Shellshag
Destroy Me I’m Yours
(Starcleaner Records, 2007)

Globetrotting, singing punk love songs face to face through a homemade crossed v-shaped mic stand, the drum and guitar duo of Jen and Johnny of Shellshag have managed to figure out a way to locate what, at least on the surface, appears to be the ultimate indie rock couple lifestyle. Perpetually on tour, releasing their friends’ records, putting on shows, and in general, making art and helping folks out, the duo approaches music and life with the kind of elation, unpretentious soul, and D.I.Y. brotherhood that you just don’t see all that often anymore… if you ever really did.

And they’ve been at it across the American underground forever. I initially got to know Jen and Johnny in the late-1990s when they put on a show for one of my bands at their Starcleaners warehouse in San Francisco – a cavernous building was formerly the Residents’ home base. Important players in the post-Hickey Mission sludge scene, they packed the place with hundreds of folks for a bill that also included Johnny’s band, 50 Million, and Jen’s band, Static Faction. Not only will I never forget how their efforts saved our asses financially, but the show was every bit as wild and amazing as the next few days sleepless in the San Francisco.

Fast-forward a decade and, not only have Jen and Johnny not let up one iota, but, since joining forces in rock, they’re at it stronger and harder than ever. While no recording can accurately translate their live fervor, street theatrics, and visual spectacle, their first full-length, Destroy Me I’m Yours, not only captures Johnny’s fuzzed out guitar and Jen’s stand up drums, but also their authentic mix of gutter punk dirt and syrupy charm.

The casual bliss of “Bridge” and the show-stopping hit ballad “Gary’s Note” are my personal favorite Jen songs. As for Johnny, I’m particularly fond of the harmony-vocal slow dance of “Right and Wrong,” the bloody lo-fi valentine of “Happiness,” the poppy punk of “Little Birdy,” and the rough Stoogesy “Bill Badgley, Please Don’t Let Me Fade Away.” Destroy Me I’m Yours concludes with two of their finest and least traditional numbers: “Zero Girl” is pure ear-splitting ambient metal machine music. And the band’s stick-throwing finale, “123,” could easily tell you how to get to a Sesame Street address.

There are in fact enough bona-fide pop hits in this infectious collection (see “Kiss Me Harder” and “Gary’s Note”) that I’m convinced these two could afford to leisurely ramble in their own RV if they wrote for Kelly Clarkson. Finally… the ideal soundtrack for a punk prom.

Did I mention they give you a free CD comes with the go’jhas gatefold vinyl package?

official Shellshag site
Watch Shellshag play “1,2,3” live in Japan
Excerpt from a Shellshag recording session
Sample streams of tracks