Holed up in his own studio apartment with nothing but an old, busted 4-track for months on end and tirelessly self-producing the thing, the ending results for Cancer Berries are beyond awesome. Kicking off with a psychedelic opening in “Invocation” with its endless loops of old ’70s television and Richard Pryor standup, the minute and a half track also pays respect to the old reggae toasters from the early ’80s, reminiscent of Afrika Bambaataa and Mikey Dread. After the gloomy intro, Shogun switches it up into a Monster Magnet-influenced stoner jam “Aces Over 8′s.” Vocally, Martin channels Magnet’s Dave Wyndorf with excellent precision, complete with warbling distortion and creamy, meat chocked riffs to skewer over. Instead of the typical drum set flare behind the man’s guitarwork, Martin opts for nothing but a bass drum and a tambourine to scoop out the album’s sole percussion. This is the literal definition of the “one man band” and Chicago’s Slow Gun Shogun certainly puts that term to the grindstone. Oh and it also doesn’t hurt that these riffs are catchy as hell.

After the droning stoner jam completes, Martin switches up gears again, this time dealing with drug addiction and aforementioned junkies in the album’s arguably best composition, “Devil’s Bedpost.” Mixing one part spoken word foreboding warning from Martin, one part great bluesy guitar and two parts shake & stomp percussion, “Devil’s Bedpost” is the type of tune you’d hear in a dive bar with the lights down low, your head circling the brim of your pint glass and setting your ears free to capture as much soul as possible. Case in point, “Devil’s Bedpost” combines the technical riffage with great songwriting ability; a rare feat indeed.

The next few tunes that follow, the experimental distorted rocker “Bullet Shit”, the riff chocked “7Lightning Bolt Blues”, the tingy love ballad “Left Hand Path” and the bluesy Irish jig-like “Yer So Cruel” Martin paints his punk rock persona over the country drenched hills of Tennessee. What Martin explored on his first EP, he blows his previous work (both creatively and engineered-wise) out of the water. Oddly enough, Slow Gun Shogun’s Cancer Berries ends with a cover of “Arkansas” by Charles Manson, seems a bit out of place. While it is indeed an unexpected track, it doesn’t work as well as the rest of his own compositions. It certainly is a great experiment, but Martin shines brilliantly on his own work by far.

For his first LP under his Slow Gun Shogun alter-ego, Martin’s album is pretty solid stuff. There are a few bumps in the road here and there, but what first album doesn’t? What matters here is the overall ethic and quality put into the music and Martin shows his commanding ability to delicately do both at the same time. From coffee shops to rock clubs, Cancer Berries has a foreseeable future bringing the bricks and mortar of Chicago to its dwellings. In the meantime, here’s an underdog you can finally root for without all the bullshit.

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“Devil’s Bedpost”

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Between sets, I was able to sit down with Slow Gun’s creative genius AJ Martin and got to hear his thoughts not just on music and Chicago, but what it means to create art and how to live in the world. As you will see, the fearless frontman is without a doubt, well beyond his years. But don’t take my word for it, check it out below…

cos-interview-with-aj-martin.mp3

After getting on the Brown Line and waiting for the ritual loop around the Loop, it seemed to be just another typical Chicago evening, but the ice quickly broke when one of the passengers, a twenty-five year old Cubs fan, yelled at the top of his lungs, “This man is seventy years old today!  Let’s all give him a hand!” With that, the whole car started clapping and cheering, and the old man and his wife smiled and laughed like little kids.  With the ice broken and a whole train ride left to go, spirits in the material world were alive and well with a positive charge.

After leaving the train, I arrived at the Abbey Pub a little bit late (the trains take a while), so I happened to miss the first band, Leaf Bird.  However, I did get a chance to meet up with AJ Martin from Slow Gun Shogun.  We talked about the scene and the bands coming through town, which ended up becoming a great and lengthy interview. Needless to say, Martin definitely was one of those guys who you meet for the first time and you feel like you’ve known him for years. All in all, it was two good things going on last night that slowly added up to a great night.

After the introductions and getting familiar with the Abbey Pub, which by the way is a magnificent venue, Nashville’s Six Gun Lullaby opened the show with a gigantic bang. The young Tennessee three piece had the least amount of equipment onstage I’ve ever seen for a band, but damn did they create one of the most powerful walls of sonic euphoria I’ve heard in years. From the first five minutes, the playful, yet shy trio, tore up frets, smashed up power chords and beat their drums to hell. Imagine a souped up Sonic Youth meeting the true grit of Detroit’s garage rock laden history in a coffee shop for the strongest espresso. Six Gun Lullaby certainly blew out any expectations I had, which were none, and put out a powerful half hour of garage tunes, punk rock and thankful-honest-to-god music that isn’t so fake these days. After the show, I had nothing but utmost respect for the shy and humble trio as I shook their hands and wished them luck on their next couple of shows on their tour.

While the third band, Fil was performing, I interviewed Martin for over half an hour and really dug inside the man’s head, bringing about his thoughts on life, music, politics and just about everything under the sun. As mentioned before, he’s definitely one of those guys that once you get him going, he’ll keep your attention and fascinate you with a completely different angle on life and much like a wind-up toy, it only takes a little to get him going.  After the interview, Fil finished their pretty superb set with a blistering guitar solo original. The best, however, was yet to come.

Slow Gun Shogun took the stage with Martin performing a couple of acoustic tunes, starting with “Even Outlaws Grow Old In Utah.” On the stereo, it sounds great, but live it’s even better due to Martin’s impeccable storytelling, banter and overall purity in performance.  Afterward, his drummer Charlie joined him onstage for a heavy handed rouser of “Evan Williams Blues,” complete with Black Keys-like distortion and Black Flag-like vocals. Slow Gun Shogun put a show on for the masses and everyone got into it from all corners of the pub.  From the rafters to the tiles, everyone got a piece of some independent, Chicago soul rock and roll and everyone walked away with a smile.

At the end of the show, I said farewell to Martin and bid adieu to the Pub with my friend Kyle and his girlfriend. In this day and age, it’s great news to hear that the independent scene is still alive and kicking, you just have to find it in the darkest nooks and crannies of the world. Fortunately, the Abbey Pub has the alarming charm of a kid in a candy store and the bar itself breeds mysticism from all corners of its foundations. As mentioned before, mysticism comes from within and from within the Abbey Pub, nothing but good shines through.

Slow Gun Shogun’s music carries multiple torches in different musical genres from grunge to country to straight up rock and roll.  Literally, Dinosaur Jr, Butthole Surfers, Johnny Cash and Flipper magically appear all in the same songs.  The one strand that holds all these influences together is Martin’s impeccable storytelling.

One of Shogun’s tunes, craftly titled “Even Outlaws Grow Old In Utah” paints a wonderful picture of an old, retired outlaw in the West, living out the rest of his days and looking back at his achievements.  Shogun’s lyrical painting is certainly a very strong suit and goes well with the beautiful melodies he sings.  Just like Ray Charles said about country music, “The stories…that’s why I love it,” Shogun certainly applies that same love and passion here.

Another great song he has is the grungy, blues battered story, “Evan Williams Blues.”  Here, the guitar follows a nice, deep almost Neil Young-esque guitar, only backed with a wicked shuffle over Shogun’s half-spoken vocals.  There’s definitely a feeling of whiskey bourbon drenched musical notation that’s low-down, dirty, real, honest and awesome.  Shogun’s canny ability to capture the mood of the music is what makes the band very approachable and good.

Look for Slow Gun Shogun to be tearing up the bar scene in downtown Chicago in the next few months, for you certainly will be satisfied.  Shogun will always be a guaranteed fun night on the town.

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Evan Williams Blues