Discount Guns: Bluesy, Stiff-Lipped Rock on the Cheap

The local rock outfit Discount Guns has just finished recording their first full-length album, “Odessa,” and the tracks are dangerously effective at translating the band’s two-piece, stripped down, cliff jumping, dirty blues rock into non-live format. It’s exactly the kind of smoky, full-boar relentlessness that stiffens upper lips on contact and effortlessly transfixes audiences toward head nodding, knee wobbling, angst-fueled sublimity.Consisting of Illinois natives John Ford and Edward Vincent, Discount Guns has only been playing full shows since this past October, having released an initial EP in August of 2011. But the duo goes way back. Already featured on Louisville’s WFPK and swiftly approaching mainstay status at local venues like Haymarket Whiskey Bar, Darkstar Tavern, and ZaZoo’s, the act has made an impressive amount of headway in a surprisingly small amount of time.Vincent and Ford each write their own tunes and will routinely switch roles mid-concert, as one trades off to drum so the other can play guitar and sing on his own song. It’s a definite double-take moment upon first seeing them play, but the duo is so tight stylistically, both in attitude and in technique, that it not only works, but arguably adds to the overall appeal.Recorded at Louisville’s DeadBird Studios and mastered by Wax Fang’s Kevin Ratterman, “Odessa” is a tour de force, showcasing all of the band’s favorite material to date.

“We recorded 12 tracks in about nine hours, grabbing three or four of them in single takes,” said Vincent. “And the thing we talked to [Dave Chale, owner and studio engineer at DeadBird] about before we even started was the intention to set things up and really nail it down as if it were a live show.”

It’s the slow build of all slow builds as Vincent and the DeadBird guys – Dave Chale and Jamie Innis, also incredibly talented – first find instruments, then amps, and finally jump in themselves at a staggered pace over a 10 minute period. But as each additional player joins in, they seamlessly work off of what’s already being laid down. By the time there’s four, it’s a fever pitch, with looks of infectious satisfaction on everyone’s faces. I’ve never had a more revealing lesson in just how much fun a group of skilled musicians can have together.

How did you guys first meet?

Vincent: We met working together at this tractor supply store back home in 2006. And he taught me everything I know about guitar. Actually, the first time we met was when he handed me the cup for my piss test. I passed the test and we started working together.

Ford: I’d been doing a lot of traveling. First living in Austin, Texas and then later Montana and South Alabama, and just found myself back in Illinois and in need of a job.

 So why Louisville?

Ford: My girlfriend [now wife] was interning for her job here and so I started coming down and hanging out in the Highlands and liked it. That part of town reminds me a lot of South Austin in a way.

Vincent: And I came down for Forecastle the year The Black Keys were here and was like, “Fuck, I want to live here.”

What do you think about the music scene in town?

Vincent: There is a big scene here and it’s largely pretty folky at the moment. But I think there’s also this small but vital underground rock thing stemming from places like ZaZoo’s where there just always seems to be some rocking shows.

How did Discount Guns get its start?

Vincent: Definitely the song “Already Gone.” The main riff came to us and it was with that song that we decided to set up four mics, a PA system, and try to record.

Ford: We made a trip to Doo Wop to rent the recording equipment and it definitely took a few hours, but we got things sounding pretty decent. It was kind of funny, really, because I had cleared out the dining room for the amps, but the drums were downstairs. And so the first time we were recording it was like, “OK, are you ready? OK, it’s recording!”

What was the intermediate step between that first recording and saying, “We should play a show”?

Ford: I love to play live. And there’s this certain point where if you listen to a song a few times and you like it, and then you have a few drinks and you still like it, that you just start wanting to play it for someone else.

Where did the sound come from? Do you welcome The Black Keys comparison?

Ford: The influence of Jack White and The White Stripes most particularly for me. And at the same time, I learned to play guitar from my grandpa. And that was all ‘60s country and Hank Williams. So there are a lot of country western chord progressions in there, just with rock instrumentation.

Vincent: You start to realize that you don’t need all this other stuff for it to work. And yeah, I love The Black Keys, but there was never any instance where we sat down and said, “How do we sound like The Black Keys?” The way we sound is just the way it came out.

Have your travels affected your sound as well?

Ford: Definitely – Texas and Alabama especially. Living in Montgomery was akin to being in the same town as Hank Williams. And in Austin it’s like everybody is there. You’re always around different kinds of music, whether it’s country, blues, or indie rock.

John Ford and Edward Vincent are just getting started and are already testing out new material. The duo is absolutely electrified for their upcoming “Odessa” launch party on the roof of the Glassworks building and would love to start making it to Lexington and parts beyond in the near future.

Chale from DeadBird Studios explained his take on the continued diversity of the Louisville music scene.

“We have everything, man,” said Chale. “We don’t discriminate. If the band is good and it works out, we just have them.”

Discount Guns is good. And we have them.

-Chris Ritter