Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. aren�t just the Spinal Tap of pre-rockabilly Americana. They saved this blog�s publicity stunt. They probably would have volunteered for the job if they hadn�t already been chosen for it�as a plan B....
Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. aren�t just the Spinal Tap of pre-rockabilly Americana. They saved this blog�s publicity stunt.
They probably would have volunteered for the job if they hadn�t already been chosen for it�as a plan B.
Whether you get the trio�s innumerable inside jokes � many of them references to impossibly obscure artists or cultural memes from the 1950s and before � they�re as deadpan hilarious as they were when this blog reviewed their show at Otto�s back in September of 2011. That�s where they�ll be this March 2 at 8 PM.
Sit & Die�s shtick goes way deeper than cornpone humor. Much of what they do is a parody of artists who indulged in it, both lyrically and musically. And they�re as much of a Fringe Festival theatre act as they are a band. They wear matching vintage outfits complete with bowties that would make Dr. David Martin proud. Frontman/lead guitarist Michael McMahon (brother of the brilliant Amy Rigby) will typically launch into a joke, bat the dialogue to guitarist Mike or bassist Garth, and as the night goes on and everybody gets more liquored up there they�ll start to go off script. If they�re doing multiple sets, the last one is the one to catch.
Considering how long they�ve been together � this blog�s owner first saw them at Union Pool around the turn of the century, when they were a shockingly serious, straight-ahead oldtime C&W act � they�re tight as a drum (which they don�t have). Like a lot of acts from the cd-and-myspace era, their studio work isn�t well represented on the web, but as you would expect from such an amusing crew, there�s a ton of stuff up at youtube, including their mid-teens ep At the Brooklyn Beefsteak.
This one opens with Song of the Beefsteak, a vaguely Italian ditty whose main joke is the backing vocals � no spoilers. The musical joke in Say Mister Is That Your Cow, a western swing tune, is a pedal steel (again, no spoilers). The innuendos are a little more obvious and less outright cruel in Bop-A-Betty. The last track is Eat Drink & Be Merry My Friend, where McMahon shows off his flashy 1954-style fretwork.
And their Reverbnation page has Dig That Cazy Monkey, which is sort of a Bill Haley spoof but also an anti-imperialist broadside.
Over the years, New York Music Daily has crossed paths with Sit & Die � as their fans call them � many other times, under many different circumstances. Most importantly, there was that 2011 Otto�s show which enabled this blog to maintain a streak of writing up 23 concerts in 23 days, which ended nine days later with a new record of 32 consecutive days of concert coverage.
There was another very welcome Sit & Die show at Otto�s a couple of years later during a particularly lean period, where the band basically brought dinner. Tthey�ve been known to hand out bags of salty snacks along with period-perfect 1950s style stage props and unusual dollar-store finds.
