Quick and Easy Boys: Red Light Rabbit

Quick and Easy Boys
Red Light Rabbit
Per Capita
2010-06-08

Punky, funky and just a little bit country, Portland trio the Quick and Easy Boys deliver all the goods without a hint of genre dilettantism on their rousing sophomore release, Red Light Rabbit. Granted, our heroes aren’t quite the clever and unique genre alchemists they think themselves to be — everyone from Red Hot Chili Peppers to Phish to My Morning Jacket has trod similar territory — but these guys (singer/guitarist Jimmy Miller, singer/bassist Sean Badders and drummer Michael Goetz) do it with verve and understanding, and I’ll be damned if inventive guitarist Miller ain’t a hotshot in the making.

Opener “Foster I…”, sets the pace with a Devo-gone-funk vibe and Miller’s urgent, clipped vocals and the album’s eponymous track is an open road burner, despite its brake-pumping title. The rig-rock bona fides of “Breakin’ Love” reveal a genuine love of ’70s country, and hell, there’s even a little Joe Walsh vibe on (sic) “Spicey Paella”. Still, punk/funk drives the band and separates the Quick and Easy Boys from the rock masses. Great on record, I can only imagine the raucousness that accompanies their lives sets — I mean, you get a bunch of punks, funky souls and cowboys in a room together…

RATING 7 / 10