Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.
This is “Sunshine and Grease” by Royal Trux:
I’m at the Primavera Sound Festival this (long) weekend. One of the bands I’ve been looking forward to seeing is Royal Trux, who must be near the top of the list of 1990s bands nobody expected to resurface, even given the trend/habit/whateveryouwanttocallit of the last ten or fifteen years for bands of that era to reform now that their fans have expendable incomes. “Sunshine and Grease”, from 2000, is the last thing I recall Royal Trux releasing. I think there were two different CD single versions, or maybe I’m wrong about that, but anyway, the version I have also includes two pretty good B-sides. The thing I love about this song is the overall loucheness of it: the slow/medium groove, Neil Hagerty’s vocal, even more so Jennifer Herrema’s vocal, and the guitar riff, just sitting there like it’s not even trying.
