Ready or not, meet The Fuck Knights. This is the type of band that you can almost sense smoldering deep within the scene, and when you finally encounter the musical trainwreck first hand, their filthy, loose cannon take on garage rock leaves you unable to look away. GD Mills leads the charge as the singer and unconventional drummer (he plays standing up on a three piece kit), and his spazzy, paranoid vocals mesh perfectly with the manic instrumentation. As a whole, it hits you as the aural equivalent of a mental breakdown, in the most cathartic way possible. As you have probably figured, this is not a band that will wow you with production quality, catchy singles, or musical virtuosity. What they will wow you with is the recklessness with which they plow through their repertoire with complete disregard for the aforementioned "qualities". Simply put, this is down and dirty blues rock, wherein the beauty lies in the pure rawness of it- the way it was meant to be. Perhaps the irony therefore lies in the way that they lull you into a sense of deranged comfort, only to jar you once again when songs like Knight Terrors and Abrasions take detours from the simplicity and erupt into complete psychedelic chaos.
The story of The Fuck Knights reads almost as the stuff of legend. It begins with drummer/vocalist GD Mills being kicked out of art school for 'destruction of school property', which led to him jamming with fellow hellions Joe Holland, Benjamin Sommers-Bachman, and David Steffens. The Knights officially formed on August 1, 2007. Perhaps the universe recoiled at the monster it had created, for the I-35 bridge in downtown Minneapolis collapsed into the Mississippi River that very same day.
Shortly thereafter they put out the two-part FuKn Live! recordings, and continued their assault with a series of 7"s and Split EPs (a special mention is required for my personal favorite of them- The Recorded By Gary Burger From The Monks EP, put out by Crustacean Records of my hometown Madison, WI). These were eventually compiled into their debut LP Let it Bleed, released on Boss Hoss Records. While Let it Bleed certainly provides a great overview of the band, there is no doubt that their true spirit lies in their catalog of EPs and blaring live collections.
After the bridge "coincidence"(?) one can't help but wonder what we're in store for this April, with the band taking residency of the Triple Rock every Monday night of the month (complete with Old Style and a whiskey for $5). And oh yeah, they will be joined by Japanther on the 16th and Gay Witch Abortion on the 30th, as well as many other guests throughout the month. Time to buckle your seatbelts folks, there's no turning back now.
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