Apache Dropout

Travelling down the long road of Indiana’s great and rich musical history will lead you past The Gizmos, The Zero Boys, Brad Long, Zerfas and eventually to Bloomington trio Apache Dropout. The band’s self-titled 2011 album was a kick in the pants to everyone who dared cry that ‘rock is dead’, infusing psych, garage, pop and boogie with enough soul and blood to pump a thousand hearts. 

‘Bubblegum Graveyard’ goes above and beyond what one could have hoped for in the band’s sophomore album, magically combining bubblegum pop and heavy guitar jams into a brewing pot of ‘chewing gumbo’ that really has to be heard to be believed. 

Sonny Blood’s vocal delivery and guitar playing dances around the wobbly grooves the rhythm section of Lord Fyre and Anu Nath are laying down, exerting an earnest and rocking blue collar Midwestern sensibility while still maintaining a hold on the best elements of Ohio Express or 1910 Fruit Gum Company’s self-conscious silliness. 

Stand out tracks such as the pop majesty of the two opening tracks ‘Archie’s Army’ and ‘Candy Bar’ stir and sift with surreal lyrics that unwrap themselves more and more with every listen, while the wail and moan of ‘Quaaludes ‘68’ and ‘Lady Blood’ come on like the best of the Motor City in its glory days, screaming & howling like Cerebus at the gates of the Underworld. 

The musical and lyrical interplay reveal a hallucinatory tale of candy, robberies, death and hasty getaways, like ‘Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry’, only if Mary is Patty Hearst and Larry were a deranged Willy Wonka. Multiple listens reveal a poppy-laced reality and a warped sense of rage over the oppressively flat and banal Midwestern landscape. 

LP format includes a full colour insert and lyric sheet and is pressed on randomly mixed coloured 150gm vinyl, including a download code.