The Attic Tapes is a must buy album for any Lucero fan. It’s an uncut diamond. This batch of demos make up this first effort by Lucero and it shows the roots of the punk-country band, without polish or studio production. The standout track is “Kiss the Bottle,” a cover of an underground San Francisco punk act named Jawbreaker and one of the most requested songs by fans at any Lucero show.
I posted a few versions - the album’s cut, a live cut, a Foo Fighters cut (just for the hell of it), then a video of the original version performed by Jawbreaker. At first I thought it was great that Lucero turned a punk tune into a country song, but after reading the lyrics I think Jawbreaker accidentally wrote a country song and played it punk. These lyrics are as down-on-your-luck-country as I’ve seen. It’s just missing a broken down truck:
It gets loneliest at night
Down at the liquor store
Beneath the neon sky
Our moonlight
Six a.m. the floor comes alive with lice
The pan’s dried up so tight
With hardened beans
We’re hungry
So I lean on you sometimes
Just to see you’re still there
We won’t be able to see Jawbreaker without a reunion, so make sure to catch Lucero if they pass through your town. It was the best show I saw in 2007 (San Franciscans - See them July 26th or 27th at Bottom of the Hill with Glossary).
Lucero - Kiss the Bottle (Live at WESN)
Foo Fighters - Kiss the Bottle
Jawbreaker - Kiss the Bottle
Lucero (Ben Nichols Solo) - Kiss the Bottle
Lucero - Kiss the Bottle
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Lucero’s version is pretty damn amazing. The Foos do a pretty decent version as well but nothing compares to Ben’s voice firing that tune out.
Almost everything Jawbreaker wrote could have been a country song.
I like Lucero’s but Blake Schwarzenbach of Jawbreaker still sounds the best to me. Don’t miss “The Revival Tour” this fall sporting Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music,Tim Barry of Avail, and Ben Nichols from Lucero.
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