I’ll be honest, sometimes I give a lot shit to San Diego bands just because I’m sick of the same old thing the music scene was showing me night after night.  There have been some surprises on the way but I’ve been waiting for that one spark to make me say, “Where the hell did these guys come from?  Can’t be from here.”  Then by fate of MySpace, enter Pushin’ Rope from Pacific Beach (San Diego).  “Alright. We’re not afraid!” was their message to me.  Suckers, they didn’t know what they were getting into.  Okay, a couple questions came to mind about this band.  First off, I was trying to figure out if they were going for some kind of nautical theme with the band name or did they really name themselves after a term used for a limp penis trying to penetrate?  Seriously, that’s what they were going for?  Something tells me these guys definitely had a sense of humor and humor is usually a good sign of a fun show.  But could they play?  Answer: fuck yeah.

It surprised the hell out of me that they had a straight up country, hellbilly sound disguised in a punk attitude.  Josh Renner (JR) on vocals looked like a gas station attendant who smoked too much weed and drank too much whiskey and his voice matched him just as well.  I fucking loved it!  Gritty and dark, just the way I like my music.  Sierra Colt on the upright, Shawn Donahue on skins, and Brent Gutswieler plucking the strings.  But the one player that definitely stood out was George Bitsakas on fiddle.  Adam McOwen of the Damn Band (Hank III) better watch out because apparently the devil went down in PB and gave that boy a fiddle because this fucker can play!  Holy damn, I gotta admit, they had me at hello.

Speaking of Hank III, they did a cover of “Smoke & Wine.”  Then it clicked.  In my Hank III review, I wrote about a group of people waiting to get in, singing the same song at the top of their lungs.  I looked at JR again and realized these were the same drunk fuckers in line!  How serendipitous.  But back to their show, they played from their latest CD Murderous Songs of Despair.   “Murder in This Town” and “Evil in His Eyes” holds no bars on which side of the holy line they stand.  They also cranked out “Ditch Digger,” “Pushin’ Dope,” and “Up All Night” with non-stop energy.  But I do have to give hats off to a bunch of hellraisers who have the balls to do a cover Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”  There’s no way the term “pushin’ rope” means limp dick for these guys because they came hard as hell.

So my last question goes out to those in the industry—why in the hell aren’t these guys signed?  C’mon San Diego, are you really so far up Surfdog Records ass that you can’t hear a good thing when you got it?  All in all, Pushin’ Rope was right.  They had nothing to be afraid of.  The world should be afraid of them.

PS.  I’m just kidding Surfdog, we’re cool right?  Oh well, it’s not the first time I said something wrong.