Royal Trux--

Veterans of Disorder

(Drag City 168)

In the early ‘90’s, Neil Hagerty & Jennifer Herrema were as known for their chemical indulgences and combative personalities as their band Royal Trux was for creating raucous, anarchic noise.

Somehow, after a brief fling with a major label, and a retreat to country living near Culpeper, Va., the duo have reemerged on their original label, Drag City, as more than just cult burnouts. Still leaning more muddy rock than pop, the duo and their cohorts (drummer Ken Nasta, multi-instrumentalist Chris Pyle), have emerged as a great rock band.

Like the previous Accelerator CD, Veterans of Disorder (recorded at Richmond’s Sound of Music and the band’s own Castleton home studio) is a trashy but catchy set of white trash anthems (i.e. Herrema’s growlin’ paean to the "Waterpark") and bluesy mid-tempo vamps (such as Hagerty’s in-your-face "Stop") that keep the original buzzing spirit of the Trux alive and kicking while introducing a real melodic sensibility to the proceedings. Toward the end, the crew throw off some fleshed-out grunge jams that could’ve been pruned but, overall, this is an end-of-summer blastoff readymade for those last trips to the, yes, waterpark.

-- Don Harrison