Ugly Stick-Pick Up the Hatchet
Hovercraft
April 1, 2011

Ugly Stick is a band I’ve never heard of until this double album arrived in my mailbox. One listen had me thinking that this was a band ahead of their time. These are innovative albums that were onto something that would become widely popular in the coming decades: cow punk.

Ugly Stick are able to smoothly mix punk and country, adding in some rock elements as well. Some songs remind me of The Replacements. Others seem to be the blueprints that Against Me! turned into gold so many years later. And then there are some that just didn’t sound that great, which are only a rare few.

I find myself enjoying their self-titled album a lot more. The songs seem more coherent, the country punk aspect is more outlined and they’re flat out better to listen to. Shaved is decent, with a more rock and roll vibe (some of it reminds me of a less noisy Bleach from Nirvana), which makes the country punk songs stand out that much more. Shaved seems like a transition record (knowing nothing about them until now, I’m not sure how true this statement actually is), but it has its share of gems and is a pretty good listen in its own right. This is a great start to my soon to be extensive Ugly Stick collection.

Written by: RF
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