Our "ROCK & ROLL SUMMER" feature (RS 710) seems to have been a clarion call to armchair editors across the land. Readers from Chicago, Dallas, Washtington, D.C., and Portland, Ore., wrote to scold us for bypassing their cities. Others griped about what they perceived as omissions in our reporting. "I can't believe you sent someone out to cover the Minneapolis scene and he missed the Glenrustles!!!" writes Rosemary Mattson...

Pulse
June 18, 1997: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick
By Kathleen McGee
The Glenrustles Quietly Celebrate 9 Years of Rock

The Glenrustles are celebrating their ninth year as on e of the mainstays of the local rock scene. Few other local bands have been around that long. Groups like Run Westy Run, the MoFos and Babes in Toyland are in that illustrious club, and that's good company. The Glenrustles haven't lasted this long by talking big, but if you've seen them live, you know they rock big. The two band members I talked with, Greg McAloon (bass) and Rich Mattson (vocals/guitar) didn't reveal much about the secret to their longevity. "No reason to quit. I keep writing songs," said Rich. Are they the most underrated, understated Minneapolis band? Greg suggests that "people don't know what we're about. They think we're country." Both Rich and Greg describe themselves as more of a cross between the Meat Puppets and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

The 'rustles' lack of major music label support isn't for lack of trying. "I send out tapes a lot and CDs, hoping they'll listen to it," said Rich. But this is not a band that will spend their time courting labels, when, to them, it's simple: "Always had the view that if someone's doing their job they would have seen us by now, no one's talking any deal, so either they're not looking or they don't like us." For now they do what they do best: play locally to loyal fans who know their songs so well they often sing along.

Over the nine years there have only been a few changes, and now it comes full circle. Rich's brother and original drummer, Glen, has returned, replacing the retiring Rob Gilboe. But the most distinctive and consistent element has been Rich Mattson's songwriting, personal reflections that come from "late night ponderings," which fill '96's In Stone. In Stone is characterized by "down" themes; relationships ending, friends leaving, etc. This coming August's release promises to be "all over the map, more happy stuff," which can only lead you to surmise that Rich must be having a good year, though no details were forthcoming.

The Glenrustles have been compared to other bands, from Thin Lizzy to Soul Asylum, but Rich refused to cite any influences. "Try not to think about my influences. The more I listen to new music the more I'm influenced by it, so I tend to stay away from it." Their songs are "short but sweet," filled with a lyrical depth and a warm, distinctive sound that never leaves the listener disappointed.

If it seems like the band is a little reticent on the "hows" and "whys" of their music, it's because their live show, where "a lot of crazy stuff happens, like nakedness," speaks, even shouts, for them. For their Ninth Anniversary show at the Entry, they quietly promised to "incite a riot." So bring your helmet and your tear gas and get ready to rock.

Minnesota Music Academy Nominations

July 1, 1997

Dear Mr. Mattson:

On behalf of the Minnesota Music Academy I would like to congratulate you on your Minnesota Music Award nomination for:

Producer/Engineer - Recorded

The opinion of over 250 music authorities from around the state of Minnesota were solicited during the nomination process. Your nomination is a tribute to the outstanding year you had and the contributions you have made to the Minnesota music community.

Minnesota Music Academy Nominations

July 1, 1997

Dear Glenrustles:

On behalf of the Minnesota Music Academy I would like to congratulate you on your Minnesota Music Award nomination for:

Rock Recording

The opinion of over 250 music authorities from around the state of Minnesota were solicited during the nomination process. Your nomination is a tribute to the outstanding year you had and the contributions you have made to the Minnesota music community.

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No Depression Nov. - Dec. 1996
Glenrustles In Stone SMA
by Deborah Malarek

Even an album full of hook-heavy, fired-up twang-punk can wind up dismal if the lyrical geography never leaves life-is-disappointing-ville. But Minneapolis roots-rockers the Glenrustles not only pull it off, they make you feel pretty darn happy about their miserable lives.

Much of the album's strength stems from the amusingly sarcastic lyrics of singer/songwriter/guitarist Rich Mattson, who has a gift for creating poignant punchlines. He's still fighting with the same guy he punched out as a kid, his relationship has self-imploded, his friends are ripping each other's drug money off, and the gambling industry is destroying the Land of 10,000 Lakes and the values of it's people. The songs are a soundtrack to the awakening reality that being a grownup isn't all that much fun - and Mattson seems to think that's pretty funny.

Mattson shares lead guitar duties with Jim Kennedy, a child-hood friend from his native Eveleth Minn., and the pair blast through the songs in coutry-honk Stones fashion, with a slight nod toward classic '60s and '70s rock as well as Golden Smog and Soul Asylum. Bassist Greg McAloon and drummer Rob Gilboe round out the foursome, who deliver 13 songs in just 39 minutes. There are few musical surprises here, but it's a real good time.

This is not a polished band, Mattson's voice is raw, but seems perfect for rockers like "Drop Me Off at Daryl's", which tells of a musician friend he respects because he can drink a case of beer and still go play a show. And his voice softens for possibly the best song on the album, the closer "I'll Get To It", a slow ballad that adds the wistful violin of Stuart Martz.

Squealer December '96 / January '97
G is for Glenrustles
by Leo Kuelbs, Jr.

If you've ever driven the scenic route around the North Shore of Lake Superior at dusk, past Two Harbors heading up to the Temerance River, you know what this disc feels like. Superior doesn't give a shit about you. It's tuned into a different reality. The Glenrustles' In Stone has that feeling too. There's obvious life and depth in these tracks, a living being doing its own thing. Tapping into it feels good.

Rich Mattson, The Glenrustles' songwriter/producer/singer, termed In Stone a "chronicle" of the last two years. As for the follow-up, he added, "I hope I have more adventures in the next two years for another album." This two-year trip was obviously not taken alone. The rest of the Glenrustles (Jim Kennedy - guitar, Greg McAloon - bass, Rob Gilboe - drums) know their shit, and they really play together/stick together. "Best thing in the world is to have a great band with you that are your best friends when shit ain't going exactly right," Rich added.

To me, In Stone is a concept album. The protagonist hangs out with a pretty fucked-up crowd. Deathwish Freaks and drunken ex-lovers float around everywhere. It's clear that these people have been loved as friends or partners, but they need to be set aside so our hero can get on with "normal" life. Maybe you've got to be a musician burned-out on the "scene" to really get this kind of theme, but whether you appreciate the lyrical sentiments or not, the music itself can pull you in - if you're willing to listen.

Concept albums are great on long trips. If the album is good you feel like you've been through something when it's finished, and that's how this record works for me. Forget it anyway, because this band doesn't tour much and isn't pushing for big-label slavery. The Glenrustles are doing their own thing in their own space and time. That's about the biggest compliment you can give anybody.

Minneapolis Star Tribune Friday, August 23, 1996
Glenrustles create diamond in the rough
By Jim Meyer

August has brought an unprecedented number of new local CD's. "In Stone," the second album by the nine-year-old rootsy rock band the Glenrustles, should not be lost in the flood. The 13-song thematic disc may be a landmark album for anyone who identifies with the joys and sorrows of local artistic-outlaw culture and great modern rock songwriting in general.

Despite their disregard for self-promotion, it's no surprise the Glenrustles have developed a passionate following among local music insiders. Leader Rich Mattson, soft-spoken sound engineer at the 400 Bar, portrays life's ups and downs in rough, rustic songs that are filled with crunchy nuggets of melodic beauty, yet with no great concern for commercial clichŽ. Mattson, a true do-it-yourselfer from Eveleth, Minn., is a Midwestern punk without the piercings, with a rock 'n' roll heart big as the Iron Range.

Recently that heart's been trampled by a longtime love, a troubling brother, bothersome drinking buddies and other so-called friends, leading to a self-examination as the big 3-0 approaches. "In Stone" (on the band's own SMA Records) serves as an audio diary of Mattson's maturation and his real-life move from the rock 'n' roll ghetto of south Minneapolis to a quieter place over north. Listen closely, and this coming-of-age collection unravels like a Minneapolis music version of the Who's 1973 "Quadrophenia," with parallels to the Replacements' classic 1984 album "Let it Be."

"In Stone," recorded by Mattson and friends at his own Flowerpot Studios, was a year in the making, and the creative care shows through in the songs' tricky arrangements. Mattson and the band, including his childhood buddy, guitarist Jim Kennedy, create a passive-aggressive country rock fusion that makes many roots bands look corny by comparison. True, some of Mattson's vocals are buried in a maze of cool guitar chords (in some cases to protect the guilty). But other songs are sharply focused and highly poignant, which gives the album a natural dynamic rhythm in sync with our own moments of self-confidence and sudden insecurity. This CD doesn't merely beg for attention, it talks to you.

With 13 songs in less than 40 minutes, "In Stone" moves like a short film with a substantive soundtrack. The album starts with the bitter breakup "Truth Hurts," which is significant, since the rest of the disc explores the cold truths of various other matters: the drag of lingering losers in "Deathwish Freaks" and the meaning of friendship in the sweet farewell, "San Fran Stymie." On the frail "falling on Dead Ears," Mattson reaches out for a hand, but finds nothing in return.

There is not one throw-away in this hook-filled and highly personal Minneapolis miniopera. "Drop Me Off at Daryl's" borrows from Thin Lizzy for one last romp through the gutter. In contrast, "Sky Blue Waters" is an environmentally conscious rant against nature's beauty being gobbled up by the gambling industry.

"In Stone" is one of those rare modern rock records with a happy ending, or at least a hopeful one. "I'll Get to It" is a simple acoustic reflection set against a weeping harmony by local fiddler Stuart Martz: "I'll get through it, with my own little piece of the sky," Mattson promises.

I'm sure he will. Mattson's been a regular at the 400 Bar's annual Bob Dylan Soundalike Contest, but "In Stone" proces he could become a generational spokesman himself.

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Star Tribune Friday, June 30, 1995
Glenrustles' unique sound combines classic-rock with country and punk
By Brett Anderson

Personnel:
Rob Gilboe / drums
Jim Kennedy / guitar, vocals
Rich Mattson / guitar, lead vocals
Greg McAloon / bass

Background: After moving to the Twin Cities the day after graduating from high school in 1988, Mattson formed the Glenrustles with his brother Glen on drums, along with Kennedy and bassist Russell Bergum. The band has evolved with the departure of Bergum and Glen Mattson, a stint as a trio while Kennedy tried college, and, most significantly, a change from acoustic folk to full-on bar-stool rock 'n' roll.

"With the acoustic stuff, it's hard to get [gigs]," said Mattson. "I've always liked being loud anyway."

Concept: Coming off like Neil Young's Crazy Horse might after a particular hard night of chemical indulgence, the Glenrustles play country-flecked roots music plastered with indie-rock pretension. In Mattson's crisp, world-worn drawl, anthemic choruses and vivid story lines, the band reveals its early exposure to fold and classic rock: the disjointed rhythms, quirky fits of noise and close-to-chaotic live shows give a clear nod to postpunk.

"I like the word eclectic," Mattson said while pointing out a less overt source of the Glenrustles' musical mishmash. "Jim likes a lot of jazz; it's kind of his playing style. He works out parts, but half the time he forgets them and ends up just playing something new."

Mattson writes the bulk of the quartet's songs, and McAloon decides which of them are good.

Recording: The Glenrustles have released two singles: "Sleep Heals" and "So Fine" with "Rock and Roll Prevails" (Uprising) and a split single with the Renfields on Flowerpot Records. The Glenrustles have just released their full-length CD, "Brood," on SMA Records.

Review: These former Iron Rangers carve out some fresh territory with their jumbled marriage of classic-rock, country and punk. Mattson's lyrics are flannel-clad trips of surly poetry that fuse a blue-collar sensibility with the pessimism and modest wit of someone who has come of age working a dead-end job.

The Glenrustles' music is filled with similar strains of contradiction: it's dirty and loose enough to take on an air of nonchalance and too urgent and clever to be anything but meticulously crafted. Although the Glenrustles are hardly the first band to bring longstanding musical traditions into the punk age, their propensity for subtle dissonance is uncommon and, to purists, surely will be more alienating than the work of such similarly minded bands as the Jayhawks and now-defunct Uncle Tupelo. But that iconoclasm is part of the Glenrustles charm.

City Pages
Music Notes - August 21, 1996

The Glenrustles are already out with a second CD, In Stone - a noticeable refinement of the last one, though still recorded in Rich Mattson's basement. Over the years, the boys have grown, on record, into an introspective roots band. Live, Mattson's more poignant moments can be obscured by the smokes-and-drinks environment, plus the band's tendecy to tear off the roof, Stones-style. But this is a bar band of commitment and integrity if there ever was one.

I've been particularly eager to hear the Glenrustles full-length Brood, figuring that their unpolished, low-intensity folk-rock would come off better on CD than in a bar - and it does. Rich Mattson's still a charmingly gruff vocalist and enigmatic lyricist, but the 14 songs are so overloaded with melodic charm you'll hear echoes of early Meat Puppets mixed with the mellow side of Run Westy Run. They're nostalgic yet somehow singular...

St. Paul Pioneer Press
Hotwax - October 20, 1996
By Jim Walsh

The Glenrustles, "In Stone" (S.M.A.) *** -- Two albums on, the Glenrustles remain one of the area's most utterly appealing, if under-appreciated, rock 'n' roll groups. The quartet's debut album, "Brood," was one of last year's most pleasant surprises - an organic blend of Son Volt country stomp and Soul Asylum swagger - and this follow-up is perhaps equally surprising, for few sophomore efforts match the quality of such a solid debut.

As with "Brood," much of the appeal to "In Stone" is singer/guitarist/songwriter Rich Mattson, a judicious lyricist and passionate singer whose raw tales of places, pals and his own psyche harken back the Minneapolis' golden age of scruff-rock in the '80s. As a result, such gems as "Falling on Dead Ears," "Truth Hurts," "Pris'ner Again," "Bye Bye Birdie" and "I'll Get to It" (featuring guest violinist Stuart Martz) may sound like nothing new, but that doesn't mean that "In Stone" isn't something special.

Pioneer Press
Pop Music - July 28, 1995
by Jim Walsh

The Glenrustles, "Brood" (SMA; *** 1/2): In these days of marketing-machine music and self-conscious song-wanking, it's often hard to tell the players from the Players. But in the land of 10,000 bands, the Glenrustles, veterans of the Uptown-and-Entry circuit, have remained on the outside listening in to the Minneapolis Sound; it's doubtful they'll ever get invited to sit on one of those "How to Make It in the Music Business" panels since they don't gig all that often, and they're fairly lax when it comes to self-promotion, postcards and, one can imagine, networking.

And God bless 'em for it. They might not be this year's model, but if it's meat-and-potatoes rock 'n' soul you want, the Glenrustles kick up an awfully mean racket. I'm guessing it is the Glenrustles inability to schmooze - apparent disinterest in such trappings of the music biz - that informs their timeless, from-the-gut sound. What's more, "Brood," the quartet's first full-length CD, signals the official coming out of singer/songwriter/guitarist Rich Mattson as one of the area's most promising young talents.

With these 13 songs, Mattson proves adept at delivering hard-hitting country stomps, swampy pop and shadowy ballads. Tunes such as "Into the Woods," "Deadline" and "Rain on the Trailer" suggest the inner workings of a very old soul, and the band totally rips - like a scruffier Creedence or thrashier Dashboard Saviors. Indeed, though it would have benefited from perkier production, "Brood" sounds a lot like it was hatched in the fertile waters of Athens, GA., and a little like the one that got away from Medium Cool Records...

Pioneer Press
December 15, 1995
The 30 most noteworthy records of 1995
by Jim Walsh

The Glenrustles, "Brood." A fire-breathing roots-rock debut uncorked by perhaps the most underrated band in town.

gig
performance news - dec. 96
glenrustles LIVE
by Winona S.

When my partner-in-crime asked me to review the Glenrustles, my mind immediately sprang into a full-on, full-length animated film. Wild facial contortionists and shy boys with shaggy heads of hair hurtling through the hall of mirrors in a '90's versions of Grease. At the Turf Club, happily watching the Glenrustles play live, my animation fantasy lingers. Jim Kennedy goofily mocks the grunge fest cock rocker guitarist while thrilling me with his sassy guitar licks. The word caricature comes to mind. I use that word only in the best way and really, there's no other way in grunge land.

Rich Mattson, Jim Kennedy, Greg McAloon and Rob Gilboe groove on stage; playing together seems like pure, unpretentious joy. To make sure I liked their music as much as I liked to watch them play it, I looked at the floor for awhile. After several bum-ba-ba-bum songs I had a slight craving for a rhythmic surprise attack. Then they kicked in with this song which made me imagine them to be surfers with a penchant for Metallica. The melodies spiraled from boppy beats inot hot metal tirades unexpectedly cooling in languid, spacious pools.

Experiment over! I looked up, ears tingly. Back to the whole experience, watching them play their music. Bass player Greg McAloon smirked shyly, "aw shucks guys!" as Jim Kennedy snapped into his infamous dramatic arm post which reminded me of a young kid playing in the bathtub fantasizing about opening night at a big stadium: "Hello, America! Hello my loving fans!" One of the Glenrustles' loving fans shouts "Freebird!" Ha. Ha. He. He. "Here's your free bird," Mattson gestures. Thrash. Thrash. Thrash. Smile.

Twin Cities Reader (R.I.P.)
168 Hours - Ray
Glenrustles

If I can ever get it together to go on a road trip, I'm gonna be sure to bring the Glenrustles' new CD along for the ride. Aptly titled Brood, the songs are chock-full of images of seas, skies, trailers and angels - a perfect backdrop for the self-analysis of songs like "Stumble Up the Stairs," "Into the Woods" and "Doing So Well." There's guitar-work aplenty to sink your ears into as well. I'm really digging the Frampton-like hook on "William Polaris" and the schizo-waltz-tempo atonality of "Dizzy Me." Tonights show celebrates Brood's release...

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Option
No. 67 Mar - Apr 1996
The Glenrustles - Brood
by Eddie Huffman

This rootsy Minneapolis band has its rural iconography down pat, from the mock-woodcut cover art (a grizzled frontiersman praying over his TV dinner), to the photo of a pine forest on the back of the CD, to a song called "Rain On the Trailer." The music sounds like third- or fourth-generation coutry rock, combining the rough vocals of the Blasters with the edgy harmonies and urgent tempos of X. The band finds more of a groove that your average coutry-rock act, too, though in the the Glenrustles' case the groove mostly makes the band sound hobbled. Compelling coutry-rock needs memorable stories or hooks a lot more than it needs a funky backbeat. The Band was the only band that ever really managed both, and the Glenrustles certainly aren't playing in that league yet.

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Option
No. 26 May - Jun 1989
Rich Mattson & the Glenrustles by Brian Sale

I got the feeling the songs here could have been recorded in the same order that they ended up in on the tape. The first few tunes are played in a very loose relaxed manner, but by the second side the playing has become more enthusiastic and tight. Along with this progression comes an increasing diversity of style. Those opening songs are folk with the occasional twist of country/wester. But then along comes a song with a neo-baroque flavor not unlike the Left Banke, or one that sounds like it's utilizing an eastern mode. There's even a funk rock tune that sounds like an acoustic version of the Minutemen. Acoustic guitar is in fact the featured instrument, and along with vocals is supported by string bass, drums and at various times electric guitar, piano and banjo. This is a very straightforward recording, and while these fellas don't use many gadgets, they start out with some very good basic song ideas. As a result, this is more entertaining than many tapes I've heard with all the soft/hardware you can imagine.

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Slacker
Vol. 1 - Issue 10.0 -12.30.95

Top Ten of 1995
The Glenrustles "Brood"

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The Glenrustles
PO Box 583183
Minneapolis MN 55458-3183
Email: glenrustles@glenrustles.com