Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants
RCA Records
Chris Shiflett has been around the musical block. He started out as the guitarist for Lost Kittens, a glam-punk group that featured Steve Sherlock (who formed Nerf Herder) and Marko DeSantis (of Sugarcult), then joined punkers No Use For a Name. He then played for the punk rock supergroup (and cover band extraordinaire) Me First & the Gimme Gimmes. It was his next move that would be his most famous, replacing Franz Stahl, who had just replaced Pat Smear (Love that name!) in this little-known band called Foo Fighters. While he has done other side projects since then, namely Jackson United with his brother Scott Shiflett and Pete Parada, both of Face to Face, his latest is about as far away from his punk rock roots as he can get. The self-titled debut from Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants is straight-up Americana. This is some of the best country music you’ll find today.
“Death March” is old-school country complete with slide guitar and sounds a lot like a Neal McCoy or Ryan Adams outtake. He’s at his alt-country finest on “Get Along” and “Baby, Let It Out.”
While his voice doesn’t have the power or command that Foo Fighters vocalist Dave Grohl has, he still owns the songs and along with the instantly catchy music, makes for one of the better debuts of the year. Chris Shiflett & the Dead Peasants’ self-titled debut isn’t anything groundbreaking, but he does prove that no matter the genre, he can make top-notch music.
Chris Shiflett: http://www.myspace.com/chrisshiflett
