photo by Jim Bennett (view set)
What would you call the tattooed, bearded, barrel-chested frontman of the Cincinnati band Ass Ponys who set aside that beloved project to focus on a different one with his girl? A wussy? Why yes, even to his face. About ten years ago, Chuck Cleaver pulled Lisa Walker up on stage to accompany him on a few solo shows, and their chemistry -- his wry working class twang and and her high reaching melodious voice -- bound seamlessly into this new band, Wussy, whose albums drag country and western through fields of noisy drone, across factory floors of rollicking blue collar rock, and onto the well worn barstools of boozy barroom blues. If Sonic Youth performed roots rock, they might sound like Wussy, but their NYC attitude would never match, shot for shot, Cleaver and Walker’s knock-down, drag-out lyrics about frailty and toughness, loss and love, and garbage trucks on parade.
Though we’ve played Ass Ponys and Wussy for years, we’ve yet to have either band perform live at KEXP -- Wussy, in fact, has never been to Seattle -- so we felt more than fortunate that the band could stop by Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin during our SXSW broadcast. And now you can watch their full performance here:
