Swingin’ Utters

(Fat)
by Scott Hefflon

Kinda too bad when it gets to a point where every interesting aspect/style of a talented band already has a household name to reference. It makes it very hard to stress that the band has credibility and is not simply copying/stealing without, ya know, coming right out and saying it. Ya have to back-pedal and/or disclaim, and that’s not the way it should be. Honestly, there are just so many interchangeable OK bands that it should be understood/accepted that there are actually only a few dozen that’re worth anything in any given genre, and the rest are cool cover bands.

That said, no matter what style they play, Swingin’ Utters ooze authenticity. Every time ya listen, you’ll hear some other great band musically referenced. To start with, there’s the Pogues and Social D and Johnny Cash and Reverend Horton Heat and gritty “street” punk (not gruff-voiced Oi!) and folk/roots music and the Rocky Horror classic, “Eddie’s Teddy” (worth the price of the CD alone). Simply put, this San Francisco rock band has been touring and doing it right for so long for so little, ya really oughtta go see ’em and buy ’em drinks.
(PO Box 193690 San Francisco, CA 94119)