Beware of that Demon Beat

I recently sat down to weigh the idea of going home for the holidays. I must admit that my feelings were mixed, but it also reminded me of one of my greatest recent musical discoveries. Over Thanksgiving, I ran into a high school acquaintance of mine who was very excited about his band’s new release, Heavy Nasty. The name of the band is The Demon Beat, the name of the acquaintance is bassist Tucker Riggleman. Along with drummer, Jordan Hudkins, and guitarist/vocalist, Adam Meisterhans, The Demon Beat forges a solid rock sound that plays as well live, if not better than it does on disc.

The first thing that many music critics will do to an upstart band is a comparison of them to some sort of musical marriage of two or three different bands, but listening to The Demon Beat conjures up a full blown orgy of musical inspirations. The vocals sound like Jack White, Mick Jagger, and Roger Daltrey, the guitarist alternates between Led Zeppelin, Lynrnd Skynrd, Queens of the Stone Age, Wolfmother, and the Fratellis. Tucker sounds like he is divining the spirit of The Pixies, The Doors, The Ramones, and so many other punk rock bands, with high energy drums charging right along the whole way through.

The sound of the band probably comes from its foundations as a two man band. Tucker told me that “Adam and Jordan started about the time I came in as a freshman, and I knew that they were playing music that I wanted to be a part of—and I thought they could use a bass player. When I started playing with them it really gelled.” Gelled indeed; the power trio formation is one that is underused in modern rock music, and the guitar and vocals seem to take turns across each track, as if they were having a conversation with each other.

This simple, yet talented sound not only screams classic rock, but also makes rock that’s cool to dance to—Don McLean would be proud. Even with head swaggering tracks like “King of London” or “Hootenanny”, the album still manages to effortlessly transition to rock epics like the nearly ten minute masterpiece “The Empire”. Rarely in recent history has a band made an album solid enough to smoothly transition between hard rockers, and epic balladry.

The eclectic influence of the band may have killed a lesser band; merging a large pool of influences is by no means a small feat for any group of musicians. The influence on The Demon Beat is draws from a wide source of influences, some unexpected, “we are all huge Weezer fans” says Tucker. Yet somehow the band’s production comes off as very distinguished, and at no point do you feel like you are listening to more than one group of artists.

The band is presented by Skull City Records, based in Shepherdstown, who also promote the fabulous newgrass band, The Fox Hunt. The production on the album is done masterfully and only in very rare moments does the mix feel anything less then perfect. I can honestly say that it is the first album that was handed to me by someone I knew, and did not experience waves of fear about the consequence of repeat listening.

If you are a fan of that bygone era of late 60’s rock and miss the power that three very talented musicians can crank out, you need to find The Demon Beat. Seek them out if you find yourself a fan of early Kings of Leon, Wolfmother, or The Fratellis. Hunt them down if you need rock music with a soul.

The name of The Demon Beat comes from the phrase that many used to denounce the virtue of early rock and roll music when it was on its rise, and now it is a symbol of its return. Imagine that—rock music being reborn here in the hills of West Virginia, by three boys in love with rhythm, soul, and a whole lot of grit.