Diamond Rugs - Diamond Rugs

Most supergroups involve a bunch of dudes sidestepping their regular day jobs and having shedloads of fun, right? Look at Atoms for Peace. They all got blazed whilst listening to Nigerian artist Fela Kuti. Then there’s Mister Heavenly who had a right old knees up on their doo-wop infused debut album. Add Diamond Rugs to that list. The brainchild of Deer Tick’s John McCauley and Robbie Cromwell, this drunken six-piece boasts an impressive CV: Black Lips’ Ian St. Pé, Dead Confederate’s Hardy Morris, Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin and Six Finger Satellite’s Bryan Dufresne all feature.

Deer Tick fans should unsurprisingly be quite excited. There are enough similarities to ‘Divine Providence’ here: a volatile mix of pent-up debauchery runs through ‘Diamond Rugs’ like a can of special brew spilling down a sewage drain. ‘Gimme A Beer’ is brimming with attitude, a big middle finger stuck out at the rich and glamorous. Here, McCauley mocks flash cars, well-trimmed barnets and expensive clothes before snidely yelling: “Who cares? / Gimme a BEEEEEEEEER!” The antics continue throughout the next 12 tracks. The fuzzy stop of ‘Tell Me Why’ is a wry tale of lustful and romantic revenge (“I got sweeter things in my mouth / I swallow them and then I shit them out.”). Like Phil from ‘Wayne’s World’, McCauley has his limits and gets all partied out on the Chuck Berry-esque ‘Hungover and Horny’ (“Last night I went looking for fun / I took it just a little too far”).

There’s no doubt Diamond Rugs had a blast whilst recording this album. When compared to each members’ regular output, there’s not a lot to take seriously here. That’s quite all right though. After all, these are just regular guys having a good old laugh.