By: David Schultz

Backyard Tire Fire, one of Earvolution's favorites, returned to New York City last Wednesday for an early evening set at the Mercury Lounge. Having recently emerged from the studio where they have been toiling under the auspices and fine ear of producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), the Tire Fire still burns with the raucous energy that can only be generated by boozy, guitar-driven rock and roll. For their hour long set, Ed Anderson, his brother Matt and Tim Kramp previewed many of the songs that will presumably be on the yet-to-be titled new release. If the songs from the Merc are any indication, expect the new album to contain another heaping bunch of Ed Anderson's thoughtful slices of Americana over the BTF's well-polished variety of blues based classic rock. With Scott Tipping rejoining the band on guitar and Andrew Weir on keyboards, songs like "Road Song #39" - which given Anderson's potential to write a song a day, may very well be his 39th road song - have a heft to them; an encouraging sign that this band is still growing and getting even better.

For those who aren't familiar with Backyard Tire Fire, there's no time like the present to get acquainted. Given Anderson's prolific output, there's a small mountain of incredible music to sift through. Vagabonds & Hooligans, which shows off their ability for riff driven rockers, remains one of my favorites but The Places We Lived demonstrates that not everything needs to be done at maximum volume and there is no substitute for a well written song.

On a somewhat amusing note, the Tire Fire learned firsthand the perils of recording a great song entitled "Time To Go." Before closing with a faithful cover of Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns & Money" and "How In The Hell Did You Get Back Here?," they battled a group of enthusiastic fans who in calling for the tune pretty much sounded like they were heckling the band. All you bands out there, keep that in mind if you've titled your arena rock anthem "Get Off The Stage" or "Leave, You Suck." Unless, you're Primus. In that case, carry on.

Labels: Backyard Tire Fire