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)**
Music is awesome, isn’t it? Whether intentional or not, music is a big part of everyone’s lives. It’s all around us: on TV, in ads, in our headphones and earbuds attached to our smart phones with streaming audio. Chances are if you’re reading Submerge, you love music too. Even though there is more great music being made than ever and access to it is becoming easier and easier, it’s still sometimes hard to know where to look to discover new tunes. Enter Submerge’s annual year-end best-of list! In 2013 there were so many amazing albums released that we actually expanded this story to feature the top 30 instead of the top 20. You’ll notice that a lot of this list, approximately 50 percent, is local. That’s not by mistake. That’s not because we tried to include local albums just to round out our list. No, we just have that much talent right here in our own city.
Compiled by all of our contributing writers and staff, we hope this list will help you discover something new. And because all of our attention spans are so short nowadays (are you still with us?), we kept our reviews to 140 characters or less, because we all know that reading someone’s short, to-the-point Twitter post is a helluva lot better than reading someone’s four-paragraph-long Facebook rant. Now, set forth and discover some new jams! Who knows, your new favorite band/album may be waiting for you somewhere on this list.
30.
Danny Brown Old
Fool’s Gold
What can you say about Danny Brown? He’s rap’s Jim Morrison, The Lizard King. Old has been on repeat since the day I got it. And will be.
29.
Run the Jewels Run the Jewels
Fool’s Gold
As dope as promised, it gets no better than this. Killer Mike is at his best, and El-P provides the perfect sonic-scape for destruction.
28.
Biosexual The Window Wants the Bedroom
Debacle
Fantastically produced debut album of avant-garde supergroup featuring the great Jocelyn of ALAK, brother Michael RJ Saalman and Zac Nelson.
27.
Paper Pistols Deliver Us From Chemicals
Self-released
2 can do it all. Skinner & Lydell are all binary: beard/belle; drum/voice; age/youth; decadent/austere; beautiful/music.
26.
EGG Overly Easy
Self-released
If Cake and Phish had a baby? Close, but doesn’t quite describe this amazing band. An infectious sound that makes you wanna get up and GO.
25.
M.I.A. Matangi
N.E.E.T.
M.I.A. is pissed off, and still fresh as ever, rapping over aggressive beats and keeping the Sri Lankan sound alive.
24.
The Men New Moon
Sacred Bones
Brooklyn noise punks retreat to a rural cabin, finding a balance between a Mudhoney dustup and a Grateful Dead peace-in.
23.
Gauntlet Hair Stills
Dead Oceans
Gauntlet Hair dropped the dopest, weirdest album we’ve heard in a minute and then immediately broke up. Spacey, strange, with a dash of pop.
22.
Jacuzzi Boys Jacuzzi Boys
Hardly Art
The Miami trio switched things up with a more polished than pure garage sound. Still playful and infectious, just adding new dimensions.
21.
Gap Dream Shine Your Light
Burger
Mid-tempo sex appeal born of psychedelic melancholy and rock ‘n’ roll disco; drugs, dance, drugs, booze, dance, fuck.
20.
Miley Cyrus Bangerz
RCA
Crying cats ftw! The most dissed/discussed AoY; w/ hits by Dr. Luke, Pharrell & Mike WiLL, twerk! This is Miley’s year.
19.
Chuuwee Thrill
Self-released
With rap albums you usually either get bangin’ trap beats OR real lyricism. On Thrill you get both. One of Sac’s best in top form.
18.
Century Got Bars & Bru Lei Midtown Marauders
Self-released
A flawless Tribe tribute and audible tour of this fair city’s nucleus. If you’ve spent more than five seconds in Midtown, you want this.
17.
David Bowie The Next Day
RCA
Charming, confidently progressive with kick-ass guitar solos. It’s classic Bowie with a modern, enthusiastically suspended twist.
16.
Black Sabbath 13
Vertigo/Universal
Pure smokin’ stoner doom rock at its finest! Timeless lyrics and riffs. This album picks up where the band left off with Ozzy 30 years ago.
15.
Nails Abandon All Life
Southern Lord
Yeah, it’s a light version of Unsilent Death (the most brutal album ever), but it’s still hard and evil enough to kill your grandma.
14.
Bombino Nomad
Nonesuch
A perfect album for trekking the Sahara. Blues guitar, smooth Tuareg vox, steady rhythm. Produced by Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys).
13.
Meat Puppets Rat Farm
Megaforce Records
Return to form for desert-baked Brothers Kirkwood. Simple, honest, catchy… Bare bones and poignant. May the Puppets live forever.
12.
Foals Holy Fire
Transgressive
With Holy Fire, these British boys delivered their most focused (and heaviest) album to date, bringing a new meaning to “modern rock.”
11.
City of Vain Back Against the Wall
Self-released
Sacto punkers bring forth one of the best punk rock records of the year, not just locally, but globally. Warm tones and classic style!
10.
Middle Class Rut Pick Up Your Head
Bright Antenna
More fierce rock ‘n’ roll from Sac’s Dynamic Duo…and we <3 it! Grimy grooves and distorted chaos mark MC Rut’s best album to date.
09.
Horseneck The Worst People Ever
Artery
Booze-fueled bone-breaking sludge metal with a sense of humor. This EP gives Sac’s heavy music fans something to smile about.
08.
Tel Cairo Voice of Reason
Illicit Artists
Tel Cairo is the best kind of weird. If Kurt Cobain made hip-hop music in space it would sound like Tel Cairo’s Voice of Reason.
07.
Foxygen We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic
Jagjaguwar
Flamboyantly lilting pop with occasional Jagger twists; creates proneness for nymph-like prancing, sometimes mincing.
06.
Death Grips Government Plates
Self-released
A dizzying mix of poetry, yelling and other stuff people hate. But in the eloquent words of MC Ride, “Fuck your idols/ Suck my dick.”
05.
Screature Screature
Ethel Scull
A solid debut by the Sacramento quartet. Guttural lyrical torrents coalesce with shadowy, rhythmic tones, blending into a dynamic framework of sound.
04.
!!! THR!!!ER
Warp Records
Your favorite dance-punk band is back again with more rump shaking, baby making, all-night-party-inducing tunes. Instant classic!
03.
Cove Candles
Self-released
It’s an insightful album. An emotional excavation replete with lyrical fluidity, melodic flirtations and a groovy aftertaste.
02.
Doombird Cygnus
Eightmaps
Vivid percussive landscapes seen through a celestial-tinged lens. Spacey harmonies embedded within hypnotic textures and bright timbres.
01.
Chelsea Wolfe Pain Is Beauty
Sargent House
A beautifully haunting album. Wolfe’s ghostly vocals, layered with cascading guitars, violins and synths, will put you in a trance.
Middle Class Rut pushes their boundaries on their latest release
Sacramento natives Zack Lopez and Sean Stockham reached new heights when their band Middle Class Rut struck rock radio gold with the single “New Low” in 2010. Now the band is back with their sophomore release, Pick Up Your Head, which not only expands the band’s boundaries musically, but also will see their live roster grow.
Believing Pick Up Your Head’s sound to be too big to produce live as a duo, MC Rut opened the door to three more musicians who will tour as part of the band this summer. In a recent interview, Stockham told us that the new lineup will feature a bass player, second guitarist and a percussionist, whom he seemed very excited about.
“He’s actually a great drummer. It’s almost a shame to limit him to just the percussion stuff, because he would be such a great drummer in his own right,” Stockham said. “We might switch off at some point down the line…we might have him play the drums and I’ll just sit backstage and masturbate or something like that.”
The addition makes MC Rut’s already huge, rhythmic live sound even larger.
“It feels like two drummers on stage,” he said. “I really like that. As a drummer, it’s really fun to look over and feed off his energy and mine. It feels like the drums are a lot bigger than they were before. We’re having fun with it.”
Stockham discussed MC Rut’s new members and the process behind creating Pick Up Your Head in the following interview.
Zack and I were talking about how you put a band together for the road. How does it feel opening up MC Rut to new musicians?
At some point during the recording of the record, it became obvious that there was no way we were going to be able to do these songs as a two-piece, unless we used computers and that never felt natural. So, I think we knew we were going to have to try to find some people, and that’s the shittiest thing you could do. It’s sort of like going out and looking for friends, because not only do they have to work musically, but you have to like them and you have to spend a lot time with them, and they have to be able to work for peanuts because we can’t pay people a ton of money. Through our little network and other friends, we found a group of dudes. We just got into a room and instantly started playing a bunch of songs. We didn’t even give it a chance to see if we liked each other. It worked so well musically, so we went down to Austin [Texas] that was our first outing as a full five-piece band and had a really good time. We felt that the shows were really good, and we get along really well with these guys. We’re stoked, but I don’t know how people are going to feel about it. I’m guessing that a lot of people who like our band like us because of the two-piece thing. Not to bring up another obvious two-piece band, but if you went to see The White Stripes, and there were a lot of other people on stage, you’d be like, “Aw man, I just came here to see Jack and Meg.” I’m hoping people are a bit more open-minded to it. We can’t do something just because people expect us to do it, or because that’s what we’re known for. That sounded gimmicky to us, and believe me, if we thought we could pull it off as just a two-piece band, it would be so much easier and so much cheaper to do it that way, but at least for this run off this record, we’re going to do it like this. We might experiment doing some songs as a two-piece and the rest as a full band. I don’t know how it’s going to work yet, but we like these dudes, so we hope everyone else does too.
The shows went well in Austin, but it sounds like you’re a little bit apprehensive…but the musical chemistry seems good, so I guess that’s the most important thing.
Yeah, I think that’s the thing. Once you have a really good show where everyone is jamming together on the same page, it just feels good and you stop worrying about it. Like I said, my apprehension comes from how the few people who actually know our band and like us will react to it, but it feels good so far.
Zack and I were talking about all the stuff you used on the record as percussive instruments—hardwood floors, pots and pans. What kind of stuff are you bringing live?
He’s pretty creative and got into the whole idea of trying to come up with different things to make these sounds. He’s got a couple of brake drums from an old truck, a couple of trash can lids from Home Depot. He’s put cymbals on top of other cymbals and broken them. Everything is trashy and loud. There’s no shakers or anything like that. It’s almost like Stomp!, just loud and nasty shit to hit. I’m sure it’s going to be something that evolves over time too.
From the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like you’ll have to worry too much about people not being into it.
I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be fun, more fun than in the past. Anyone who’s that closed-minded who’d only like our band as a two-piece, I could take or leave those people.
Being a drummer and having someone else to feed off of, have you noticed the songs changing from your end live? Did it reenergize any of the songs for you?
We haven’t played all that much old stuff yet, all the stuff I’ve been used to playing for years. I’m curious to see if that changes at all, if he’s playing with me. The new stuff, that was probably the biggest challenge of this new stuff, the drums and the guitar are just background. They’re playing supportive roles to the vocals and the overall song. Eveyrone’s playing the supporting role. When Zack and I first started this thing, jamming as drums and guitars and screaming into a microphone, it’s was just a barrage of shit happening. The hardest part has been having to calm down a little bit and actually having to listen a little while you’re playing and remind yourself why you’re having to chillax a little bit because there are all these elements that are happening. I don’t need to distract from those by being crazy drummer guy.
When I was talking to Zack, it sounded like the songs are built backwards in a way by starting with the percussive parts and then building the songs around that. Being a drummer that must have been a pretty neat feeling.
I love that the result is always a really beat driven song, and I think that’s something we’re never going to get very far away from. We both feed off that beat. We could write an entire song to no music as long as there’s just a beat happening, probably a lot easier than we could write a song if there was no drums but just a guitar line. That’s how the one song that I wrote lyrically on this record started out. I was jamming just drums in the room, I recorded a couple beats and then I went out into a room and started singing acapella over these beats. We’re definitely very beat oriented.
It sounds like how a rap song would be written.
It is, man, and that’s why we’ve always felt something in common with that kind of music. Maybe we don’t really know what that means or how to fit that in, but we’ve spent a lot of time collaborating with hip-hop people because there’s something in common with that.
You can hear that in the way you were talking about how the beats and the music are just background to the songs.
That’s always been the two different sides of this band from the get-go. We’ve had that one side that’s guitar and drums rock ‘n’ roll music that’s written that way, with Zack and I in the room jamming for hours and hours until something comes out. Then there’s the other side where the two of us are in the lab with a computer and a pair of drumsticks to hit whatever’s around you in the room to build a beat like someone would build a beat for a rapper. It gives you such different results. It’s almost two completely different sounds. I love those two sides of our band. We’ve found even more success on that side of things, with songs like “New Low”…”New Low” was totally put together that way. It was built as a beat on a toolbox and over the course of a day, just building, building, building and adding to that song. The same song could not have came out if it was written from our normal positions behind the drums and guitars.
Has this sort of hip-hop producer side of the band won out more on Pick Up Your Head?
Yeah, this album is definitely more beat-based, and assembling the songs in a totally different way. We’ve been jamming together for so long. We found a tape we’d made that was dated 1996. You could imagine that if you’re doing something for so long, you can get a little bit bored. If I’m always behind the same drum kit, and he’s always behind the same guitar, things are going to sound reminiscent of things you’ve already done years ago. I might have my go-to beat that I play, and his go-to beat that he plays. It was like, what do we do? The only thing you can do is totally rearrange the process and do something completely different. What’s awesome about that is that it’s not only this breath of fresh air and you get this new sound, but you get this new excitement for doing it, because it feels like something new. It feels like it did when you were a kid and you first started playing music and everything was new, but now we’re 30 years old, we’ve been doing it for half our lives or longer. We need to switch things up and keep things fresh.
Did you listen to that old rehearsal tape you found?
We don’t even need to. We don’t really need to listen to that one.
There’s a lot of layering on these tracks. Did you hear right away what each songs needed or was there an experimentation factor behind that?
Yeah, sometimes. Sometimes it’s really obvious. Sometimes the song asks for what needs to be added. Then sometimes you’re listening to it and it sounds a little light or a little empty. It was everything from A to Z with these songs. Some of them came really easy and were maybe a bit more minimal, and some of the other ones were a bit of a struggle to get them out.
Did you produce this one yourselves also?
Yeah, and that’s the other thing. We’re not used to going into the studio and saying, OK, we’re going to make the record on this date. It’s an ongoing thing. I guess we’re just used to that. We’re also used to combining the writing and the recording process all into one. We try to do that still. We try to go into a room and just write, but we don’t have a whole lot of luck doing it that way. The computer or whatever’s being used to record has to be ready and running, because that’s just the way we work.
So you’re just constantly working on stuff?
That’s why the idea of working with your traditional producer kind of guy, we just really don’t know how that would work. Maybe with these new guys in the band, we’ll do something that’s more straightforward. Maybe we’ll write a couple songs during sound checks that will be rock songs, and we’ll have someone come in and produce it in the traditional way. As long as we’re doing more—I don’t even know what you’d call it—like assembled beat stuff, that stuff is just going to have to grow organically.
Pick Up Your Head will be released by Bright Antenna on June 25, 2013. In the meantime, you can be sure to get a taste of the band’s new material and expanded lineup when they play Cesar Chavez Park in Sacrmento on May 10 with Jonny Craig and others. Best part? The show is FREE. Check out the video for “Aunt Betty” online at Mcrut.com. If you’re in the Sacramento region, grab our current issue to read our companion interview with Zack Lopez.
