Sounds From The Junkshop #99 - Winnebago Deal

 

"I'm gonna kick your arse/You've got a lot to lose" - Winnebago Deal - Shank Fight In M City

Trust me, it's difficult to do yer typical lyrical quote for an SFTJ entry when most of the band you're dealing with's lyrics are nigh-on incomprehensible. But that was always what made Winnebago Deal so great - they were a brutal blast of force, about as subtle as a brick to the face but with a sheer sense of chaos that set them aside from nearly everything else I was listening to in 2003.

The group started out on Fierce Panda records with the Manhunt single which I remember picking up when it came out and it properly blew me away - a real blast of punk-thrash energy with its insistent chorus of "Hunted, hunted down/Get that son of a bitch outta town!". The B-side Shank Fight In M-City was even better, going from its frenetic thrash into an ominous bass rumble for the middle part then building up for the big full throttle finale. A mini-album, Plata O Plomo soon followed, packing 7 tracks into 18 minutes and to my ears, this is where the band were at their best - the likes of Maximum Overdrive and Whiskey Business are pure rock 'n' roll nihilism in the best Stooges manner, crashing through on concrete-heavy whiplash riffs and pounding drums.

Winnebago Deal would move across to Double Dragon records soon afterwards and would release the Dead Gone and Flight Of The Raven albums, both produced by Jack Endino. This saw them extending their sound with a few heavier more slow and grinding tunes mixed in with the thrash ferocity and although they're not quite as immediate as Plata O Plomo, they've still got plenty to recommend with Knife Chase and a re-recorded Shank Fight on the former and the likes of Reeper and the title track on the latter being well worth a listen.

Winnebago Deal used to get compared to Queens of the Stone Age's heavier moments quite a bit so it's maybe not a surprise that after Nick Oliveri bailed from QOTSA that he'd end up befriending the band and they toured with Nick's Mondo Generator band a lot (and were even part of the touring line-up for a bit). I still remember seeing Winnebago Deal live in Leeds where they turned in an absolutely storming set with the sheer levels of distortion literally just stopping short of making you vomit/pass out/soil yourself. They also had Oliveri join them onstage for a one minute thrash song at the end which must be one of the briefest guest slots I've seen in thirty odd years of going to gigs!

I'm not quite sure what happened to Winnebago Deal - there would be a four year gap between Flight Of The Raven and its follow-up, 2010's Career Suicide which I missed altogether. The group have continued to gig intermittently since then but further releases haven't been forthcoming. Frontman Ben Perrier would unleash his new group, the much more melodic power-pop band Los Pepes (who've cropped up a couple of times in our reviews over the years at Nite Songs) shortly afterwards and it seems that's been his main priority since then.

I've enjoyed the last couple of Los Pepes albums and they're an excellent live band, bristling with a wiry energy similar to the Vibrators or the Buzzcocks. At the same time though, I miss the sheer chaos of Winnebago Deal - they may have been unashamedly heavy and thrashy but buried underneath was a good understanding of a good shoutalong chorus hook and a riff that'd instantly make you want to start banging your head like a loon. Hopefully there'll be some more gigs, and who knows maybe even an album, coming up in the near future. We can always hope...

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