Waco Brothers:
Cowpunk & Disorderly
By Jim Allen
Since 1994, Anglo-American roots rockers the Waco Brothers have been charter members of Bloodshot Records’ “insurgent country” army. The Mekons offshoot’s alcohol-fueled, sometimes-shambolic onstage antics have become the stuff of legend, and their new live album Waco Express: Live and Kicking at Schuba’s Tavern captures them in all their cowpunk glory. For the occasion, frontmen Jon Langford and Dean Schlabowske and drummer Steve Goulding offer reminiscences from 14 years of musical mayhem.
Bloody New Year
Lounge Ax, Chicago, Ill.
Casualties: Alan Doughty’s head and bass guitar
On New Year’s Eve at the late, lamented hotspot, bassist Alan Doughty engages in one of his “highly choreographed and usually brilliantly executed bass moves” after a little too much imbibing, whereupon he smashes himself squarely in the forehead with his instrument. He earns himself an injury of emergency-room proportions, but carries on regardless. Langford: “Blood ran all over his face. By the end of the song he looked like a great grinning beetroot.”
Punching out Uncle Sam
Bloodshot Records’ SXSW showcase, Austin, Texas
Casualties: Deano, Jon, and Tracy’s knuckles and patriotic standing
The band is “fairly well-lubricated on Guero’s margaritas” and pulling off a blistering set despite inebriation. Without warning, a mysterious marauder in an Uncle Sam costume complete with giant head leaps onstage. Langford, Schlabowske, and mandolinist Tracy Dear engage in pugilistics with the patriotic icon before he disappears into the night. Schlabowske: “It was only a year or two ago that I found out it was [labelmate] Jon Rauhouse!”
Kind of a Drag
Park West, Chicago, Ill.
Casualties: hometown rep and macho image
The Wacos dress in drag as backing band for Brigid Murphy’s Millie’s Orchid Show. Several cocktails into the evening, most of the band decides to wander provocatively about town in their finery. Returning hours later, they find Goulding, still in wig and dress, trying desperately to accompany Murphy alone in an ad hoc vocals-and-drums duet. Goulding: “Even after a futile attempt to sneak onstage and pretend they’d been there the whole time, the group were not asked back.”
