Muffler Crunch

Like the bastard acid child of Danzig and a righteously pissed Chrissy Hynde, minimalist grind act Muffler Crunch peel the soggy tarp back on the suburban mire of rock from the gates of Hull. Do not be mislead by the hellbilly vibe of the beaten acoustic on the cover of this tortured slab of metal, plastic, and silkscreened post-party detritus. The hangover is real. On their Last Drag debut, Ol Sparky's Revenge, Drummer Angie Neatby growls: ‘been suckin' on woodsmoke and gold coloured paint / and all the vapours and angels that 2am brings’ – “Third Eye Blues”. Luc Lavigne hammers and tortures Ol' Sparky until you can hear its pine top rattle with feedback. Between tracks like “Stealing the Sculpture”, a stomping ode to trashing the National Gallery and its small pretensions, and “Marchin' Back to Sugar Mountain” - distorted gutter-eye view of innocence lost - Muffler Crunch don't leave us with much to believe in other than the pitted overpass of experience, but, sure, I buy that.

-Todd Howe
- Spill Magazine

Muffler Crunch is a heavy rock duo coming out of Hull, Quebec. Angie "The Barbarian" Neatby (drums/vocals) and Luc Lavigne (Ol' Sparky, the guitar) are making noise around the city of Ottawa after signing with local record label Last Drag Records and releasing their first CD Ol' Sparky's Revenge. Angie has vocals reminiscent of Carol Pope but with more grit (many who have listened to the CD mistake her vocals as male) and with only drums and an electrified acoustic guitar, the band relies on angry lyrics and distortion to give you some impressive heavy rock.

Highlights include "Marchin' back to Sugar Mountain," a fiery song that shows off Angie's nasty side to much aplomb ("I'm marchin' back to sugar mountain/I've seen enough dogs fucking women/and people making out while they puke...") and "Snowing Inside," a song that gives you a reminder of how epic metal can be.

Scott D. Brown
- Full Spectrum (Ottawa)

Muffler Crunch are a duo who carry the force of an army in their heavy rock, which is pulled off impressively with only drums and an acoustic guitar. Luc Lavigne is behind the scuzzy, amplified riffs, and Angie Neatby lives up to her "Barbarian" nickname with crashing beats and a vocal delivery that belts, howls and growls. Their full-length, Ol' Sparky's Revenge, is an intense listen and a good indicator of their ferocious live shows.” - Chartattack

Muffler Crunch interview in support of NXNE
25th June


Santosh Lalonde

PunkTV.ca: This is Santosh Lalonde with Punktv and I’m standing outside the Kathedral in Toronto with a two piece band called Muffler Crunch, now would you guys care to introduce yourself and say hello?

Luc: My name is Luc, Hi
Angie: And he’s the guitarist and he plays an acoustic guitar but we’ve rigged it up to sound like heavy metal fuckin guitar. I’m "Angie the Barbarian" Neatby and we just came here to have fun.

Like I said on stage were not here to lick anyone’s ass, were just here to get our hundred and get the fuck out of here.

Luc: I wouldn’t mind having my ass licked right now.

Angie: Don’t get me wrong I like having my ass licked, like anybody else, but I’m not gonna lick any fat guys ass. Especially if he’s wearing a red shirt and has a pass hanging over his fat gut.

PunkTV.ca: That’s not really your thing eh?

Angie: No, no. Only in my darkest dreams.

PunkTV.ca: Well, I’m gonna have to ask you guys to tell me about the history of your band.

Luc: Angie and I lived with each other, dated and were pretty much married for eight years, and we started playing more of a Moldy Peaches sort of thing, acoustic goofy songs. We just did it with a little four track to entertain ourselves. We developed a band called David and Michaud, a four piece, but the two guys went off to university so I grabbed the acoustic guitar and souped it up through three amps and bought a bunch of pedals and cranked everything up.

Angie: We went through different phases we played softer, more experimental music before and as we aged, you know, you get more bitter with the age and you get into the heavier shit and you start listening to more Melvins and Lustmord in your darkest hour, and when you only trust the chemistry with one person and you wanna play heavy you have to soup up whatever you do have, we only have junk, we have a drum set, and acoustic guitar and I have a Madonna headset and we just fucking scream.

PunkTV.ca: Like evil Yoko Ono?

Angie: I always fantasized that I was a female Glenn Dazing mixed with a little Grace Slick, except no hippie shit.

PunkTV.ca: So you play the drums and sing at the same time, and you play guitar through several amps a whole bunch of pedals? What sort of pedals? Are we talking digital delay trippy or super distorted sort of stuff?

Luc: I just bought this "Boss" (TM) effects processor and its actually the first time I use it.

PunkTV.ca: One of those fancy space machine vessels?

Luc: Yeah and I wasn’t quite used to it, so a lot of the sounds I was playing with today were a little bit sub par. I’m gonna have to adjust it a bit.

PunkTV.ca: Those things are all about the presets aren’t they?

Angie: You have to spend fucking days on it. He locks himself in the room and I bring him soup. We believe in boot camp jamming every night and doing it from the heart. I know its cliché but its true.

PunkTV.ca: So you guys landed a NXNE show after only a year of playing for empty rooms, how did that work out?

Angie: Well they started to like us in Ottawa because we played very heavy and there weren’t very many heavy bands in Ottawa in town at the time, and we hooked up with Last Drag Records, an indie label in Ottawa, our friend Neil Johnstone picked us up after one of our shows and offered to pay for a record an album.

Luc: We had a demo at the time also.

Angie: Yeah, we had a demo CD, and last drag records came along, a tiny little label a couple of great bands that we like a whole bunch on them. We recorded the album, and we started playing. We had to do merch and shit, making t-shirts, but we tried to do it all DIY style, getting friends to do the t-shits and all that crap. And what Neil did, as sort of a Christmas gift to us, is hook us up with Sonicbids. Now I don’t want to be a promo here, but sonic bids works, I recommend it. We hooked up there and applied to NXNE, and ended up getting the gig. Now I don’t want to endorse Wal-Mart or anything, but if you want cheap band photos, for eight dollars. . .

Luc: Angie, your totally endorsing Wal-Mart.

Angie: All right, fuck Wal-Mart, forget I said anything.

PunkTV.ca: Ok, here’s a question I’ve been asking everybody. I’m new to Toronto, and I’m new to this NXNE thing, and I’m really trying to wrap my head around what makes this festival so important? What’s the big hype about?

Angie: Well, I think its sort of like SXSW in the sense that it’s a big thing so that all the businesses and bars in Toronto make a whole lot of money. They put up this guise that its all about art, but really its all about kissing ass and money.

PunkTV.ca: Well thanks for the interview, Ill see you guys around.

Angie: And thank you, your awesome. PunkTV kicks ass.

Luc: Thanks.

- Santosh Lalonde

The Bella Bombs (CD release)
w/ The Shifters, The Fucking Machines & Muffler Crunch
Babylon, Saturday Jan. 13th
February 2007 - #6
By:jpSadek

What a powerhouse bill! Featuring two of Ottawa's perennial volume dealers and joined by a long-time Montreal rock and roll mainstay, The Bella Bombs couldn't have hoped for a better way to launch their stellar first full-length effort.
Muffler Crunch, as always, provided a lengthy fuzzed-out set that never ceased to deafen and amaze. Between belting out her monster vocals and trying to keep guitarist Luke the hell off her while she pounds the drums, it's a wonder Angie the Barbarian can make it through a set with her sanity intact. Their stage antics merely lead to more applause, as the crowd, as always, digs it.
Having set the bar, Muffler Crunch relaxed and watched the Fucking Machines try to meet or exceed high expectations. And disappoint they did not. Toasting to everyone in the crowd in between songs, the Machines ran through their hardcore punk set in record time and with a record amount of booze on stage. Always tight, loud and ornery, their speed never detracts from their dedication to putting on a good show.
Following, Montreal's Shifters played a tight set of good ol' fashioned rock and roll. Although a bit generic at times, they acquitted themselves rather well thanks to some great guitar work and good stage presence. They definitely won the award for most tattoos of the night.
Finally, the Bella Bombs took the stage for their much-deserved celebration. They couldn't have asked for a better warm-up, and they used it well, the momentum propelling them through a phenomenal set featuring old and new songs. Was it just the energy of the night, or did they look a little nervous before they hit the stage? If they felt any butterflies at all, they sure put them to good use. As usual, the night was capped off with Metal Night at the Royal Oak. Any reason why I didn't see you there? JP

- Upfront Magazine - Ottawa, ON

It was brought to my attention over the weekend that Muffler Crunch have never been written about in a blog, ever (if this is actually true, I am not sure). The person who mentioned this little tidbit of information also mentioned that I should write about them, and become the first blogger to do so. So here it is:

Muffler Crunch, armed with an acoustic guitar, drums, and a headset, this band isn’t your typical two piece. With Angie the Barbarian behind the drums wailing with her sticks and her voice, and Luke rocking out with his modded acoustic guitar, Muffler Crunch are one of Ottawa’s most energetic/powerful bands.

Over the last year, Muffler Crunch have been slowly gaining a fanbase throughout Ottawa and Gatineau, they have released their first full-length album, Ol’ Sparky’s Revenge (Last Drag Records), and have played numerous shows (working out kinks and performing a more solid show each time).

Muffler Crunch are one of the heaviest sounding bands I have heard, that only have an acoustic guitar, drums, and vocals. Now you’re probably asking: “How? They don’t have electric guitar, or even bass, you’re crazy man”. Well, the answer to your question is complex simplicity (a conundrum of sorts?). Like mentioned previously, the band only has one acoustic guitar. But this guitar has been modded with receivers from electic guitars, which then are hooked through a wide variety of distortion pedals that make the acoustic sound heavier than anything you’ll produce from an ordinary electric guitar. The allusion of sounding heavy through unconventional means.

If you saw them earlier in their career, there have even been upgrades in equipment, like wireless receivers for Luke’s acoustic guitar. The wireless receivers have dramatically changed the feel of their shows. Before, Luke was limited in space for him to run around, but with no wires, he is free to run amock in the crowd, rocking out on amps, table tops, chairs, and right in the audience's faces.

Angie the Barbarian lives up to her title, both in appearance and attitude. She demands attention, and receives it. She can wail and sing with the best of people, and defenently has one of the most powerful voices Ottawa has to offer at the moment. Clad in blood soaked clothes, she truly is a barbarian. Armed with rubber knives, axes, drumsticks, and a cowgirl hat to top it all off, she is always dressed the part. Angie has worked her way to be one of the top front women in this music scene, but she has some heavy competition.

On their debut LP, Ol’ Sparky’s Revenge, which came out earlier this year, Muffler Crunch were able to capture their amazing live sound and turn it into 10 intense and raw tracks. With lyrics dealing with their hate of hipster yuppies (ah oh) to torture and death, Ol’ Sparky’s Revenge brings the pain, and once you start listening you won’t be able to stop. If you haven’t already picked up a copy, and you live in Ottawa, head down to Endhits, they have at least one copy.

No doubt Muffler Crunch deserve all the praise I have been giving them, but if you don’t believe what I say, go check them out for yourself when they play the Dominion Tavern in Ottawa on November 25th.


- http://evil-home-stereo.blogspot.com/2006/10/muffler-crunch.html

8.5-out-of-10

Talk about metal that is raw, dirty, grungy, full of dark spirits and spit. That is the best way I can describe Muffler Crunch, a down to the bone duo out of Hull, QC.
The duo is vocalist and drummer Angie Neatby, who also wrote the gritty lyrics on this seven-song effort, and guitarist Luc Lavigne, who also throws in vocals on the CD's title effort.
When you listen to Muffler Crunch the first thing you are going to love is Neatby's voice, all growl, scratch and spit, yet allowed to come through clear enough too be understood.
Next come the lyrics. Wow, so deliciously dark. This girl has seen her share of urban demons, and she introduces you to many of them here. Listen closely and the darkness just about reaches out from the CD player and claims you. Sweet.
The band's spot on myspace explains the duo as “
Risen out of a Hull, Quebec neighbourhood made infamous by crack busts and stabbings. Risen from a house where the amps must be cranked up high to be heard over the warthog snorts of 18 wheelers barreling down their street and the screeching tires and pulsing stereos of bondo smeared Mustangs. Risen from a street full of loud-mouthed drunks taking their clumsy, evening constitutionals.”
This is certainly the world Neatby writes about, and while not pretty, it is compelling. You will find yourself the moth to her dark flame.
This is one you really need to search out. Cuts such as Left For Dead, Marchin' Back to Sugar Mountain, and Third Eye Blues are really killer cuts, on an overall great effort.
-- CALVIN DANIELS

-- Reviews first appeared in Yorkton This Week newspaper Sept. 5, 2007 - Yorkton, SK. Canada

- -- CALVIN DANIELS-Yorkton This Week