Shane Anderson and The Electric Hog Farm
Where the Ozark Mountains give birth to the Mississippi Delta comes the hell-bent, rock and roll, alternative country sound of Shane Anderson and The Electric Hog Farm. Just ask Vocalist / Guitarist Shane Anderson what he thinks about the music and he quickly responds "It's seven dogs on your front porch country mixed with I just blew up the Meth lab, so get momma to bail me out of jail rock and roll" Anderson exclaims.
Tell me about your history? How did you get where you are now?
Where the Ozark Mountains give birth to the Mississippi Delta comes the hell-bent, rock and roll, alternative country sound of Shane Anderson and The Electric Hog Farm. Just ask Vocalist / Guitarist Shane Anderson what he thinks about the music and he quickly responds "It's seven dogs on your front porch country mixed with I just blew up the Meth lab, so get momma to bail me out of jail rock and roll" Anderson exclaims.
The music is most definitely up tempo with no depression.Although, this Batesville, Arkansas band is newly formed, the members are not lacking in experience. Bass player Kyle Anderson (Shane's younger brother), guitar player Aaron Keller (Shane's cousin-in-law), and drummer Darin Brewer are former members of Arkansas alternative rock favorite Ground Bloom. Ground Bloom has opened and played with national acts such as: Jackyl, Foghat, Mountain, and Blue Oyster Cult. Shane was a contributing songwriter for Ground Bloom and helped them get started in the early days. A year after the band finally called it quits, Anderson was busy writing comedy and "normal" country songs with childhood best friend Preston Nelms. Which is something they have done together since they were eight years old. It all started at West side elementary school with parody songs to television shows such as: The Dukes of Hazard, Green Acres, and Threes Company to name a few.
Anderson played in several bands while attending Bethel College in Tennessee where he studied under G.I.T. graduate, Andy Gurley. Gurley is now the lead guitar player for the country music group, Blue County. After putting music aside during his first year of graduate school, Anderson decided to form his own band to front the songs of he and Nelms. The natural thing to do was recruit the guys from Ground Bloom. "I think it has worked out great thus far" says Anderson "I have played with these guys for a long time." Trying to piece his image together was the next big task. Anderson says that after he and Nelms attended a Trent Summar and The New Row Mob show at Sticky Fingerz in Little Rock everything started to make sense. "When I saw Trent Summar take the stage in Little Rock I just knew somewhere inside of my heart that I was on the right track" says Anderson "Preston looked at me and we didn't say a word". Tennessee's Trent Summar is known for his comical dry sarcastic wit and his high energy country rock sound. "Finally, I turned to Preston and said, hey, that's me, he stole my character and then I got mad" Anderson says laughing. Trent Summar is not the only influence on Anderson in the past couple of years. Dash Rip Rock, the New Orleans, Louisiana trio might be the biggest influence of all. "I have been to two of their shows in the past six months and I have never seen anything like it in my life" Anderson says "It's the manic stage energy and the leadership of Bill Davis that makes Dash so attractive. Bill Davis is the singer and guitar player of the twenty year old cow punk group that has been called the best bar band ever. Anderson states that his music is a whole lot more country or rockabilly than punk, but he would like to think that it has the same spirit of a Dash Rip Rock. "Cowgirl is basically a punk song, but the rest are pretty much country rock or rockabilly" Anderson says "Bill Davis has influenced me as a writer and a front man more than anything".
So what about these hilarious country songs written by Anderson and Nelms? "Well, not all of them are comedy, but most are" laughs Nelms "We are still trying to break into the mainstream Nashville market as songwriters and it's hard to do that with some of these tunes." That might be so, but the grass roots folk are loving the funny ones. Anderson says that he thinks every cop in the county has a copy of the Meth Lab song. "After we recorded that demo back in the winter, it mysteriously spread to a bunch of people around Northern Arkansas" says Anderson "You know Meth is a bad problem where we live, but sometimes you just need to laugh a little at life". It is a natural known fact in the music industry that one can tell a lot about a song by it's title. When you read some of these titles your imagination is probably right. Songs such as: "The Baptist In A Liquor Store", "Paper Or Plastic", "Carney Girl", "Love @ First Type", "White Collar Redneck", "He's got a PhD" and of course, "The Meth Lab Song" are the epitome of Shane Anderson and The Electric Hog Farms new image.
Written by Philip Martin for The Hell-Bent Rock Artist 2004
Have you performed live in front of an audience? Any special memories?
You can check our band website and go to the concerts page.
Your musical influences
Andy Gurley, Led Zeppelin, Traffic, Blindfaith, Jeff Beck, Johnny Cash, Ray Stevens, Jerry Reed, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Willie Nelson, Trent Summar, and Dash Rip Rock.
What equipment do you use?
Guitars: American Delux Fender Telecasters, Gibson Les Pauls, Gibson Acoustics, and Martin Acoustics. Amps: Fender Concert Reverb, Marshall 30th Anniversary head through a Marshall cabniet., Classic 30, Vox AC 30, and Fender Hot Rod Devilles. Bass Guitars: Fender American Precisions through a big freakin' Ampeg amp. Precussion: 1966 Slingerland Vintage Drum Kit.
