Grand Palace!

……….. To talk about the Muldoons properly, I must first tell you about the Upholsterers.

Before the White Stripes hit it big, Jack White’s profession was upholstery. He had an apprenticeship with Brian Muldoon, who played drums. Eventually, and I guess you might say naturally, Jack and Brian started playing music with each other: Jack on guitar, Brian on drums. They went by two names: the Upholsterers, and the Two Part Resin. They released one seven inch, Makers of High Grade Suites, on Sympathy for the Record Industry in 2000. Only 1000 copies were made. They made a second seven inch, and only pressed 100. Get this: they didn’t sale any of them; they secretly placed all 100 copies inside of customer’s chairs during the upholstering process. After that, you know the story. White Stripes hit it big, and naturally the Upholsterers faded away. But ties were not lost. Jack and Brian stayed friends still.

On with the subject……

A few years later, out come the Muldoons! A truly ferocious garage band featuring Brian Muldoon (48) on drums, and his two sons, Hunter (13) on guitar and backing vocals, and Shane (10) on lead vocals and guitar when he feels like it. They came out with their first seven inch in 2005. Since that, they’ve released two one sided Christmas 45’s: One on Cass Records in ‘05, the other was self released in ‘06. Basically, this is garage rock. With guitars that have almost no low end, and vocals so fuzzy you can barely make out what’s being said, any lo-fi junkie will feel at home. One of my favorite things about this band are the lyircs. They aren’t writing about how ‘their woman broke their heart’ or anything like that. They write about getting their driver’s license, battle of the bands, and zombies! Here’s a little sample from my personal favorite, ‘Zombies’:

“Zombies are coming out of their grave.
They don’t have manners and they don’t behave.
They came to de-stroy the town.
WE NEED TO TAKE THESE ZOMBIES DOWN!”

This proceeds into an equally awesome chorus, but you get the picture. This is just a truly great band from some cool kids. They’re not trying to pay rent, get chicks, or anything. They just love rock ‘n’ roll.

They’re going to be releasing their debut, self-titled record on Third Man/Cass Records on June 9th. I’ll write a review when I get a copy, and trust me, I will.

http://www.myspace.com/muldoonsofficialsite

Next Detroit-band-review to come whenever I feel like it: TIN KNOCKER!