D. Charles Speer bring psychedelic twang to Coco 66

D. Charles Speer & The Helix at Coco 66

By John Ruscher

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

Friday night we made our way to Coco 66 in Greenpoint to hear the psychedelic country sounds of D. Charles Speer & The Helix. Frontman Dave Shuford (also a member of free-form experimental collective No Neck Blues Band, who play the Knitting Factory on November 8) knows what he is doing, and so does his band. Whether bringing full-on country twang or veering off into the spacy, country-psych stratosphere, the group consistently delivered great tunes.

Shuford stood tall at the microphone, channeling the barroom drawl and back-alley swagger of classic country, country-rock and rock 'n' roll. We heard some Hank Williams, some Gram Parsons and certainly some Stones coming through his lanky frame. Hans Chew pounded his keyboard like a seasoned honky tonk man. Marc Orleans (who's played with Sunburned Hand of the Man) proved his prowess and dexterity on both his pedal steel and his Telecaster. Closing our eyes, it felt like we could be in some smoky Georgia watering hole rather than a hip bar in north Brooklyn.

Speer & The Helix are poised to release a new album, Distillation, on Three Lobed Recordings in the coming weeks. It's the band's follow-up to 2008's acclaimed After Hours LP and includes the tune "Mason Dixon Crime," one of the highlights of their set on Friday night. You can listen to the song here. You can also listen to another track from the new album, "Shorty A Bastard Cat," over at RCRDLBL.

We highly recommend checking out D. Charles Speer, and, if you missed this show, you'll have your chance on November 15, when they play at Union Pool.

D. Charles Speer & The Helix playing "Life Insurance" at The EARL in Atlanta:

D. Charles Speer & The Helix playing "Mason Dixon Crime" at The EARL in Atlanta: