There were rumblings of a new Superdrag album being in the works, but instead, that project ended up becoming a new solo album by singer/guitarist John Davis. It’s called JINX and due September 27 via Lost In Ohio (pre-order). According to a press release, “It’s essentially the same record as what could have been Superdrag’s comeback album, it was just completed with a different set of musicians backing up Davis.”
The musicians in question are Stewart Pack and his son Henry, and here’s background on that, via press release:
“Stewart Pack has been a hero of mine for about 30 years,” John says. “He was the guitarist and the singer in my favorite Knoxville band ever, Pegclimber.” John had collaborated with Stewart on past projects like skate punk revival band Epic Ditch, but what John was really looking for was to be put in touch with Stewart’s son, Henry, who was fast becoming one of the most sought-after engineers in town. Not to mention a “monster drummer.”
What John got from that call was a twofer—Henry agreed to engineer, and Stewart signed up to produce. The father-son combo also quickly slotted in as John’s rhythm section. Suddenly – and, yes, heroically – there was a brand-new John Davis band.
They took their cues from three-piece legends like the Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü and Dinosaur Jr (all SST Records stalwarts) and used the spartan, no frills rock sensibility of the Ramones as inspiration. But they weren’t looking to go punk on John’s songs as much as go lean. “We weren’t gonna be bound by any of the earlier arrangements or earlier decisions about the songs and what we wanted to do was eliminate all the fat.”
The first single is “The Future,” which finds John offering up a no-frills version of the semi-shoegazy alt-rock that he’s been best known for since the ’90s. “I guess it sounds extremely pessimistic to say, ‘I don’t wanna know about the future,’ but that’s just where I was at the time,” John says. “Sometimes the ‘now’ is crushing your soul to the point where you can’t really look ahead. I love this track, love what Stewart & Henry brought to it. Seemed like the perfect opener and the perfect introduction to the LP.” Check out the song and its lyric video below.
Tracklist
1. The Future (2:57)
2. Please Be My Love (2:58)
3. Take My Brains Out (3:13)
4. Wildfire Love (2:06)
5. Cold Advice (3:27)
6. Already Drowned (2:29)
7. Free to Fall (3:06)
8. Indifferent Stars (3:26)
9. In Between the Waves (2:04)
10. I’m Sorry (4:08)