In 2005, Toby Jeg offered to start a label to put out an EP from renowned bozo Brendan Kelly’s new side project. That label was Red Scare and the aforementioned EP was the Falcon’s ‘God Don’t Make No Trash, or Up Your Ass With Broken Glass’. It was five tracks recorded for no money in various living rooms and practice spaces. It featured Neil Hennesy and Brendan Kelly of the Lawrence Arms, Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio and Todd Mohney, formerly of Rise Against. It was a dirty and dark exploration of the not so lighter things in life. Their subsequent full length, ‘Unicornography’, still stands as the best selling album on the label. Fast forward to 2015 and the Falcon are slated to headline the Red Scare 10th Anniversary party with no 2nd guitar player. In comes Dave Hause to learn their songs. After all playing together for the first time that night, they looked at each other and exclaimed, “So I guess we’re a band now. Lets make a record.”
And make a record they did. While ‘Gather Up the Chaps’ is less a direct follow up to ‘Unicornography’, (few records with a ten year span in between are), it still serves as a prime example of a Brendan’s more reckless style of songwriting. Kelly describes himself as a student of song craft and believes in strengthening techniques he’s used in the past, and continue to demonstrate a prowess over the allegorical style of his lyrics. Fans of recent Larry Arms album ‘Metropole’ and the Wandering Birds record ‘I’d Rather Die Than Live Forever’ will notice right away an expanse on the controlled chaos approach to songwriting and the dark and sometimes perverted subject matter his songwriting is known for. It’s a deeper exploration and embrace of the darker side of themselves that most people like to pretend doesn’t exist. It’s a successful formula that translates well to what Dan and Dave each bring to the record.
Andriano continues to demonstrate his well deserved reputation of excellence in song writing with his contribution, ‘You Dumb Dildos’. This one song drumpfs anything the Trio has brought to the table in a while. That isn’t to say their output has been weak, it more serves as a compliment to how good this song is. It takes full advantage of every member of the group’s strengths from Dan and Brendan’s vocal force to Dave’s ability to compose a guitar part, and brings them together for what must only translate to one hell of a performance on stage. Dave’s aptly titled, ‘If Dave Did It’, shows off how perfect of a fit he is for this band. His take on what the Falcon means to him while leaving his mark all over the place makes for one hell of a powerhouse jam. I can only hope that a lack of activity in each member’s primary bands leads to a surplus of these four getting together to embrace their dark side.
‘Gather Up the Chaps’ is a god damn fun album. Anyone who has found pleasure in what Brendan has been up to over the last 11 years will have no problem loving something about this record. What some would call a super group, I would refer to as a group of friends who grew up together and know how to make good music. It’s pretty clear that Kelly and company were going for a down and dirty rock and roll album because that’s exactly how it comes off. The flow of the songs is fairly disjointed and originally this came off as a bit of weak point, but going back, ‘Unicornography’ wasn’t exactly the most cohesive record and it remains one of my long standing favorites. Its still too soon to tell whether ‘Gather Up the Chaps’ will stand the test of time, but for now, I am having a great time with it and would invite anyone in the mood for a good time to join the party.