The Shirks’ Al Budd in Jackson, Miss. Photo courtesy of the Shirks.

Raucous garage rock quartet The Shirks are making their way through the American South. Here are some thoughts and photos from the road.

Ned Moffitt writes:

April 10-11, Huntsville, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.

Last Wednesday brought us to our most interesting show yet: Huntsville, Ala. We played a smoke-filled biker bar with free draft beers. By this point in our tour, our lifestyles were beginning to cloud our perceptions of space and time. Plenty of people turned out for the show, and I assume the other bands perfromed well, but the most memorable person there was a gentleman known as “Fucker Dave.” A six foot tall body builder clad in cargo shorts and a sleeveless Circle Jerks shirt, moshed endlessly by himself—much to the displeasure of the audience. This 42-year-old father of three turned out to be a HUGE fan of The Problematics (Al’s band from the 1990’s). Dave followed Al around for the rest of the night, embracing him and having him sign shirts and records.

“Fucker Dave” and The Shirks’ Al Budd in Huntsville, Ala. Photo by Ned Moffitt.

Our only housing offer was from a charitable marijuana dealer. His house was located just off the grounds of a 24 hour gas station under the freeway. The room in which I slept was littered with empty beer bottles and dirty underwear. A Confederate flag served as a curtain, and the toilet had no seat. An empty bottle of Evan Williams lay on top of a lone fork in the corner. The rest of the band partied as I excused myself to go to sleep. I could barely make out the conversation over the loud heavy metal music in the other room:

“Y’all want some crushed up Adderall?”

“Yea.”

“Naw, I can’t roll like I used to. Just weed for me. And I gotta be at work at 8 a.m. Gotta wash them dishes.”

I fell asleep as the sun was coming up.

Aforementioned bedroom in Huntsville, Ala. Photo by Ned Moffitt.

We pushed through a typhoon the next morning to get to our show in Jackson, Miss. We played with The Overnight Lows in a record store. The Overnight Lows were great; I highly encourage anyone reading to check them out.

Ned and Kevin of the Shirks in Mississippi. Photo courtesy of The Shirks.