live: ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD & KEP GHOULIE (Groovie Ghoulies) (Punk/Acoustic - US)

live: ANDREW JIHAD JACKSON & KEP GHOULIE (Groovie Ghoulies) (Punk/Acoustic - US)

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently – they’re not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. 

“Sometimes less is better” is a true enough statement…and that is certainly the case when it comes to Phoenix, Arizona’s folk-punk duo Andrew Jackson Jihad. Sean Bonnette, guitar and vocals, and Ben Gallaty, upright bass and backup vocals, are the whole of this musical endeavor…and they are all it needs. Bonnette’s guitar playing, which is less centered on technical finger-work than it is on busy strumming patterns, tends to be quite percussive, canceling out their need for a drummer altogether. Gallaty’s bass playing, though done with a remarkable degree of skill and style, is also wonderfully chaotic. And while every element of their sound is more than a little notable, Bonnette’s vocals especially stand out, with a peculiar and full-of-feeling style of delivery.

Lyrically, Andrew Jackson Jihad cover a variety of topics, including everything from the often terrifying and sometimes comical human condition to abusive fathers, feelings of abandonment, personal anguish and self-deprecation, from the absurdities of religion and their vengeful Christ to the horrors of teenage drug use, relationships, serial murder, and sometimes just life-things in general, but not in the way you might think. That is, the lyrics are often full of irony, razor-sharp wit, and raging openness, the words pouring forth in a way that seems less composed than conjured on the fly, and yet he speaks and sings and passionately shouts in equal turns, daring and unabashedly and unapologetic, all intelligence and heart and guts. And if Andrew Jackson Jihad’s catchy, powerful and unusual music doesn’t draw you in, their lyrics will certainly hold your attention and keep you listening.