Experimental rock icons Bill Orcutt, Steve Shelley, and Ethan Miller joined forces last year for a power trio record as Orcutt Shelley Miller. Fresh off their appearance at Big Ears, the band is back today with two new covers, to be released together on a 7" next month. Both songs are online now.
Orcutt Shelley Miller recruited David Yow of the Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid to handle lead vocals on a cover of Captain Beefheart's "Hot Head." Miller offered some information about how the cover came together:
Beefheart is, as Bill would say, definitely one of our big Venn diagram intersections for OSM. Bill had been throwing the "Hot Head" riff into the middle of one of our tunes that had a similar tempo on certain nights on tour. We just kept digging in further and further until it was a full song embedded within another song.
David Yow and Steve were old friends, and David just seemed like a perfect fit to bring it home and do Captain’s duties on vocals. David is one of the great through-lines helping to carry the spirit of Beefheart’s musical legacy into and beyond alternative music of the ’90s and 2000s. In my estimation, that explosive blending of sonic complexity and visceral, primitive expression is really at the heart of David and The Jesus Lizard’s power, as it is also at the heart of Orcutt Shelley Miller. Beefheart hand-carved the model for that musical dynamic in marble.
For his part, Yow offered a short tribute to Beefheart: “I am extremely grateful for Don Van Vliet and the stuff he made, both the things you look at and the things you listen to, but no more so than OSM. That may or may not be the truth."
The B-side for this 7" is a cover of Neil Young's "A Man Needs A Maid." It arose when the British music magazine Uncut sought an Orcutt Shelley Miller contribution for a compilation they were producing. When Miller asked which Young track they should cover, Orcutt replied, "A Man Needs A Maid." He meant it as a joke, so he was surprised when Miller sent over basic tracks ready for Orcutt's contributions. Sarcasm doesn't always translate via SMS. The recording they came up with is quite pretty, anyhow.
Hear both covers below.
The "Hot Head" b/w "A Man Needs A Maid" 7" is out 5/29 via Silver Current. Pre-order it here.
