Dead Shed Jokers – Dead Shed Jokers

Dead Shed Jokers – Dead Shed Jokers

Pity My Brain Records – 2015

Rock, Alternative, Stoner

Rated: ****

Northern and landlocked, smack dab in the middle of Welsh coastal cities like Swansea, Cardiff and Newport you can find settlements like Aberdare and Merthyr. Not names that might immediately ring a bell. And even the locals seem to only find out about the desperate history of the twin towns after they’ve moved away. Traversing the abandoned railway tunnel from Merthyr to Aberdare you get the urge to run, skip and jump because the dark seems to be chasing you. The oppressive air hunkering down and ready to pounce you when you decide to stop. Wait, where is this going? And I am not referring to the tunnel here. But imagining that tunnel and the atmosphere is a good way to start your journey with the Dead Shed Jokers. On their second full-sized album they hop, skip and jump with their very own version of alternative rock, stoner and even classic sounding metal. With heady time signatures and breaks, they opt for big gestures and there’s almost something thespian about their version of heavy rock. And there’s definite craziness lurking around the corner as well. And I’m not just talking about their insane video for third track Memoirs of Mr Bryant or the ending of said song. But just listen how the twist up their riffs and switch between structures. Damn, if you wouldn’t know better you would almost expect them for trying to produce a proggy stoner opera that only people who use One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest as their bible could possibly grasp! Which means everything is true, even if it didn’t happen, for he who marches out of step hears another drum…

(Written by JK)

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