It was late 2007 when Sacramento local Zack Lopez mailed his band’s three-song demo to KWOD 106.5’s Andy Hawk. His fledgling band was Middle Class Rut, and among those three tracks was “New Low,” a catchy staccato rock song with an anthemic chorus that resonated with Hawk from the moment he spun the CD. He added it to KWOD’s rotation of local bands and the fanfare mounted almost instantly.
By the end of that year, it was among the top requested songs on the station, not just for locals but across the board. MC Rut, which consists of Lopez and drummer/vocalist Sean Stockham, had just been dropped from their major label, Island Def Jam, which was sitting on that same recording of “New Low” when they cut the band loose.
“It just kind of did what you hope a song will do,” said Lopez, who has a deep respect for Hawk’s insistence on giving local bands radio time. “I’ve always thought that was the coolest thing because it gives normal listeners a chance to hear locals.”
Middle Class Rut quickly became a Sacramento staple, headlining sold-out shows and supporting established touring acts as they passed through Northern California. They also booked international tours and traveled the United States with the likes of Social Distortion and Alice in Chains. (I caught them at a KWOD show alongside Alkaline Trio, Pennywise, Anti-Flag and the rapidly ascendant MGMT in 2008.)
As the band’s popularity swelled, they built toward their 2010 debut album, No Name No Color, anchored by “New Low.” They followed it up in 2013 with Pick Up Your Head, which saw the band fleshed out to a five-piece after years as a duo.
Those two album cycles kept them on the road for years, but it all came to a screeching halt in 2015 when the band’s gear was stolen from their trailer right before their final hometown show. Already burnt out from years in motion, they took it as a sign to pack it in.
I recently caught up with Lopez to talk about the ensuing few years, including the demos they released in early 2018 and the new record they currently have in the can, Gutters, which was funded entirely by Kickstarter donations from their fans.
In early 2018, Middle Class Rut released a collection of old demos called Strangler Days. How did it feel to revisit those songs so many years later?
They were from the first two years we started playing music. We were writing so much then that we couldn’t even release the songs quick enough. It’s a time and an energy that we’ll never have again. It would be lame to let those songs die on a hard drive, and it was a good way to see if people still gave a shit about the band. We figured we could put this weird shit out before we go make an album.
What happened when the band parted ways after touring behind the second album?
You have a band account that keeps you going, but when you’re not playing, the money drains quick. Three or four months afterward, Sean was like, “I gotta start working.” Sean does carpentry work in Boise, and I’m a contractor in Sac. I just jumped right back into that. It felt good to kind of get back into that, but that’s short lived, too.
I hit up the label and put out two records on my own and built a rad studio in Sacramento. Having a studio makes a huge difference. It’s somewhere I can go for as long as I want and record undisturbed.
You all parted ways in 2015 after your gear was stolen. If that theft never happened, would MC Rut still have shut it down?
We were supposed to go into the studio. We were renegotiating a contract and were pretty much set to do the cycle again, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to commit like that. It just felt like the last thing in the world we wanted to do. It didn’t feel right. We weren’t inspired, so we hit our label up and said we’re gonna step back. The gear getting stolen was just another sign to fucking relax. Listen to the sign … We’ll just go our separate ways.
What did the label say?
We were with Bright Antenna out of Oakland. They have a ton of bands now, but we were the first band they’d signed. It was more like family than any other label we’d been on in the past. They’re just endlessly supportive. They said, “Whenever you want to come back and get at it, we’re here for you.”
Sean no longer lives in Sacramento. Where does he live now and how does that work for the band?
He lives in Boise, Idaho. He moved there right before we made the second record, but it didn’t matter. He’d fly to where we’d start the tour and we’d all take off together.
What spawned the new album and the Kickstarter that funded it?
It was Sean’s idea. If we could do it ourselves, our obligation was just to the people who funded it. Now we’re looking at a few options. Doing it yourself is rad, but there’s a limit. It’s paid for and we own it 100 percent.
Did you set out to create a specific sound with the new record?
We didn’t. Our second record was so focused and loopy with percussion and hip-hop beats. I don’t know how well it went over, but people didn’t seem to respond to how excited we were. I knew I wanted to do the loopy stuff [on the new one], but we couldn’t help but just bash out rock music in a room, too.
We turned the band to a five-piece on the second record. Everyone’s like, “Man, you guys are way better as a two-piece.”
You recorded the main instruments live in one room. Why did you do the vocals on your own at your home studio?
It’s just about being a control freak and having a budget. We knew as long as we got drums down in the studio, anything else would be extra. I’m so used to recording myself. If I have to sing something more than three times and I still don’t get it, I just pretend the song doesn’t exist and revisit it later. I can’t stand punching in stuff.
Your upcoming tour will include Concerts in the Park in Sacramento. How did that come to be?
We’ve played it twice. Andy [Hawk] and I are always talking and he’s like, “Dude if you ever want to play again, let me know.” He does so much cool stuff for the city. Everyone you know can get in, it’s a free show, they treat you well, and you get paid to do what you do. Why would we not do that?
Middle Class Rut will headline Sacramento’s Concerts in the Park for the third time on July 20. Also performing will be Black Map, Dark Signal and Blackheart. This show is free and will take place at Cesar Chavez Plaza (910 I St., Sacramento) from 5–9 p.m. For more info, go to Godowntownsac.com. You can order copies of MC Rut’s latest album, Gutters, at Mcrut.com.
**This piece first appeared in print on pages 18 – 19 of issue #270 (July 18 – Aug. 1, 2018)**
Radio personality and major supporter of local music Andy Hawk has moved his popular Local Licks Live Music Series from Wednesday nights at Powerhouse in Folsom to every other Saturday at Rounders Sports Bar and Grill in Citrus Heights (7433 Greenback Lane). The format of the show has changed a bit, too. What used to be more of a full-on rock show is now being branded as “Local Licks Acoustic Series and Sac Open Mic All-Stars.” Every show will feature a local headliner doing a stripped-down set and a fun open mic session featuring tons of great local musicians and creative themes. For instance, at the next show on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014, Humble Wolf will be the featured performer and guests for the Foo Fighters-themed (fuck yes!) open mic will be David James from Allinaday, Mark of Defyance, Laith Kaos, Lindsey Pavao and others. The show after that, on Saturday, March 8, 2014, will feature Some Fear None as the main act with guests for the Grunge-themed open mic being local groups Race To The Bottom, Highway 12 and others. Find Rounders on Facebook to check out upcoming guest performers and themes (there are some good ones, like Jonah Matranga on April 5, 2014!) and don’t forget to tune into 98 Rock every Monday at 10 p.m. to hear Hawk’s Local Licks, an hour-long show consisting of all local music.
One of Sacramento’s most beloved radio shows is returning to the airwaves. Local Licks, a weekly show that features local and regional music, will begin airing again on 98 Rock on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 10 p.m. with host Andy Hawk. Local Licks started in the early ‘90s and has seen many hosts, most recently Mark Gilmore, who was laid off by Entercom last year when his department was eliminated. That effectively killed the show, until now that is.
“Everybody seems as excited as I am,” Hawk told Submerge of the shows return. “Even just five years ago there were three radio stations with very different all encompassing local music shows. Long story short, the rating system dramatically changed, for the better and for worse in a lot of ways. One thing it really hit was these kind of shows.”
These “specialty radio” shows, which Hawk has plenty of experiencing hosting (remember Punk Rock Academy and Sounds of Sac on KWOD?), started disappearing left and right. But Hawk says that with time the station has evolved and figured some things out about how to make a show like this work no matter what the ratings are. “We’re committed to doing it for the community and doing it for Sacramento, no matter what the ratings might be,” he said.
This is great news for the greater Sacramento area’s music community. Getting airplay on a specialty show like Local Licks might not make you a famous rock star overnight, but it sure helped boost the careers of local rock duo MC Rut, Hawk pointed out. “We played it and everyone heard it and went ‘that’s awesome’ and all of a sudden it was in regular rotation!”
So if you are in a band or know someone who is, have them submit their best professionally recorded songs to Andy Hawk via email (locallicks@krxq.net) or via snail mail (Entercom Sacramento, Attn: Local Licks, 5345 Madison Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95841). “This isn’t going to be just the best of Sacramento hard rock, which might be the misconception,” Hawk said. “Even before, Mark played Autumn Sky! There was always stuff like that on there. I want it to be reflective of what’s going on in Sacramento, not what’s just reflective in hard rock.”
Last week marked the opening of the 2012 Concerts in the Park series, and the newly renovated Cesar Chavez Park hosted over 6,300 people, a record breaking crowd for the Friday night series says Play Big Sacramento’s Andy Hawk. “Three years ago Mumbo Gumbo did around 6,100 and that was the biggest up till that point,” Hawk told Submerge. “If you give people a reason in this town to go out, they will.” It only gets better from here on out. On Friday, May 11 catch Middle Class Rut live for the first time in Sacramento in over a year! The hard rocking (and hard working) duo, consisting of guitarist/vocalist Zack Lopez and drummer/vocalist Sean Stockham, have been serious road dogs touring constantly for the last two-plus years. “We’ve been finding out the cities we do best in and building fans there,” Lopez recently told Submerge. “Things were easy back when ‘New Low’ was getting spun all day everyday and I could just hang out at Flame Club and drink. This touring shit is hard work!” They were touring so much, in fact, that at some point things started to feel stale, according to Lopez. There were songs on their record they couldn’t pull off live as just a two-piece, and playing along to a laptop was out of the question. So, naturally, they brought in a couple new members into their live setup, Eddie Underwood and Bob Lander of Sacramento band Lite Brite. “Since we’ve toured with them a few times before, it was easy to gel,” Lopez said. “There’s no other guys in Sacramento we’d rather have steal our booze than them.”
See Middle Class Rut live alongside Lite Brite, Horseneck and DJ Whores on Friday, May 11 at Cesar Chavez Park. Every show of MC Rut’s latest tour has been recorded for a live album release, this one included, so let’s all show up and be loud. Visit http://mcrut.com/ for more information about the band and visit http://downtownsac.org/events/concerts-in-the-park/ to see the series schedule.
Submerge has got your first look at the lineup for this year’s Friday Night Concerts in the Park series. The 13-week shindig kicks off on May 4, 2012 at 5 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown Sacramento. You can see the entire lineup right here. Major brownie points to anyone who can name all of the artists that have been on the cover of and/or featured in the pages of Submerge (hint: there’s a lot of them).
May 4 Arden Park Roots (reggae/rock)
Island of Black and White (acoustic/blues/reggae/rock)
The Storytellers (roots/reggae/ska) Shaun Slaughter (indie/electro/pop)
May 11 Middle Class Rut(rock)
Lite Brite (rock)
Horseneck (rock) DJ Whores (electro/indie/dub step/alt)
May 18 Nickel Slots(alt-country/Americana)
Infamous Swanks (rockabilly)
Blackeyed Dempseys (Irish rock)
DJ Adam J (indie/dance/alt)
May 25 ZuhG(funk/reggae/jam)
Element of Soul (acoustic/jam rock)
Playboy School (electronic indie/pop)
DJ X’GVNR (pop/top 40/electro/dance/dub step/house)
July 27
The Brodys (pop/rock) Early States(pop/rock)
Hero’s Last Mission (pop)
Chaotic Fusion (DJ Oasis & !nkDup) (rock/top 40/dance/mash-ups)
As you probably know by now, this year’s lineup was not booked by longtime promoter Jerry Perry, but instead by a committee of local promoters, musicians and music enthusiasts that go by the name Play Big Sacramento. One committee member, Andy Hawk, who works at Entercom radio stations and promotes Wednesday night shows at Powerhouse Pub in Folsom, recently told Submerge of this year’s lineup, “As a committee we worked with venues, clubs, bookers and musicians in an effort to create a lineup of the best Sacramento has to offer. We have 13 weeks of shows filled with the biggest headliners in town, and have added the most talented DJs in Sacramento to play in the beer garden. Friday Night Concerts in the Park this year will truly be the centerpiece of entertainment in Sacramento this summer.”
