at a glance...

Hometown: Chapel Hill, NC
Year Formed: 1989

Members:
Jim Wurster -vocals, drums, percussion
Mac McCaughan -vocals, guitar, keyboards
Jim Wilbur -vocals, guitar
Laura Ballance -vocals, bass guitar

Bands In The Family:
Humidifier, American Cousins, Spent, Glen Echo, Pee Wee Fist

Notes:
These guys have been playing "lo-fi indie rock" for so long that the term has become passe. Formed in 1989 in Chapel Hill, NC by Mac McCaughan (vocals and guitar), Laura Ballance (vocals and bass), Chuck Garrison (drums) and Jack McCook (guitar), the band has since enjoyed moderate commercial success and vast critical acclaim. After the band had released some singles on the McCaughan-run Merge Records in 1990, Matador put out debut LP Superchunk. McCook left the band after the release of the first album and James Wilbur was brought on to take McCook's place. Just prior to the release of the Steve Albini-produced No Pocky For Kitty (Matador) in 1991, Garrison left the band and was replaced by Jon Wurster. After finishing 1995's Here's Where the Strings Come In (Merge), Superchunk played the second stage at Lollapalooza with Beck, Pavement, the Jesus Lizard, Cypress Hill, Hole, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Sonic Youth. According to the Merge records website, the songs for Indoor Living (Merge) had to pass muster on a vintage steam organ before they could make the album, quite possibly a first for an album not made by Liberace. Now Come Pick Me Up (Merge) adds more musical complexity to consistently emotive and cathartic songs. In 1999 Merge Records re-released all of the albums originally released by Matador.

If you think North Carolina has been plagued with more than its share of rip-roaring hurricanes, let me tell you, Superchunk is part of the problem. With gale-force guitars and gut-busting vocals, they've been blowing out windows in their home state and beyond for a solid decade. More a force of nature than a band, you don't so much play a Superchunk record as unleash it.

The joyous romp that is On The Mouth is quintessential Superchunk. The aural assault commences not with a note, but with a piercing feedback squawk, as if that poor guitar knows the impending pummelling it's in for. From the get-go, "Precision Auto" churns, chugs and squeals its way into your consciousness. Ballance's bass crunches mercilessly, the Wurster-powered drums reverberate in your skull, Mac McCaughan's vocal rantings incite you to riot, and if that's not enough to permanently warp your brain, then the pop guitar hooks crafted by McCaughan and Wilbur could very well push you over the edge.

On The Mouth is a well-rounded collection of pop punk anthems, from the pogo-inspiring "From the Curve," "For Tension," and "Package Thief," to the sparser, dirge-like "Swallow That," or the sweet vulnerability of "Untied" and "The Only Piece that You Get." Frankly, there's not a clunker in the bunch.

The boundless white-hot energy this band generate could power a small city -- if only we could invent the catalytic Superchunk converter. I must have an internal one hard-wired into my brain, because this record can kick start me even on a rainy, hungover, homework-laden Sunday morning. Yet the genius of the band lies not just in its muscle, it's the alchemic synergy of brute force, priceless melody, and notorious vocal and lyrical intensity that sets them apart from the pack, killing you not-so-softly with their songs.

If you like Superchunk, check out:
Superchunk Come Pick Me Up
Superchunk Foolish
Archers of Loaf Icky Mettle
Buffalo Tom Let Me Come Over

--Alexis Scherl

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