Beaches Psych-Rockers Killer Larry Serve Up a Bona Fide Marsh Stomper with Latest Release, “Swamp Rascal”

It’s a peculiar time for what is loosely codified and described as “psychedelic guitar music.” On one extreme, acoustic-framed artists attempt to emulate and propitiate the ‘60s excursions of unplugged pioneers like John Fahey, the Incredible String Band, Robbie Basho et al. Meanwhile, the electric hardliners are drinking from the same greasy and battered goblet of bands as disparate as the Sonics, Blue Cheer and a seemingly bottomless well of amplified rock that is not necessarily stoned but (at its best) stupefying. Both camps of current artists are hardly innovative. But that same blunt observation of conventional sameness could be aimed at genres including blues, reggae, bluegrass and much popular metal.

Holed up in a garage in Atlantic Beach comes Killer Larry, a band decidedly operating in the weird aforementioned hobo jungle of hearing-loss-inducing rock.

Invoking the ur-grunts of heavy, fuzzed-out and berserk one-chord jams, the self-described “Psychedelic Swamp Rock” five-piece offers up some notable guitar slaughter with their recent single. On “Swamp Rascal,” the band— Ben Humphrey (vocals/rhythm guitar); Sean Harris (lead guitar); Preston Battle (lead guitar/flute); Jack Humphrey (bass guitar) and Tim Gildersleeve (drums/percussion) —operate as descendants of Moby Grape’s interlocked three-guitar assassinations yet with an end result that is more Anheuser-Busch than ayahuasca.  

Kicking with a four-on-the-floor beat and bleating harmonica, the opening moments of “Swamp Rascal” tremble out with a contact high of Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction” offset with a post-punk guitar hook. With a core melody bending inward like a vaguely flamenco riff, Ben Humphrey shouts out clipped lyrics, with just discernible snatches and a clear tag line (“…it looks okay to me”); at one point in the performance shedding all semblance of humanity with a series of yelps and barks, while Jack Humphrey and Tim Gildersleeve keep the bass-and-drums in fourth gear and Preston Battle peels off some impressive guitar solos, collectively plunging to the song’s end as quickly as it barreled out of the murk. Recorded in the band’s practice space and mastered by Dark Art Audio, the song boasts enough production clarity for maximum impact.

Ostensibly, “Killer Larry”—described by the band as “a muggy, swampy, amphibious anthem”—is in the tradition of Cautionary Swamp-Tale Songs, a decidedly under-heralded and truly Americana music form (see: “Polk Salad Annie,” “Amos Moses,”“The Legend of Wooley Swamp” ) that can roll from brilliant (see the former one) or mired in cornpone kitsch (like the latter two examples). Thankfully, Killer Larry opt for an impressionistic frenzy, wherein the story or “Swamp Rascal” is secondary to the overall bonkers performance. The world is a better place for it.

“Swamp Rascal” is streaming on all major platforms, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music. You can follow Killer Larry on Instagram.

All songs featured in our Local Spotlight series can be found on our Fresh Squeeze Playlist and in rotation (at 20-minutes after the hour) on our music discovery radio station, The Independent.