Diamond Rugs
Diamond Rugs is the collaborative project of John McCauley and Robbie Crowell (Deer Tick), Ian Saint Pe (Black Lips), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Hardy Morris (Dead Confederate), and Bryan Dufresne (Six Finger Satellite).
‘Gimme A Beer’ owes plenty to Deer Tick’s ragged-and-raw, blue-collar country rock, and is delivered with a typically bullish vocal drawl by McCauley. Recorded in Nashville, it precedes next year’s self-titled LP.
The group began when McCauley and Dufresne met Saint Pe at a Black Lips show in Providence, RI.
After a night of drinking beers together and discussing rock n roll, the three of them decided to start a band. A couple of weeks later, McCauley attended a Los Lobos show (one of his all-time favourite bands) where he made his way backstage and met Steve Berlin.
Once Berlin heard about the band, he wanted in, and Diamond Rugs became official. Over the course of the next month, McCauley recruited Hardy Morris, who had opened for Deer Tick on tour, and Deer Tick’s Robbie Crowell to play bass on the album.
From there, it naturally fell into place. The self-titled debut, produced by Adam Landry and Justin Collins (Middle Brother, Deer Tick), features the unique elements of each musician, which together forms something both familiar and fresh.
Between them all, the members of Diamond Rugs have, in the past, collaborated with the likes of Paul Simon, Mark Ronson, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and The Replacements; they have won several Grammy awards and performed live on Letterman, Conan, Leno, Later... with Jools Holland, and at The White House.
Backed by ‘Christmas In A Chinese Restaurant’, this debut single introduces a band with an ambition that levels at playing furiously energised, compulsive rock’n’roll.