The Carolinas breed some out there shit, man. Asheville, NC native Jackson Scott is one of them. His bio is full of high-brow jargon, which I’m sure he didn’t write himself, but after absorbing a few songs the connection begins to emerge. With his first musical memory being that of hearing Nirvana at four years old, Scott embraces the idea that people are flawed and exaggerates it to the point of absurdity at times; but there’s a lot of truth in the absurd.
During his live show at Glasslands, Jackson Scott made ugly faces, drawled out vowels in a grating, nasally voice, sneered and rasped, and rocked out some fuzzy atonal psych pop like he didn’t care, but it was also clear that he wouldn’t be doing what he’s doing if it didn’t mean something to him. This was communicated best through songs like the slacker slow burner and sarcastically titled “Together Forever,” and the purposeful “That Awful Sound.” His in-between song banter was barely formed thought fragments that he would quickly give up on, like when he tried to explain about this time when he was listening to a lot of Oasis, but, whatever, here’s the song; or when he randomly shouted, “This one’s for the kids!”
Throughout his set, Scott somehow distilled the feeling of wanting to throw a temper tantrum into an indifferent acceptance that things just happen that way. Instead of kicking and screaming, he stomped it out on effects pedals and took it all out on those guitar strings. At one point he set his guitar on the stage floor to kneel down and bend sound with his pedals and knobs, interspersed with standing up to slightly pace and then kick his guitar for emphasis. That was the one he dedicated to Steve Jobs. The last tune contained a riff that sounded a lot like the main riff in The Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” adding another layer to the message that was both a projection and a mirror. And it all made sense.
Headliner Gauntlet Hair followed, just as loud and rambunctious, but with the decidedly darker quality their sound has taken on the new album, Stills. Lead singer Andy Rauworth showed his best punk screams, and drummer Craig Nice buttered the crowd up by telling us this was their favorite place to play, EVER! Flattery totally works, and after the band’s last song, the crowd was cheering so that when all the other live band members were offstage, Nice stayed sat on his drum throne and declared, “I’m not even going anywhere.” Natch, an encore ensued, and the feverish finale rang out.
Jackson Scott’s LP Melbourne was just released on Fat Possum, and he’s got lots more tour dates lined up. Gauntlet Hair’s latest record is also on the market, and they have a couple more dates on this leg of their tour, before hitting the road in the fall with Surfer Blood.
