Local Rotation

Sugar Shack
Get Out of My World
Estrus Records

Spurred on by solid rhythm work, Sugar Shack keeps things punkish with its recent release.

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More About

• Mark Lockridge
• Jimmy Gilmer
• Stephanie Paige Friedman
• Kyle Otis
• Andy Wright

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No, this quintet does not cover the 1963 Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs hit with which it shares its name. Consisting of 14 original tracks and clocking in at just a smidgen longer than 30 minutes, the sound of Get Out of My World is a high-energy, neck-snappin' combination of punk, psychobilly and good ole dirty '60s garage rock.

The songs are jacked-up and often humorous odes to weird girlfriends ("My Girl, the Vampire"), romance/lust gone awry ("You'll Never") and even monogamy ("One Good Woman"). On one of the best tracks, vocalist Mark Lockridge begs his local convenience store clerk to help deliver him from a life of unpaid bills (and a significant other with expensive tastes) during "Mr. Lotto Man." In fact, an everyday despair haunts tunes such as "Yeah You Lied" and "I Don't Win," but at least our narrator finds catharsis in spilling his woes.

Throughout Get Out of My World, the balls-out power-chord guitar work of Andy Wright and Kyle G. Otis, as well as the furious drumming of Stephanie Paige Friedman, are uniformly excellent. They are the real engine that drives the band; think the Cramps, and you're on the right track. Bassist Johnny Gibson provides steady support but is simply drowned out in the mix.

Sugar Shack's weaknesses are few and forgivable. Since most of the songs are built on similar-sounding bulldozer rhythms, there's little apparent room (or desire, it seems) for diversity. By the time the CD wheezes into track 12, "We Won't Die," for instance, these tendencies become plain annoying. And occasional faux Limey accent aside, Lockridge's vocals are likewise uniformly spit out in the same staccato, high-decibel range that sometimes obscures the lyrics. Nonetheless, the hard-core homogeneity doesn't hurt much. Our advice is to ignore the directive of the CD title and join Sugar Shack in its world.