The Perc Presents New Rides of the Furious Swampriders is the fourth volume in a series whose first volume dates back to 1990. The concept behind the original volume was a collection of songs that are “different, rusty, dusty and dirty with edges”. Jeffrey Lee Pierce contributed to the second volume and the liner notes in this new disc state that Pierce was “THE swamprider par excellence” for compilation masterminds Tom “The Perc” Rendecker and Strange Ways Records label boss Lothar Gatner. (This is important to note as a handful of tracks on this disc come from We Are Only Riders – The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project.) After a twelve year silence, Rendecker (Gatner passed away in 2005) decided to round-up the swampriders for one more ride.

One of the comments about the We Are Only Riders project was that it was “all a bit Nick Cave, which is not a bad thing” and one could make a similar comment about this project as Cave and Pierce’s influences shine bright. Like the first volume, music on this new disc includes “acoustic guitars and synthesizers” and ranges from “folk, punk, rockabilly, krautrock and minimal beat”. The disc starts strong with the heavily Middle-Eastern influenced track “The Threshingfloor” (by Wovenhand – x-16 Horsepower) before going into Deborah Harry’s haunting rendition of Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s “Lucky Jim”. This track is from We Are Only Riders and includes Chris Stein and Nick Cave accompanying Pierce and Cypress Grove’s session work. The Raymen’s swamp-blues track “When Death’s Black Train is coming to Town” follows this and sounds heavily influenced by mid-period Nick Cave.



This is an eclectic disc and other tracks include M. Walking on the Water’s deconstruction of Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” and The Dad Horse Experience’s dark, new wave oom-pah (complete with kazoo) track “Kingdom It Will Come”. 16 Horsepower’s cover of Rainer Ptacek’s “De-Railed” channels the spirit of the Gun Club and Lydia Lunch & Dave Alvin’s cover of Pierce’s “Walkin’ Down the Street (Doin’ My Thing)” is malevolent, dangerous and brilliant. Mixing things up, The Walkabouts’ “Soul Thief” is garage rock with a pumping beat and Velvetone w/ the Fat Honks song “The River” is straight-on funked-up soul. The disc closes with “Take You Home”, which is a previously unreleased indie-rock tune from Harry Payuta. Paytuta and his then band Vee Jays participated on the first Swampriders album in 1990 so this volume of the series completes the circle.

The Perc Presents New Rides of the Furious Swampriders Track List
1. Wovenhand – "The Threshingfloor"
2. Deborah Harry – "Lucky Jim"
3. The Raymen – "When Death’s Black Train Is Coming To Town"
4. M. Walking On The Water – "Enjoy The Silence"
5. The Dad Horse Experience – "Kingdom It Will Come"
6. Sixteen Horsepower – "De-Railed"
7. The Perc – "Sleeping Dog"
8. Lydia Lunch & Dave Alvin – "Walkin’ Down The Street (Doin’ my own Thing)"
9. Kirschbaum-Weisshoff-Trio - "Heartbreak Hotel"
10. The Walkabouts – "Soul Thief"
11. Velvetone w/The Fat Honks – "The River"
12. Golden Kanine – Law of probable Outcome"
13. Johnny Dowd – Constant Waiting"
14. Harry Payuta – Take You Home

Links:
The Furious Swmapriders Series