43
Whiskey Daredevils take another shot
By John Benson
Alt-country iconoclasts the Whiskey Daredevils have returned from the Music City with their latest effort “Nashville Surprise.”
The Cleveland band’s ninth studio album acts as a perfect counterpart to its punk-minded previous project, “The Genny Sessions.” However, that wasn’t the intention when the quartet – Greg Miller (vocals), Gary Siperko (guitar), Leo P. Love (drums and vocals) and Rebecca “Sugar” Wildman (bass) – worked with producer Dexter Green (who co-wrote Collective Soul’s hit “Better Now”).
“With this particular record it seems odd because we’re a band that walks a line between a kind of country twang and a punk-rock edge,” said Miller, formerly of the Cowslingers. “Then we go down to Nashville, where we thought we would have been completely overcome by the atmosphere, the fiddles and all of that. And instead we make our loudest rock record.”
Epitomizing what the Whiskey Daredevils are all about is new track “Don’t Talk to Connie,” which Miller said was inspired by a fly-on-the-wall moment he experienced at a Circleville bar when he overheard a conversation between a few women sitting at a high-top table.
He recounts one woman telling another, “Don’t talk to Connie. She’s drunk tonight.” That’s all Miller and company needed to dream up a sordid backstory and a heavy rockabilly groove.
While one can’t help but feel sorry for Connie, Miller laughed, “You know, as you learn in the song, she’s not entirely without fault. The woman is clearly out of control. That’s why you don’t want to talk to her in the first place, she’s so violent and drunk and confrontational.”
Formed more than a decade ago, the Whiskey Daredevils continues to grow its cult fanbase that now reaches around the globe. Yes, that’s not a typo. While the band may remain somewhat anonymous in its hometown, it has half a dozen European trips under its belt with another planned for this fall.
Miller says their allure stems from the fact the outfit can’t be pigeonholed. Sure, the foursome gets put on rockabilly and alt country bills – sharing the stage with the likes of Supersuckers, Dick Dale and Brian Setzer – but it always stands out.
“In a lot of cities across the world, from Dayton to Brussels, there are between 50 and 250 people that are very, very excited we’re coming to play our music,” Miller said. “I have no idea why that happens. I stopped trying to figure it out. At this point, we just want to outlive all of our critics.”
Therein lies the biggest hurdle for the Whiskey Daredevils, which for some purists may come across as artifice, hipsters dressed in crazy country-western garb.
“There’s a certain truth to that, especially amongst the alt country crowd,” Miller said. “They take alternative country and themselves very, very seriously. Maybe it’s the punk rock part of me that I feel I can take a pot shot at anything.
“We’ve never tried to pretend we’re something we’re not. We’re just a bunch of people from Ohio playing our version of American music. I like the costume-y element of it because it’s supposed to be fun. Oftentimes, especially in the alt country world, fun goes out the window. Like if you’re having fun, you’re not allowed to be a good band.”