Muddy Ruckus at Players -- October 16.
Thursday, October 16, 7 p.m.
Players, 2218 East 11th Street, Davenport IA
With their 2023 album Vacationland hailed by Motif magazine as a recording that "rocks like it’s opening a portal to another dimension," guitarist/songwriter and Quad Cities native Ryan Flaherty and drummer/vocalist Erika Stahl bring their outfit Muddy Ruckus to Players in the Village of East Davenport, their October 16 engagement treating fans to what The Sound hailed as "infectious, foot-stomping Americana tunes."
Born and raised in Rock Island, singer/songwriter Flaherty was performing a solo concert in Portland, Maine, in 2013 when he noticed Stahl, whom he had never met before, dancing in the crowd. As with Bruce Springsteen pulling Courteney Cox on-stage in the iconic “Dancing with the Dark” video, Flaherty convinced Stahl to join him on-stage, and the pair have been together ever since. With Stahl a self-taught drummer from childhood, the musicians joined forces as Muddy Waters and released a self-titled album in 2014. Two years later, they released Pretty Bones, which led Red Line Roots to state, “The pair pull from a range of styles – roots, blues, Southern folk-rock – and use their distinctive, keening harmonies to produce a sound that is fresh and homey.” Red Line Roots also cited the release as “Album of the Year” while naming Muddy Ruckus “Rock 'n' Rollers of the Year” in 2017, the same year the duo became a NEMA nominee for “Roots Act of the Year.”
As stated at the MuddyRuckus.com, the band is "a wild-hearted, feral psyche rock duo known for transforming minimalist instrumentation into a full-throttle sonic eruption. ... The band delivers a sound far bigger than two people should be able to conjure. Stahl thunders on a custom suitcase kick drum while Flaherty runs his guitar through a maze of two guitar amps and one bass amp simultaneously – an alchemy that turns raw voltage into atmosphere, grit, and cinematic fire.
"Praised as 'legit dance hall crashers' (Glide magazine), Muddy Ruckus performs with the reckless conviction of punk, the hypnotic pulse of slow-core, and the shadowy glow of noir cinema. Their songs unfold like haunted sermons – both bruised and beautiful – balancing unhinged rhythm with poetic control.
"In 2023, they released their fourth album, Vacationland, which critics hailed as otherworldly. As Motif magazine wrote, “The tunes are vivid with visions that sound like nightmares sung in lullabies … . A sonic blood rush to places nobody imagined existed.”
"Relentless touring, DIY spirit, and a visceral stage presence have earned Muddy Ruckus a cult following and comparisons to The White Stripes, The Doors, and The Velvet Underground, though the band remains defiantly their own creature. What they create is not nostalgia – it’s resurrection. [And] at its core, Muddy Ruckus is an act of transformation: turning distortion into devotion, rhythm into revelation, and the raw into the unforgettable."
Muddy Ruckus performs their Players engagement on October 16, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $10 and includes a drink ticket for one well drink or domestic beer, and more information on the evening is available by visiting Facebook.com/playersqc and MuddyRuckus.com.
