There’s a saying that’s floated around the South about NASCAR racing, which goes, “Yes, rednecks like it, but you don’t HAVE to be a redneck to like it.”
That type of comparison also applies to the Lowcountry-based band Dangermuffin. After more than 15 years on the road and on record, the band has built a solid following on the jam-band scene. That does make sense, simply because the band’s genre-free style and incredibly skillful playing do line up with the jam band ethos.
But take a look at its just-released, new self-titled album, which includes 10 songs with only one stretching past the five-minute mark, a haunting, twilit ballad called “Luminous Teacher.” It begs the question: Is it possible that jam band fans love Dangermuffin, but you don’t HAVE to be into jam bands to like them?
“It’s an interesting question,” said the band’s lead guitarist Mike Sivilli. “We feel like since day one, we’ve always been a songwriter type of band. We wanted to focus on writing songs that were three to four minutes, and we appreciated that craft. But as we played more and more live shows, it just became fun to explore, to say, ‘Alright, after the second chorus, let’s just hang out and jam on this.’ ”
Sometimes when you’re a band that’s just starting out, as Dangermuffin singer/guitarist Dan Lotti pointed out, you’ll play on any stage you can.
“It was about whatever footing we could find (at first),” Lotti said. “We wanted to play festivals and if someone said, ‘You guys are a jam band,’ we thought, ‘Whatever works.’ We just wanted to keep doing it, and we wanted to grow. So we just fell into that a little bit. But the best thing is that jam-band fans are the biggest music fans. They’re people that embrace new bands.”
The band’s new album is its first studio release since 2018, and it’s brimming with exciting musical ideas and experimental exploration. Steven Sandifer’s drumming is so light-footed that it’s easy to miss how complex some of the time signatures are, and the band’s smooth mix of Sivilli’s spidery leads and Lotti’s emotional voice (which occasionally resembles Jackson Browne’s) creates gorgeous melodies above the sonic architecture.
As for genre, Dangermuffin ignores boundaries entirely, jumping from pop to jazz to rock to Americana with zero regard for musical fences. It’s joyous music that is both progressive and soothingly melodic.
It’s also the first album to integrate the band’s newest member, electric mandolin player Andrew Hendryx, whose sparkling lines are a highlight.
“We’ve known Andrew for many years,” Dan Lotti said. “We met him at a surf bar back in 2008 and immediately hit it off with him. Our paths crossed touring, and he’d sit in and jam and it was always this amazing synergistic experience.”
In a sense, the mandolin is part of Dangermuffin’s general goal on their new album. Like many self-titled releases are, this album is meant to be an introduction to a new musical direction. Most notably, this is the band’s first release (of seven) to feature only electric instruments.
“I think it’s a redefining of the band’s sound,” Lotti said, “like a reset or the beginning of a new era. That was the inspiration for self-titling the album.”
The band was also inspired to self-title the album by a somewhat unexpected source.
“When I was younger, I was a huge Metallica fan,” Lotti said. “And they had Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning and Kill’em All and then they did their biggest album, which was self-titled. That was kind of part of the mindset; it’s a little bit more rock and roll.”
Dangermuffin’s rock ‘n’ roll isn’t quite as noisy and brutal as Metallica’s, but there are moments on the new album where the members seem to move as one organism, each instrument melding perfectly into a larger sound. It’s playing with a level of confidence that only 15 years of playing together can create.
“I think we’ve all had experiences where you play with these great players but it doesn’t have the same sort of special vocabulary and connection you have with people you’ve been through thick and thin with,” said Dangermuffin drummer Steven Sandifer.
“It’s a connection between people who have spent a million miles on the road with each other and who learned the art of the recording studio together. And I think that the rapport we have from a decade and a half of playing together has definitely given us our own voice.”
Learn more about Dangermuffin at dangermuffinmusic.com.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
