Monday, April 21, 2014

The Rainmakers Monster Movie released

Monster Movie

The Rainmakers


Released: April 21, 2014


Peak: -- US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): --


Genre: roots rock


Tracks:

Song Title (Writers) [time] Click for codes to singles charts.

  1. Shithole Town [3:56]
  2. Monster Movie [3:36]
  3. Who’s at the Wheel (Tomek, Walkenhorst) [2:24]
  4. Blue Museum [4:16]
  5. Miserable [2:54]
  6. Your Time Has Come [3:13]
  7. Save Some for Me (Porter, Walkenhorst) [2:34]
  8. Believe in Now (Porter) [3:27]
  9. 13th Spirit [3:26]
  10. Dogleg Ruth, Walkenhorst) [2:55]
  11. Signs of a Struggle [4:03]
  12. Swinging Shed [3:01]

All songs written by Bob Walkenhorst unless noted otherwise.


The Players:

  • Bob Walkenhorst (vocals, guitar)
  • Rich Ruth (bass, vocals)
  • Pat Tomek (drums)
  • Jeff Porter (guitar, piano, vocals)

Rating:

2.920 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)


Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

The Rainmakers, “arguably Kansas City’s best known band,” DL returned in 2011 with 25 On, their first studio effort in fourteen years. Rather than it being a one-off, though, it launched a second wave for the band. They followed up that album three years later with Monster Movie. While not as strong as its predecessor, songs like Shithole Town, 13th Spirit, and Miserable are worthy additions to the Rainmakers’ repertoire and this is still “a band that is comfortable with itself and dares to still care about what can be done musically.” DL

“Shithole Town” “starts out like a crowd-clapping sing-along, then morphs into a country-tingled tale of backwoods/back roads folks, bad country music, and small towns. Then it shifts gears again as the music moves from a country feel to a rock and roll song; as the story changes and moves forward, the music does, too.” DL

“13th Spirit” touches on religious themes. As frontman Bob Walkenhorst says, the song “is just asking the big question…Can you please – YOU UP THERE! – please just give us a hint as to what this all means? Is there supposed to be some kind of secret code we’re supposed to be figuring out? Why does this all seem to make no sense at times?” KM

The goal with the album was a record “that was loud and aggressive and rooted in its early style.” KM The album “examines the horrors and realities of everyday life.” KM Walkenhorst said, “There’s plenty of monsters and horrific ideas in our modern culture. I’ll address a few of them.” KM He also explained that the title came from bassist Rich Ruth’s “taste for B-grade terrible monster movies.” KM

Regarding the title song itself, Walkenhorst said “I thought it would be a really funny song…about bad monsters and bad scientists and all that. Songs have a mind of their own. You can start with an idea…and the song will suddenly rear its ugly head and go, ‘No, I’m gonna be THIS!’ So this became more of a very blunt, social criticism.” DL

Pat Tomek “provided the poetry that became the lyrics to Who’s at the Wheel, a lovely conspiracy song with Creedence-like chooglin’ guitar work from Walkenhorst and Porter. Like fellow Missouri resident Chuck Berry, who wrote similar Americana-themed songs, this song takes a wry look at human foibles and Internet-fueled paranoia.” DL

Porter contributes the “mid-tempo, introspective’ DL Believe in Now and co-wrote Save Some for Me with Walkenhorst. The song “has a folk rock feel aided by Porter’s music and a great acoustic riff.” DL

The album closer, Swinging Shed, is “a catchy song about a club in the town where Walkenhorst grew up.” DL The song “references music from the early ‘60s” DL and “sounds as catchy as something by Chris Kenner or Freddy Cannon.” DL

Resources and Related Links:


Other Related DMDB Pages:


First posted 8/19/2021.

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