Slothrust at Rough Trade NYC

Slothrust

Rough Trade NYC

November 1^st, 2016

by Angelo Santoro

With Halloween still in the air from the night before, Boston’s Slothrust took to the Rough Trade NYC stage in front of a sellout crowd.  It was the record release party for their latest LP, Everyone Else, which was released on October 28^th by Dangerbird Records.  The Slothrust threesome is comprised of Leah Wellbaum on guitar and vocals, Will Gorin on drums and Kyle Bann on bass. The trio has embarked on a U.S. tour promoting the new album with most of their shows already sold out. Opening for the band were Big Ups, and Mal Blum & The Blums

Slothrust is known for taking the best sounds of grunge and injecting their own special blend of blues and jazz, creating a sound all their own and overlaid with Leah’s gritty vocals. With this sound in mind, they opened their set with one of their biggest songs, “7:30 AM”, from 2012’s Feels Your Pain.  After the culmination of “7:30 AM”, Wellbaum welcomed the crowd and announced they were going to now play the new album in full order. For a group of songs only released a few days prior, the response of excitement from the crowd was more than impressive, with audience members then holding up newly purchased vinyl issues of the instant classic.

Once again they started out with the heavily
instrumental piece, “Surf Goth”, the opening song on the new LP, before breaking into “Like a Child Hiding Behind Your Tombstone”,
which was followed by “Rotten Pumpkin”. All throughout, Leah’s colorful lyrical imagination shined brightly.  With “Horseshoe Crab”, Leah has an ingenious way of telling us what she thinks and feels using obscure objects, clearly an example of the musical and lyrical depth the band possess.

What made this show so remarkable are the astonishing tracks coming off of Everyone Else. It is filled with hit after hit, songs like “Mud”, “Trial & Error” and “Pigpen”.  Slothrust’s grungy raw sound continued after the completion of the new songs with some older favorites.   The band was sure to include “Crockpot“, “Magnets pt 2” and they closed the set with a rocking “Beowulf“.

The Release of Everyone Else gave us what I consider to be the best album release of 2016.  The only thing that was better was the chance to see them perform it live.  It is a must have and they are a must-see.