The Dutchmen crashed my place last week and guitarist Sean Shipley slipped me this black and silver, menacing looking thing, which just happens to be his full-time gig, apparently. I was puzzled and slightly bemused, seeing as how I’d never heard of American Draft, and here was a two-disc collection of their work. And, according to the title, these are volumes two and three, but my guess is it’s just a clever title and not discography fact, but I really can’t be too certain. One thing I can be certain about, however, is that American Draft is out there, man. I mean, they’re like a flock of phantom eagles spreading incomprehensible terror across darkening skies. And it’s supposed to be taken with a grain of salt, too, which will really flip ya. This is the kind of noise I never listen to, but found myself having trouble turning off. There are 23 songs in total, and almost all of them are instrumental. And not just guitars, bass, and drums either – we’re talking vibraslap, toy piano, fader, cowbell, slide whistle, wolf whistle, and organ. I swear I even heard a xylophone in there somewhere. It’s all tongue and cheek, basically, with songs like “Taco Metal”, “Inappropriate Use of Duct Tape”, “Robbie Knievel Fox Action Special”, “Sonata in FM”, and a cover of “Anvil of Crom” from the Conan the Barbarian movie, so you can imagine the kind of geeks we’re dealing with here. The music is no different either, and is as baffling and seemingly satirical as the rest of it; there’s a hefty dose of pyschobilly funeral march, some Icelandic doom metal, scraping speed metal, and syrupy rock n’ roll jams. But it’s all mixed together. One sound. Or a bunch of different sounds. I don’t know. It’s fucked. And I’ll be damned if I know what they’re supposed to be poking fun at. Like I said, it’s all geek speak to me, so the best I can give you is that American Draft would likely be the band to open up for one of Mike Patton’s crazy projects or the musical massacring madmen, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. So, if you dig either of those musical riddles, or, like, enjoy studying the skeleton drawings of William Schaff, then you’ll enjoy taking a ride on the wings of American Draft.
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-Jeff Warren