CD Review: "Bender"

CD: Bender
ARTIST: Hucklebuck

The cover of Hucklebuck’s debut CD Bender looks like it could’ve came from somewhere around the WVRockscene home front. Not that we have that many burlap sacks, but recently we seemed to be getting invaded by those Asian stink beetles or something.

The Sharpsburg, Maryland-based Americana five-piece, together since 2008, released their debut effort a month or two ago. A few native West Virginians comprise the band, which inhabits the poorly policed, mountainous border region between West Virginia and Maryland, where irregulars pass freely from state to state.

The 10-song CD features a few really good songs, like Jarod Brechbill’s “Better Late Than Never,” which sounds like something Tom Petty might play. The songwriting mainly seems to split up between guitarists Jonathan Helta and Brechbill, with fellow six-stringer Jon James writing “West of I-95” and bassist Danny Cumbo (who introduced the band to us over the net) penning “The More That I Chase You,” the band seems to have an organic songwriting process, having evolved out of a few guys hanging out jamming.

Influenced by acts ranging from Buck Owens and the man in black to CCR, Petty and even Wilco, the band has a roots music sound a lot of people will likely dig.

J.J. James’ song, “West of I-95” is a rollicking, jangly, twangy, Southern-sounding garage rock good time, as the band flees NYC, Boston and Philly for the mountains.

“I wanna see God’s country the way it was meant to be…Get in the interstate and stomp on that gas! Head West of I-95!”

There’s a killer solo and lyrics about pesky out-of-state drivers. “Sick of dodging asshole drivers, watchin’ out left and right/I wanna be somewhere I can be left alone tonight.”

Brechbill’s songs include “Time Capsule,” and hilarious, curse-laden, irreverent country, maybe the most awesomely named song of 2010, “Til the Tit Gets Stuck,” and “Good Stuff.”

“Time Capsule” has a pretty acoustic intro leading intro dreamy strumming about “shooting holes in the moon again,” a really pretty, sappy song, with soulful crooning from Brechbill.

Songs credited to Helta include “Early Bird,” “Old State Line” and the closing track, “I Got Friends.”

“Early Bird” sounds like Wilco, which is a good thing. “Old State Line” is a rockin’ good time, a standout track, as Helta sings:

I’m runnin’ round the old state line, never meant to leave you behind
Hopin’ that you’ll be my mate, hopin’ that it’s not too late
I’m runnin’ round the old state line

Cumbo’s song, “The More That I Chase You,” is swinging old school country and/or western, with bouncy bass and a plucky slide guitar sounding solo. He sounds like Alan Griffith.

The band is able to capture a great bar-based atmosphere on the backing vocals and various hooting and hollering. From the sing-along choruses on the songs to people who sound like they’re just hanging out drinking, rocking out with the band. Kudos to Todd Stotler at Echos Recording in Sharpsburg for a good job in the studio.

The switching up of the singers, the fact that they each seem to have good songs, the appealing sound, the regional pride in the songs, and the bar-based atmosphere Hucklebuck nails make this CD way better than we anticipated. A good time to be had, listening to these dudes. Definitely worth checking out and picking up.


Hucklebuck plays the Blue Moon Café in Shepherdstown tonite, Friday Oct. 29

RIYL: ‘85 Flood


mp3: “Good Stuff” by Hucklebuck


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Hucklebuck goes on a "Bender"

Danny Cumbo, bassist for the Sharpsburg, Maryland-based Americana/roots act Hucklebuck, recently hollered and was saying we should check out his band, talking about their soon to be released CD Bender. We listened to a few tunes, made sure Cumbo's story checked out, and thought we'd throw a few questions at em in advance of their show Saturday at the Dub V Pub in Martinsburg...

WVRS: So you guys are based in Sharpsburg Maryland, but a few of you have ties to West Virginia, right?
Jonathan Helta: Two of us live in West Virginia, two of us live in Frederick, Maryland, and one practically lives on the border in Sharpsburg. Borders tend to matter more when you live further away from them. West Virginians are our neighbors despite the invisible lines.

WVRS: The band formed, as it says on your MySpace page, out of acoustic jam sessions, right? So you guys are all friends even pre-dating the formation of the band?
JH: Yes, and that's probably why we still play. It's really lucky to have the best of both worlds, good friends and good players. It keeps it fun.

WVRS: It says on your MySpace that you work hard but don't take yourselves too seriously. Obviously you want to have fun playing music, but do you think that some musicians and/or bands sometimes take themselves too seriously?
JH: Ego and personality can take over and unfortunately it ruins it for the rest of the band and the music can suffer as a result. Why put yourself and others through that? It's just poor human skills.



WVRS: You've got a few songs off your soon-to-be released full-length debut, Bender, finished. Where did you record at and when will it be ready to drop?
Danny Cumbo: We started recording at Echoes Recording Studio in Sharpsburg back in December 2009. What was originally meant to be a 4 or 5 song demo turned into Bender. The first weekend of recording drum and scratch tracks started snowballing and we just kept blasting though all of our songs, recording one after another. Next thing we knew, we had the foundations of 12 of our originals in the can. We whittled that down to 10 that we kept, and that's when the process slowed down, as we started going back and adding all the guitar and vocal tracks. Our last meeting with the engineer was on August 2nd and it should all be finished and ready to send out for a first run of CDs shortly.

WVRS: Between forming the band out of acoustic jam sessions, picking up more of an electric backing, and the recording of the debut, how much do you think the band's sound and approach to songwriting has progressed since you started a few years ago? Were you able to bring a fun atmosphere to recording or was it all business?
DC: Naturally, the songs have all developed and evolved over time, but before we hit the studio, we spent a lot of time rehearsing and taking notes on exactly how we wanted some of the songs to be structured and sound when we recorded them. As the songs developed, they went from three guitar players all strumming the same chords in unison to say, Jarod [Brechbill] holding down the fort on rhythm parts while Jon did a lot of lead and JJ bringing in some slide guitar licks. It gave the songs a lot of new dimensions. We definitely approached the studio with 'fun atmosphere' in mind while trying to be mindful that we are paying for every hour we're in there.

WVRS: You've got this show out in Martinsburg, and some of you are from WV. How well are you received out there in the Eastern Panhandle, and how much do you like playing WV in general?
DC: We love it. We used to play at a place called Moods in Hedgesville that is no longer open and had some of our best crowds there. We started seeing a lot of familiar faces every time we played there and are excited to be playing in the area again. We hope to see a good mix of new and familiar faces out there in the crowd when we play the Dub V Pub on August 7th.