Skip to main content[BAR ROCK] Pure Country Gold is one of the most explosive live acts in town. But the focus isn't usually, as one might expect, on singer-guitarist Patrick Foss. "Jake is such a great performer to watch," Foss says of PCG drummer Jake Welliver. "When I look out at a crowd, every single person is looking at the guy next to me." That suits Foss just fine: "It makes me a lot more comfortable."
It never hurts to have a gimmick, and having a buff, mechanic-by-day drummer who plays as though his goal were to tear through his drumheads (and perhaps right through floor below them) qualifies as such. But there's room left for subtlety in Welliver's aggressive drumming, just as there's an increasingly crafty touch applied to Foss' songwriting on new disc Tough Tuesday. That's a skill the duo has refined greatly in its four years. When PCG began, Foss' goal was simple. "I wanted to play in front of a bunch of people and get them dancing," he says. "I thought the easiest way to do that was to take all these '50s songs...and just change them a little bit. I thought that would be a good place to start—just stealing stuff."
While there's residual influence of that songwriting strategy on Tough Tuesday—"Bitch" is a brutalized version of "Johnny Be Good"; the Ramones and Screeching Weasel found their way into the quick and dirty "King Kong Motherfucking King Kong"—PCG's homespun combination of snotty punk, Stax-era soul and Nuggets-style garage pop is perfectly distilled on tracks like the crunchy "I'm Gonna Drown With You" and the swaggering, Elvis-esque "I'm the End." Foss' growth as a singer, lyricist and songwriter is as evident as the band's balls-out rock prowess. He has learned to act fast when inspiration hits, Foss says. "I'll get an idea in my head, maybe when I'm at the bar, and I'll sneak off and call my voicemail." The messages are mouthed combinations of drum parts, guitar lines and vocal melodies. "It sounds really silly," he admits.
Silly or not, these sketches translate well to Tough Tuesday, PCG's third full-length and its most well-written, complete-sounding effort to date. "I'm not just ripping off anything anymore," Foss says. "Not as consciously, anyway." If he's not careful, Foss might wind up in the spotlight.
Pure Country Gold releases
on Saturday, Aug. 28, at Club 21 with Old Growth and DJ HWY 7. 9 pm. Free. 21+.
WWeek 2015
