Philadelphia quarter American Speedway released their second disc A Bigger Boat last month (Prophase/MVD) and the music is a welcome throw-back to the days of long hair, ripped jeans, and high-top Chucks. I haven’t heard the band’s first disc Ship of Fools (2008) but just watched the video for the title track (below) and found the new material very comparable. American Speedway has been kicking around the roadhouse circuit for the last few years touring with like-minded bands like The Meatmen and The Supersuckers and the band is composed of vocalist/rhythm guitarist Michael Thursby, bassist Billy Angry, drummer Chris Callahan and newcomer guitarist Lorraine “Dirty” McGurty.



On A Bigger Boat, the band plays gritty pre-punk rock n’ roll with a whole lot of attitude and this is the sort of music that bands like Anthrax, Kix and Twisted Sister were playing in the early pre-MTV days. The music on A Bigger Boat is fast, loud and aggressive and the disc’s ten tracks speed by in just over 30 minutes. There are no “hair metal” lighter-in-the air ballads here as the music, which is driven McGurty’s riffs and Thursby’s yowling “whiskey and cigarettes” vocals, is pumped out in short two+ minute bursts of energy. Most of the band’s songs seem to be about drinking, and fast cars and this is the sort of hard rock that you used to hear blasting out of muscle cars in the early 80’s.

Here is a live performance of two songs from the new disc - "How! (Ya Doin?)" & "Watch Your Step".



American Speedway isn’t getting any closer to the City than New Brunswick but here are their upcoming tour dates:

June 03: The Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ
June 18: Astromonkey BBQ @ Saint Michael's Field, Mont Clare, PA
July 01 - 03: Heavy Rebel Weekender @ The Millennium Center, Winston Salem, NC
Sept. 09: Johnny Joe's, Mechanicsburg, PA

Links:
American Speedway