — the album, as opposed to the band — consists of material Parrott’s written across the length and breadth of his musical history. “Dickhead,” “Asylum,” and “Wow Man” all stem from Pretty Mouth, the first two co-written with that band’s guitarist Mark Kenyon, the latter with the other guitarist (and fellow Dick) Glen Taylor. “Walk The Dog” and “Fish was a Monster” were written for The Jeffersons, Parrott and Taylor’s post-Dicks band. “Police Record” (a Parrott-Taylor co-write), “GDMFSOB” (a solo Buxf composition), “Head On Crash,” and “Cinderblock” (Parrott-Kenyon) were all among Trouser Trout’s repertoire. “Road Rage” (Farrell-Parrott-Kenyon) and “Eyes” (Parrott-Farrell) come from The Punkaroos. Kassens’ “I Don’t Care” originates either with Uncle Piehole or Shooting Pains, the latter also contributing Parrott’s “TV Money.” “Devil In The Night” and “Trout Theme” are freshly-written-for-Jefferson-Trout Parrott originals.
You’d think this hodgepodge would be a mess. If it is, it’s a glorious one, the kind you wanna kick off your Noconas and dive into headfirst. Truth of the matter is Jefferson Trout is a cohesive slab of vintage Austin punk rock rendered by vintage Austin punk musicians. They understand what this town always alchemizes is not the standard issue bang-zoom. Sure, it reveres all we hold dear — that Stooges/Ramones/Dolls/England thing — but it’s more irreverent than that. Still, the energy is breakneck, the guitars are thick and pungent, and the rhythm section holds everything in a pressure drop. Farrell and Parrott acting as co-vocalists is a nice expansion on the John Doe and Exene dynamic, but not really, if you think about it. Because like everything else about Jefferson Trout, it’s its own thing, its own paradigm, familiar but thrilling and new. Which makes for exciting listening.
Flak Records has done a great public service dropping Jefferson Trout — and Jefferson Trout — on the general public. The only thing missing is their uranium-powered live presentation, the best place to appreciate Buxf’s hot pink Stetson and his “Warren Oates fronting a punk band” (to quote a dear friend) stage presence. And Dotty Farrell’s a smiling, mischievous whirling dervish, herself. Guest appearance from the great Walter Daniels, too.
UPCOMING AT THE ‘STACK: Bob Marley: One Love review, the end of Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack Interview: Pearl Harbour, Broken Gold profile, and Parade Of Great Guitarists: Poison Ivy of The Cramps!
#TimNapalmStegall #TimNapalmStegallSubstack #PunkJournalism #StandingOverByTheRecordMachine #RecordReview #JeffersonTrout #AustinPunk #PunkRock #Supergroup #LocalScene #FlakRecords #IndieMusic #GraffitiArt #PunkHistory #MusicLegends #LiveMusic #PunkRockExperience #AlbumRelease #PunkIcons #MusicCollaboration #AustinMusicScene #PunkRevolution #MusicReview #BandHistory #PunkCulture #VintagePunk #DynamicFrontpersons #MusicPerformance #GuestAppearance #WalterDaniels #SupportIndependentMedia #NapalmNation #Subscribe #FiveDollarsMonthly #FiftyDollarsAnnually #UpgradeYourFreeSubscription #BestWayToSupport