Railroad Jerk is an "
industrial folk"
band (for lack of a better term) that came hurtling out of
New York City in the
early '90s. They were discovered by
Matador Records founder
Chris Lombardi on the
Bowery, playing their idiosyncratic flavor of
music for whatever
people would give them.
The band basically consisted of four unchanging members,
Marcellus Hall,
Tony Lee,
Dave Varenka, and
Alec Stephen. Information on other
musicians in the band is either confusing or vague. The band wasn't around for too long, but did manage to create some
great music, plus Marcellus and Dave formed the band
White Hassle after the
breakup.
But what do they
SOUND like? It's hard to describe. A lot of their
uptempo stuff sounds hurried, kind of ragged, but full of
energy. The
vocals can be kind of yelpy, but really do fit in with the sound. (If you just HAVE to know, to be cheap: the
White Stripes'
Hotel Yorba sounds eerily alike to a LOT of Railroad Jerk) But, if you are one of the few, patient,
souls who will actually go out and take the time to get used to their sound, here's a
discography: