Blood Oaks is a high-energy, vaudevillian rockabilly/cowpunk band featuring heavy distortion, punk rock tempos, Gospel harmonies, folk instruments, and outlaw country lyrics. The live shows are like a traveling sideshow and feature fire breathing, burlesque dancers, and snake oil preaching.
Blood Oaks is a strange beast. On one hand, it is a high-energy rock band making ragged, jangling music that is equal parts punk rock and outlaw country. On the other, it is a performance piece: a vaudevillian stage show full of snake oil preaching, burlesque dancing, and fire breathing. Both aspects are integral to the core of what Blood Oaks strives to be–an experience.
“Parole Blues,” the first single from an upcoming album, captures the essence of Blood Oaks entirely. It is an up-tempo song with playfully sad lyrics. The song tells the story, the way most Blood Oaks songs do, of a man coming back home after a long time only to find his girl has moved on. Its a story song in the great country/folk tradition, except set over old-school punk guitar chords.
Blood Oaks began as an attempt to incorporate a lot of different, and sometimes widely incompatible, musical influences. The band has been influenced by everyone from George Jones, Johnny Cash, and Eddie Noack to The Ramones, Stiff Little Fingers, and The Dammed. They are equal parts The Cramps and Ernest Tubb. The sound has, however, been honed over the years into a strong and unwavering ethos: fast, loud, and jangly. The last year has seen the addition of what is affectionately referred to as the sideshow. They are a group of performers, some permanent, who are an integral part of the live show. The show often includes fire-and-brimstone-style preaching, fire breathing, humorous signs, dancing girls, and a healthy dose of satire and irrelevance. The addition of these elements and members is what finally made the band feel whole. Their reckless onstage abandon is probably best summed-up with the chorus of Duck and Cover, the bands favorite closing song: “When the wall fall down/ and the ceiling caves in/ I will raise my glass/ and toast the end because/ I am not afraid!”
Visit them online at http://www.bloodoaksmusic.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/BloodOaksMusic
