by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Staffers would qualify as a criminally underrated band, which is to say, we should all be listening to more Staffers. The good news then is that the DC-via-Omaha project led by Ryan McKeever is set to release a new record, Asleep At The Wheel via Propane Exchange (Patti, Divorce Horse, Chronophage) on October 14th. Following 2020’s great In The Pigeon Hole album, McKeever and his collective - which includes Anna McClellan, Wilson Keithline, Gavin Cordaro, Luke Reddick, Sean Pratt, and Megan Siebe - the band continue to blur the lines between post-punk immediacy and front-porch twang, creating punk music with a jangle pop ease. Throughout Asleep at the Wheel, the band play at their most refined, dropping much of the tongue-in-cheek humor and dissonance for clear, radiant songwriting. Having shared lead single “35th Street” with the album’s announcement, the plucky song introduced us to a gentle side of Staffers.
“Love You More,” the album’s second single pairs McKeever (vocals, guitar) with Cordaro (drums), McClellan (vocals), and Reddick (bass), with a nod to the band’s ramshackle days upended by a fried country resonance that wouldn’t be so far off from David Berman’s catalog. It’s a song about avoiding problems for as long as possible and relationships that linger on your mind. McKeever and McClellan’s voices harmonize with great chemistry that comes from working together over the years, keeping things loose with still garnering maximum input from it. This is big time rock ‘n’ roll, and the sweetness is balanced with a nice Western grit.
Check out the band’s upcoming tour dates below.
TOUR DATES:
10/06 - Charlottesville, VA @ Visible Records
10/07 - Charlotte, NC @ Snug harbor
10/08 - Charleston, SC
10/09 - Athens, GA @ The World Famous
10/10 - Atlanta, GA @ 529
10/11 - Chattanooga, TN @ Cherry Street Tavern
10/12 - Nashville, TN @ Drkmttr
10/13 - St Louis, MO @ CBGB
10/14 - Lincoln, NE @ Pepe's
10/16 - Omaha, NE @ Grapefruit Records
10/17 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Bronze
10/18 - Chicago, IL
10/19 - Detroit, MI @ UFO Factory
10/20 - Cleveland, OH @ Shepard Records
10/21 - Washington, DC @ Rhizome
10/22 - Philadelphia, PA
10/23 - New York, NY @ Trans-Pecos