The Jimmyriggers

Sceau d’authenticité, dans mon livre: le maître Rick Haworth joue là-dessus. De tout ce qui se glisse dessus avec un morceau de métal, se gratte avec un pic trop dur, ou se souffle à pleines babines. Éric Lemoyne à la B-3, ça cautionne aussi: les Jimmyriggers ne peuvent pas être des pieds-tendres. Et le fait est que nos quatre Anglos locaux savent y faire: leur sorte d’americana a poussé dans les bonnes herbes, de la graine de Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Blue Rodeo et assimilés. Les Jimmyriggers ont le jingle-jangle qui balance, le twang qui tangue, les refrains en harmonie larges comme des dix-roues côte à côte sur la 20 au petit matin, et juste ce qu’il faut de sans-gêne: countryfier la rockeuse “Connection” des Rolling Stones, c’est culotté. «Let me hear the North wind blow», chantent-ils dans “The 27th of December”: ce deuxième album pourrait bien ensemencer le pays entier. - Le Devoir

A sharply produced effort, I Stand In The Weeds should appeal to anyone with a taste for the Paisley Underground or the No Depression scenes! - Pennyblack Music

Following on from their well received debut “Travelling Salesman, Killer on the Run”, The Jimmyriggers have taken an introspective approach and peered inside their souls to search for the roots behind the country rock façade. With “I Stand in the Weeds” they have at least begun the journey to trace this lineage. It’s almost as though, rather than evolving they have come to understand that to truly realize themselves they had to retreat. The result is a blend of the first record’s brighter tones along with undercurrents of a more rural nature and the further the band travel the latter path, the more comfortable with themselves they sound. Hopefully this can be a stepping stone and I look forward eagerly to finding out what The Jimmyriggers come up with next. Reviewer’s Rating: 7 - Americana UK

Montreal’s The Jimmyriggers have always struck me as one of the most underrated bands in the city: melodic, unpretentious, aesthetically diverse, and great lovers of song. In 2011, I happened to be in Toronto for the release of their second album “I Stand in the Weeds”, and left the show that night with a headful of melodies, and a copy of their latest disc. In the months since, I have become convinced that “I Stand in the Weeds” is the best roots rock album released in 2011, independently or otherwise. - St-John's Scene

“I arrived at the Uniprix Stadium while the Jimmyriggers were nearing the end of what sounded like a killer opening set (rough-edged rockin’ country, with wonderful originals and a tremedous version of the Rolling Stones’ Connection).” - Montreal Gazette

“There’s something about this style of music that, even with the most tragic of lyrics, always manages to warm my heart. Give the Jimmyriggers’ new album a listen and you’ll see that it’ll do just that for you too: it’ll put a smile on your face and tell you it’s okay, you can safely leave your bedroom now and enjoy country rock loud and proud with the rest of the world.” - Apartment 613

“Citing country-roots heavyweights like Neil Young and The Flying Burrito Brothers along with more “modern” bands cut from the same cloth including Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks, the group weaves intricate melodies into their songs, taking listeners on a journey through lands and places from a period of time that has long since passed.” - Music Nerd Chronicles

“I Stand in the Weeds is an album filled with memorable tracks in a variety of settings, including the R.E.M.-style jangle of Sleepwalking and Half in Shadow, the stark melancholy of Rattle My Cage and The Twenty-Seventh of December and the infectious high energy of the zydeco-flavoured I’m Gonna Make Her Mine and the rocking Jack the Fatalist, not to mention the irresistible Thieves & Beggars.” - Montreal Gazette

“The Jimmyriggers – easily one of Montreal’s best bands – slammed out a high-energy set. The title track of their second album, I Stand in the Weeds – as beautiful and lonesome a ballad as any I can think of – was among the highlights. Covers of the Flying Burrito Brothers rocker Older Guys and the Beatles’ One After 909 were inspired choices. people should have been lining up on the staircase and into the street for this one.” - Montreal Gazette

“The Jimmyriggers – easily one of Montreal’s best bands – slammed out a high-energy set. The title track of their second album, I Stand in the Weeds – as beautiful and lonesome a ballad as any I can think of – was among the highlights. Covers of the Flying Burrito Brothers rocker Older Guys and the Beatles’ One After 909 were inspired choices. people should have been lining up on the staircase and into the street for this one.” - Montreal Gazette

Springing from the groundswell of the Montreal roots scene that has spawned talent like United Steelworkers of Montreal, Li’l Andy etc., the Jimmyriggers are sure to add to the momentum. With a sound comparable to the Jayhawks or later Uncle Tupelo, the Jimmyriggers add a little bit of twang to their strum, and the healthy competition between chief songwriters David Pearce and Andre Kirchhoff finds them playing off each other perfectly. - Johnson Cummins

They've only been playing together since October, but the Jimmyriggers are already far from amateurs. The Montreal-based band plays country and folk songs backed by hard-rock energy, and you can check them out at their show on Thursday at Barfly (4062 St-Laurent). On Thursday, the Tribune sat down for a beer with band members David Pearce, Andre Kirchhoff and Ram Krishnan.

Tribune: How did you come up with your band's name?

Dave Pearce: It's something I came up with with a buddy of mine. He was trying to hang something up, and it took him a long time. I asked him why it was taking so long, and he said he had to jimmyrig something. I liked the name, I liked the word. It kind of makes sense, because to jimmyrig is to make do with what you have, to throw something together and hope it holds up.

Tribune: What are some of your stylistic influences?

Andre Kirchoff: I'm kind of folky, but there is a lot of rock that I'm influenced by as well.

DP: I have been influenced a lot by Blue Rodeo, the Beatles and recently by Bob Dylan-I think he's starting to come out a bit more in the stuff I'm writing these days.

Ram Krishnan: I grew up playing a lot more loud rock, so it's been really interesting joining a band like this and seeing what that brings to it.

Tribune: Where do you like to play or hang out in the city?

AK: It's fun playing at Grumpy's bar. The Barfly is always a lot of fun as well.

DP: There's only a handful of places that we've played, but only because the places we have played we really like.

Tribune: Who would be the members of your music supergroup, if you could choose anyone from music's history?

AK: Basically, I would just take the line-up of The Band and maybe add a glockenspiel.

RK: It's kind of a tough question to answer-different bands you listen to in different genres, it wouldn't really work to throw those together.

AK: But in a way, that's kind of like what this band is. In a way, it's a bunch of somewhat disparate elements that somehow manages to work.

Tribune: I couldn't help but notice that in "Brand New Me," there are a lot of religious references.

DP: A lot of people say that.

AK: Dave's a bit of a Bible thumper.

DP: I don't know what that means.

RK: You hit people with Bibles.

AK: Yeah, that's all. You're not really religious, you just like to assault people with the Book.

DP: No, I'm not religious at all. A lot of that song is actually about a trip I took down to New Orleans, and I got pulled over for speeding. I just sort of played with that. I said, okay, what if I had gotten thrown in jail or something? You never know what's going to happen when you're travelling through Mississippi. I was toying with the imagery a bit, and I just liked the way the line sounded. Jesus Christ forgiving all of our sinning. I'm not an openly religious person.

AK: He's not even a particularly open sinner.

RK: I would, you know, rather change that line to Vishnu forgiving all of my sins.

AK: But we're indie, not Hindi.

Visit www.myspace.com/thejimmyriggers for song clips and more information. The April 6 show at Barfly (4062 St-Laurent) starts at 9 p.m. Call 284-6665 for tickets and more information.
- The McGill Tribune

Translated from Dutch

For the roots/rock amateur with taste.
The Jimmyriggers had my undivided attention.
In strong ballads like "Walk Me Back to Rosie", the perfect hamorny of Kirchoff and Pearce are a powerful element.
Those who prefer more solid rock will certainly find their fix : there is something for everyone on this CD.
The Jimmyriggers create their own sound.
Montreal has once again produced a very promising new act with the Jimmyriggers.
- Ronny Bervoets

Switching paths considerably, Panpot takes you to a little place where beer spills regularly, where strange people spew out strange one liners, and where a hard working band meets to create a charge of country-rock.

I sat down one late November evening at Grumpy’s Bar to speak with the guys from The Jimmyriggers. We spoke about their new album, the scene and laughed a few. It was good times, and it’s always nice when people pull out good words like "derelict" and "surreptitiously".

--------------

JC: You guys make country-rock music, what are your influences?

[ Just as Ram begins to speak, horn squawks and other things that Kerouac liked to talk about began to flow in from the other room. We're at Grumpy's on a Wednesday night, jazz jam night. ]

Ram: Mid West, Alt-Country, like Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt. And as much as I hate the term Canadiana, there's a bit of that in there...Blue Rodeo.

Dave: Mostly folk and country. Andre's grungier, and Ram's even grungier than that...

Andre: Ram's a metal head.

[ I make the remark that he now has short hair. ]

Ram: Yeah, I was a long haired derelict back in the day, but now I only have one kick drum.

JC: How did you guys end up meeting and forming a band?

Dave: Andre and I met about five years ago at open mics.

JC: Did you guys meet at Grumpy's open mic?

[ Yes, that’s a humourous bar plug. ]

Andre: Dave and I actually started out as duo, but we were lacking direction. Ram was a good foundation. We surreptitiously discovered that Dave could play the bass quite well. So it was a natural step that he became the bassist.

Ram: Our initial idea was to have Dave play acoustic guitar, but then we saw him play bass and I said, “are you fucking kidding me”? So then we talked about it and decided to just keep it a three, piece; keeps it simple.

JC: There's a lot going on right now, in your scene around Montreal, for example: The United Steel Workers of Montreal; can you talk about that a little bit?

[ They just looked at me with blank-faces and didn't hear a thing I said because of the bang-dash and golden glide of the brushed symbols in the other room. ]

Ram: There's a great little community we have developing here, and a lot of it comes out of this bar. (Comedic plug) Um...yeah we're good friends with the guys from the United Steel Workers [the lead singer, Gern, bartends at Grumpy's), The Dress Whites, Ladies of The Canyon (Maia Davies is also one of the many talented employees of the same fine establishment, Grumpy's Bar).

[ After the interview, Ram takes a sip of his beer and thoughtfully wonders if they should have mentioned a fellow musician, Lee Mellor. Dave and Andre concur and it is agreed upon that someone (I) cut the name 'Lee Mellor' somewhere into the audio interview. Andre demonstrates with an all to polished and shoe shined 1950's ad man guest-hosting a game show impersonation, LEEE MEEELLOORR ('come on down' refrained). And here we find ourselves at this point of the interview. ]

Ram: (continued) and I'm glad it's all happening right now. You know, I've seen bands snark at each other, saying, “I'm better than those guys”, there's absolutely no sense of community, it doesn't go anywhere and it doesn't help anybody.

JC: And they're just as big an influence as anything else?

Dave: Absolutely, the song writing is (for lack of a better word) phenomenal.

Andre: The whole thing supports itself, you go watch them and you like what they do and hopefully they like what you do too.

Ram: It's a kick in the ass, there's no fucking around, the bar is set pretty high. There's a lot of mutual respect; everyone's their own worst critic, you know, so we're working just as hard to be as good as those bands.

JC: I find the title sets a tone for the entire album. How did this album come about?

Ram: Well it's a concept album...about vacuum cleaners.

Andre: There wasn't really a theme to the record, especially since we have two song writers coming from different directions, in a way, it's a collection of songs we've developed...

Dave: I think most of the songs were written before Ram was even part of the group.

Ram: We just picked the songs that we thought would sound the best, and flow the best as a record.

Andre: And the title of the album is actually a line from a song [Ohio Motel Room]; to pick a title as some overarching theme would have seemed, stupid.

Ram: The line is traveling salesman, killer on the run. The next line is it makes no difference with the curtain drawn. I'm not exactly sure what Andre had in mind when he wrote the song but I get from it is who or who may not be in the other rooms, so we thought it would be cool to be those people. When we sat down to talk about it, after our fifteenth beer, all these images were coming into my head. When we went to the hotel it was almost creepy, it was almost exactly how I pictured it.

JC: What are your plans for the future?

Andre: - Jesse Chase - Panpot.ca

Translated from Dutch

Glamour and kitsch have no place here
Certain to please any roots/rock fan.
Screaming guitars, beautiful ballads that grab you
Harmonious melodies from a great band that for 45 minutes avoids the art of deception … what more could a person want?
- Swa Braeken

Translated from Dutch

The most important quality of the Jimmyriggers [is] the harmonies.
The combination of powerful playing and numerous harmonies delivers exciting music.
With its compositions, the trio demonstrates enough of its own persona.
The songs are catchy and alternate striking with more wrenching moments.
The harmonies recalls that of Crosby, Stills and Nash. - John Gjaltema

Not since I discovered the country punk attitude and pure bliss of Uncle Tupelo’s final record (1993’s Anodyne) during a late night university listening session has there been a record that’s got under my skin so much. From the opening electric guitar explosion of “Dropout Theory” to the swaying sounds and catchy choruses of songs like “Sunday Morning Paper” and “Walk Me Back to Rosie,” this trio of Montreal musicians channel the energy of their alt-country predecessors to offer Canada’s truest contribution to this overused term for a genre. With succinct, storied songwriting and powerful lyrics such as “And I hope you don’t find my name with a one-line obituary,” the Jimmyriggers offer crisp harmonies, covering some serious subjects over the course of the disc’s 11 cuts. This debut feels live-off-the-floor; it is pure and raw. Stay tuned — they are an undiscovered indie band to watch in 2009. - David McPherson

The Jimmyriggers deliver the goods for the alt/country, country/rock crowd. Among the best in local music.
- Mitch Melnick

Sure, everyone knows that Montreal is still the coolest city in the world when it comes to modern rock. But artists like Angela Desveaux and United Steelworkers Of Montreal are also proving that its vibrant roots music scene is drawing just as much respect. The latest group to emerge from there is The Jimmyriggers, a trio whose sound draws heavily from the no-frills alt-country of the early '90s.

Indeed, their just-released debut album, Traveling Salesman, Killer On The Run . . . , brims with tales of dead-end day jobs and small-town neuroses, all delivered with that era's trademark punk-inflected passion. It's an approach that co-frontmen David Pearce and Andre Kirchhoff immediately realized they shared in common once they got to know each other after meeting at an open mike night.

"The first incarnation of The Jimmyriggers was Andre and I as an acoustic duo," Pearce says. "One morning after a long, long night of drinking at (drummer) Ram Krishnan's bar, we asked him to drum for us and I made the switch over to playing bass. Our influences are really varied. I like country music, but also a lot of pop, anything with a melody. Andre listens to music that's a little grungier, a lot of the dirtier side of classic rock. Ram comes from a heavy metal background; he grew up listening to anything and everything with big hair. Somehow when you put us together you get something that works."

Although the band's primary goal with the album was to capture their live energy, Pearce says he's also satisfied that they were successfully able to incorporate effective harmonies and vivid lyrical imagery into the songs. In Krishnan's view, "A song that people seem to gravitate to is one of Andre's called Ohio Motel Room. A line in it -- "Travelling salesman, killer on the run, makes no difference with the curtains drawn," actually led to the album title, as well as the concept for the artwork. We're pretty happy with the final product. I'd even say I'm as proud of the look of the album as I am of the sound."

The Jimmyriggers' current string of shows in Ontario is their first real tour outside of Quebec, and despite feeling a bit nervous about facing new audiences, they say that the strong support of others in the Montreal roots scene has given them a lot of confidence to strike out on their own.

"Not only do we have the good fortune of being part of such a great musical community in Montreal, most of the key players and songwriters are very close friends of ours," Krishnan says. "Being surrounded by so much talent is pretty overwhelming, but it's been a great kick in the ass for us."

Pearce adds, "We're really looking forward to seeing how people react to our music because we're a little louder than some of the other bands in the roots scene in Montreal. Anyone who comes to see us at the Boathouse can expect a lot of energy, a lot of great music, and very little whisky left at the bar after we play."
- The Record - Jason Schneider

Sure, everyone knows that Montreal is still the coolest city in the world when it comes to modern rock. But artists like Angela Desveaux and United Steelworkers Of Montreal are also proving that its vibrant roots music scene is drawing just as much respect. The latest group to emerge from there is The Jimmyriggers, a trio whose sound draws heavily from the no-frills alt-country of the early '90s.

Indeed, their just-released debut album, Traveling Salesman, Killer On The Run . . . , brims with tales of dead-end day jobs and small-town neuroses, all delivered with that era's trademark punk-inflected passion. It's an approach that co-frontmen David Pearce and Andre Kirchhoff immediately realized they shared in common once they got to know each other after meeting at an open mike night.

"The first incarnation of The Jimmyriggers was Andre and I as an acoustic duo," Pearce says. "One morning after a long, long night of drinking at (drummer) Ram Krishnan's bar, we asked him to drum for us and I made the switch over to playing bass. Our influences are really varied. I like country music, but also a lot of pop, anything with a melody. Andre listens to music that's a little grungier, a lot of the dirtier side of classic rock. Ram comes from a heavy metal background; he grew up listening to anything and everything with big hair. Somehow when you put us together you get something that works."

Although the band's primary goal with the album was to capture their live energy, Pearce says he's also satisfied that they were successfully able to incorporate effective harmonies and vivid lyrical imagery into the songs. In Krishnan's view, "A song that people seem to gravitate to is one of Andre's called Ohio Motel Room. A line in it -- "Travelling salesman, killer on the run, makes no difference with the curtains drawn," actually led to the album title, as well as the concept for the artwork. We're pretty happy with the final product. I'd even say I'm as proud of the look of the album as I am of the sound."

The Jimmyriggers' current string of shows in Ontario is their first real tour outside of Quebec, and despite feeling a bit nervous about facing new audiences, they say that the strong support of others in the Montreal roots scene has given them a lot of confidence to strike out on their own.

"Not only do we have the good fortune of being part of such a great musical community in Montreal, most of the key players and songwriters are very close friends of ours," Krishnan says. "Being surrounded by so much talent is pretty overwhelming, but it's been a great kick in the ass for us."

Pearce adds, "We're really looking forward to seeing how people react to our music because we're a little louder than some of the other bands in the roots scene in Montreal. Anyone who comes to see us at the Boathouse can expect a lot of energy, a lot of great music, and very little whisky left at the bar after we play."
- The Record - Jason Schneider